As was highlighted in last month’s newsletter, BoardEffect recently conducted its first-ever client satisfaction survey. We were blown away by the community’s response, with over 800 surveys having been completed during the month of January 2015. As we head into the analysis stage of the survey, I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the early takeaways from that initiative.
In general, we were ecstatic with the feedback. While there were many consistently positive themes, a few stood out in particular:
- The Big Easy: People find BoardEffect easy to use, which is something they appear to truly appreciate. This was expressed in different ways and was by far the most pronounced sentiment in the survey’s qualitative comments. We work hard to make things easy; and we’re committed to keeping ease-of-use as the central pillar of BoardEffect.
- A Little Help From My Friends: Survey responders also highly value the support they receive from BoardEffect. This was the second most common comment, and a really important one. This is a point of pride for us; and we are excited to roll-out a number of support enhancements planned for 2015.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The third major point of feedback was how much organizations were able to save by leveraging their board management platform. The main items referenced were: time, emails, paper, energy, and even expenses. We’re delighted to help reduce in these areas; and we couldn’t be happier to see these kinds of quotes.
But…none of us is perfect, which we certainly recognize about our organization. Rather, BoardEffect is a work in progress, which means we must work very hard to meet our lofty aspirations. And comments from this survey have shone a light on areas that warrant examination for improvement. With that in mind, below are a few of the trends that round-out a full “warts and all” picture from the survey:
- Hmmm…Not So Fast: Not everyone finds BoardEffect user-friendly; and many people voiced criticism about its ease-of-use. We heard things like: “the user interface seems outdated,” “it can be cumbersome to navigate,” it takes too many steps to load files,” and “some things aren’t intuitive.”
- Self Reliance: Although people appreciate support from BoardEffect, they are less enthusiastic about the resources available that allow them to help themselves. Specifically, there is an expressed need for clearer documentation, step-by-step instructions for tasks, and explanations around frequent software updates.
- Are We There Yet: There are areas of functionality that cropped up as recognized points of pain. These included RSVP’s, email archiving capabilities, search capabilities, and the long-awaited Android app. These were raised as ongoing challenges, with an understandable sense of urgency around prospective improvements.
We consider these less-glowing points not only to be instructive feedback, but also to be very fair and every bit as motivating as the compliments above. In fact, we endure these opportunities for improvement on a daily basis; and we may be the most eager of anyone to address. Thankfully, the survey yielded very few surprises. In fact, these are the very items we have been working diligently over recent months to resolve. Having taken this opportunity to give a balanced glimpse at our survey results, we cannot wait to build upon the strengths and eclipse the weaknesses. Please return to this column in future months to get updates on these actions. And, more importantly, please hold us accountable for delivering against them in your everyday experience with BoardEffect.
— Todd Gibby, CEO at BoardEffect
