Zoomerang Success Stories

University of Nebraska

University structures web seminars based on survey responses

The University of Nebraska — Lincoln uses Zoomerang for benchmarking, course planning and post-seminar feedback.

Zoomerang results deliver customer insight

The University’s new online offering is the NU Skills program (www.nuskills.unl.edu), which offers seminars targeted at small businesses and sole proprietors. Its one-hour classes include topics such as marketing, business law, presentation skills and business writing.

“We were launching business-training webinars,” says Brenda Caine, Director, Communications Information Technology, “and we wanted to know people’s interest levels. We used Zoomerang to do market research on the webinars, then for post-seminar evaluations.”

Responses help design web courses

Caine began by developing a survey to determine the interest level in web-based business training for small businesses and individuals.

“We sent the survey to our existing database,” Caine says. “The results helped us confirm the value of the webinars. We also learned that the respondents wanted the hour-long classes offered during the workday and in the morning. We asked them how much they’d be willing to spend on the seminars and which topics would interest them. They really helped us design the program,” she says.

Now, after the webinar is finished, the participants are directed to a Zoomerang survey where they’re asked questions about the course they just completed. “We like to measure impact and learn what people do differently in their job based on what they learned. We want to be able to document how we’re changing how people work and make decisions. And Zoomerang let’s us do that,” says Caine.

Survey responses used for strategic planning

Caine also uses Zoomerang to gain input into her strategic planning. “I wanted to understand what our customer satisfaction is like and what our strengths and weaknesses were.” To do so, she sent out a survey to her customers for benchmarking. “The results helped us adjust our goals for the year.”

“Our customers are both internal and external. Internal are the faculty and staff of the university. Externally, our customers are industry groups and other concerned constituent groups,” she says.

“With the internal survey, we offered an incentive,” Caine says. “If you responded to the survey, you were entered into a draw for a $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. I don’t know how much the incentive helped, but we had a tremendous response. We sent the survey to 800 people and received 228 respondents,” or over 28%.

For the external customers, she offered a different incentive. Respondents were entered into a draw to win one of three $100 gift certificates to Cabela’s, an outdoor outfitter in Nebraska. For the external survey, 1500 people received the survey and 253 completed it, or about 17%.

“Through the survey, we found a couple of weak areas. For example, our turnaround time. Now, when we complete a project, we send our customers a Zoomerang survey” to receive immediate feedback on their experience, including turnaround time.

Zoomerang outperforms traditional surveys

“I like two things about Zoomerang in particular,” Caiine says, “that you can do it online, and that people think it’s fun to take the survey and respond.” Before Zoomerang, she mailed pen-and-paper surveys. “But the response was mediocre,” Caine says. The web-based survey tool improved response rates dramatically. “I’ve done a lot of direct mail in my career. So when I see a one percent response, I get excited. At 10 percent, I get very excited. With these numbers, I’m pretty amazed.”

“And I’m a real believer in measurement. When you get to the end, you know how much you’ve improved,” Caine says. Zoomerang “is a great tool for measurement. The cross-tabulation allows you to be flexible. Zoomerang lets me to put together the surveys quickly and get the results. It’s cost-effective so I use it more. It’s so easy and inexpensive. Even if I only used it once a year, it would be worth it.”

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