Since we've been conducting employee satisfaction surveys online for several years now, I thought it was about time to publish some of what we've learned about this methodology.

Superior Response Rates
Our average response rate for employee satisfaction surveys conducted online has been approximately 75% compared to 65% for the traditional "paper and pencil" methodology. It is not unusual for us to experience response rates in the 80% to 90% or higher range (we've had 100% response rates on several occasions). High tech and small firms tend to have the highest response rates.

Longer Comments
Comments made by online participants tend to be twice as long as those made by those responding on paper for recent studies - 66 words on average for the online methodology versus an average of 33 words for those responding on paper. Combined with the comment analysis and categorization given sufficient sample size, this enables management to gain more insight into employees' thoughts.

Reminders Are Still Needed
Three to four days after the initial invitation to participate in an online survey, employee responses reduce to a trickle. A reminder after four days has an immediate impact on boosting response rates, as does a second or third reminder. Reminders always have been an important part of research; online reminders have sped up the process considerably.

What Happened to Grade School Grammar?
One of the challenges we have with paper surveys is the ability to decipher handwriting. When we began conducting many of our surveys online, we anticipated cost savings through not having to transcribe and decipher respondent's handwriting. While we have experienced some cost reductions, we did not anticipate finding comments that read something like this: "i think u shood . . ."

Easier Detection and Prevention of Multiple Responses
The use of "cookies" has prevented people from responding more than one time to an online survey. Tech-savvy people know how to get around this. However, if they try to "stack the deck", their tendency is to just "resubmit" most or all of their first responses. This usually occurs within two minutes of the initial responses, and is much easier to detect and eliminate than when people attempt to complete and mail multiple paper surveys.

Not Everyone Ready For "Primetime"---Yet!
Although many people are "Web savvy," there still are organizations ("Organisations" for our Canadian and UK readers) that need to conduct paper surveys. When kiosks are set up (with "non-cookies" surveys) to enable those without web access, we found some ethnic groups tend to be under-represented; more people tend to "submit" multiple times, and a more than usual percentage of surveys were submitted before being fully completed. One solution has been to offer web surveys to employees with web access and paper surveys to all others.

Clients Still Need a "Personal Touch"
We know that some competitors offer "Build Your Own Surveys" on the Web for next to nothing (or for nothing). The adage: "You get what you pay for" still applies. You have to ask the right questions, in the right way, and properly interpret the findings in order to have actionable results. The online survey process can seem daunting to those who have never conducted one. We have established a smoooth process of programming, testing, respondent invitation, and response updates that takes the weight off the shoulders of our clients.