Case Study:

PeoplePulse - The SEEK Experience

The Problem:

SEEK Limited is the operator of Australia and New Zealand's largest and most successful Internet employment site - seek.com.au and seek.co.nz. In 2003 and early 2004, SEEK conducted an extensive research program across a range of clients, job seekers and internal staff and employed a US-based online survey tool. Whilst SEEK found the tool to be relatively inexpensive to operate, as SEEK developed more numerous and more complex survey projects, it became clear that the US software held limitations in significant areas:

• survey functionality - the program offered limited flexibility in areas such as custom survey design, question limits, and attrition reporting,
  
• while the duplication or modification of past surveys was feasible, it proved difficult and time-consuming,
• US-based features built into the software tool, such as time zone settings, affected report accuracy, and
  
• built-in branding for the software tool (including the phrase 'Powered by..') limited its use - and while not an obstacle for internal surveys, could not be used in professional external communication.

The software employed was effectively a 'no frills' survey tool that proved perfectly acceptable and easy to use for informal and simple survey work, but could not meet the demands of the more complex and professional research projects SEEK was developing.

SEEK required a solution that offered flexibility, the option to easily tailor and duplicate surveys and individual questions, and the ability to control branding to deliver a professional image in both internal and external research efforts.

The Solution:

Following extensive research of the Australian and international online survey market, SEEK selected the PeoplePulse survey tool from Quinntessential for the following reasons:

• Product Flexibility - PeoplePulse is a comprehensive online survey tool that addresses the problems that SEEK were facing with the US-based tool. As a locally developed and hosted tool, it offers rich survey creation and reporting functionality, and this flexibility gave PeoplePulse a clear advantage over other similar online survey products.
  
  
• Approach to new product development - From the outset, Quinntessential made it clear that they were happy to work with SEEK to customise the tool for SEEK's unique needs. At their own expense, Quinntessential added new survey branching and skip logic functionality, added the ability to conduct ranking questions, and also added a new 'cross tab' report to the system to allow reporting and data analysis to be conducted online. These were all features that significantly enhanced the value of the tool for SEEK.
  
  
• Responsive - Quinntessential was proactive, prompt and professional in all dealings with SEEK. SEEK's market research coordinator, Ana Zatezalo, felt Quinntessential's responsiveness and attitude towards new product enhancements was a key factor. She said:

We felt that from the contract negotiation stage through to final product training and product-related queries, Quinntessential showed a genuine willingness to work with SEEK to deliver the best possible solution to meet our needs. They made us feel that no request, however small, was too much trouble.

The Verdict:

Simon Waring, Communications Manager for SEEK Limited, believes that,

SEEK is a commercially focused, research driven organisation, and after we had made the practical decision to adopt the PeoplePulse tool following our review of the market, the transition was undoubtedly made even easier by the service and support our research team received.

Based on our experiences to date, I have no hesitation in recommending Quinntessential and PeoplePulse to any organisation looking to gather feedback using a user-friendly, feature-rich web-based survey tool.