At Credit Research Foundation, the staff uses Zoomerang to offer its members the opportunity to survey other members about the latest best practices and problem-solving solutions.

Credit Research Foundation, a 50-year old nonprofit organization based in Columbia, Maryland, keeps business, credit and accounts receivable managers informed of best practices in the industry.

Surveys allow members to help each other

Credit Research Foundation (CRF) uses Zoomerang to enhance its members knowledge of the best means of handling credit and receivables issues. When the staff at CRF receives a query from a member that they can't answer, they invite the member to put together a series of questions that they incorporate into a Zoomerang survey.

The surveys are created by and for their membership, and are sent out to its members, and only its members. The respondents know that the surveys seek to understand the best means of handling new situations, so value participating in the survey. And because our members develop the questions, the surveys and the great response rates reflect their desire to help each other, says Terry Callahan, President of CRF. The results are then posted on CRFs web site for members to reference later. The surveys cover multiple areas of best practices, so the respondents see a lot of value in their participation, he says.

Traditional surveys are too time consuming

Callahan had been relying on the traditional pen-and-paper form of surveying, but found the data entry and analysis component to be too time consuming. Then he discovered Zoomerang, the online survey software. Not only was it much more convenient, it saved him a tremendous amount of time. Using Zoomerang resulted in light years of improvement. Where it may have taken three to four hours to generate a paper survey it is now done in about 30 minutes the biggest amount of time now being the thought that needs to go into making the survey make sense. On the compilation side, we often don't have to do anything except let people view the results which means we simply point them to the link, while before we had to enter the data into some sort of database and make our own graphs and charts. Something that may have taken days, is now not even taking a minute, he says.

Not only does Zoomerang help save time, but also it fits with the level of service that CRF works to maintain. Our membership looks to us for innovative ideas, so using at tool like. Zoomerang for our surveys is part of what they expect of us, he says.

The first Zoomerang survey that CRF sent out was in late 2001. Callahan was initially struck by how quickly he received feedback. As well, he was impressed by the online tools flexibility that allowed him to create the type of survey he wanted. Now his team averages at least one survey a month and can receive response rates up to 70%.

Results from past and current surveys available to members

Generally Callahan and his team use close-ended questions in a survey. We keep the surveys short, about five to seven questions, so our members find it easy and fast to respond, he says. The close-ended questions are easier to fill out, says Callahan, so we get a better response rate.

They leave the surveys open for about two weeks, but we receive about half the responses back almost immediately, its incredible, Callahan says. For example, they sent out a survey inquiring into the best methods for handling smaller customers with credit collections issues. We had 40 responses within half an hour, he says.

When the member completes the Zoomerang survey and hits the Submit button, they return to the CRF web site and its archive of previous surveys. This way, CRFs members have an historical link to previous surveys and therefore problem-solving options. Its perfect for what we do, Callahan says.

Creativity a key in getting the most from Zoomerang

Callahan suggests that people using Zoomerang should be as creative as they can be. By using Zoomerang as a means to enhance membership learning, Callahan and his staff have been able to provide a tremendous service for their membership, one which he doesn't believe is replicated in similar organizations. As part of CRFs mandate is to keep its members as informed as possible, We find Zoomerang to be a great solution and a fantastic service, he says.

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