Problem

The biggest roadblock for our research was managing multiple tools. Sending email links, creating surveys, and tracking respondents are all tasks that take up a ton of my time. And we wanted to add an NPS indicator to the mix. The only other problem is all that anger around NPS!

Yes I’m aware of Qualtrics, but for my current email, survey, and tracking needs, I don’t want to use it because The Zebra is a small company operating on what some would consider a scrappy budget. We buy access to tools that provide the most value for the price.

The bottom line is it led to business and UX improvements that would not have been possible without this workflow. Sarah KettlesDirector of Research, The Zebra

Solution

With Ethnio, I am able to upload, filter, and survey participants faster than we’ve ever done before—and all from one tool. I can choose from 16 question types and fully customize each one. This even allows us to get creative and apply a new approach to our NPS indicators. 

NPS with emojis! 🤯

Because we want to lead users into the second question, “How likely are you to recommend The Zebra to a friend?” we start off with a simple 3-point emoji scale. Asking about the initial experience first and then progressing naturally to a broader NPS.

This gave us more feedback to play with and added an extra dimension to filling out an NPS. 

Building on the idea of progressive disclosure, we found having a shorter opening question to be much more effective at increasing response rates. Not to mention the appeal of having  a colorful, playful, and quick opinion scale to draw in users.

With Ethnio, I can combine all these tasks into one. I have full control over my research—from light surveys to tracking and sending email invites.

The Email and Survey Landscape

Like most organizations with dedicated researchers, we have many tools for emailing and surveying our users and prospects. Specifically, what I love about Ethnio is how it lets me:

  • Upload and export data easily

  • Work from email templates that are versatile, accept inline HTML and look sleek

  • Review email metrics on opens, clicks, and bounces

  • Track participation across multiple studies or emails

  • Maintain a visually consistent experience from the first time I send emails to the moment I pay out a participant or survey a respondent

The Outcome

I’m now able to email thousands of respondents within a few minutes, get plenty of completes, and manage opt-outs within a few minutes. That includes making sure opt-outs across all our tools are synced; which means I can export opt-opts from Ethnio and import them to our other tools. This is an easy extra step that makes a world of difference for compliance and lets me provide faster insights to my stakeholders, so I can move on to other fun research tasks. 

One specific example of that is identifying patterns in open-ended data. Because Ethnio makes it easy to export and parse  open-ended responses to the surveys we field, my team and I were able to discover an issue with a “carrier partner,” which is a fun insurance term that you probably don’t need to know, but it’s too late now.

Other Bonus of using Ethnio

Intercepts! Start to finish communication platform to manage our customer testimonials. We have a production company, and it will be easier for me to target, schedule, and communicate with potential customers.

The reason I invented Pool in the first place is I hate when people have a shitty experience getting transferred between many different platforms. Honestly it’s usually at least three platforms. 

Sending targeted email invites to multiple lists of potential participants is a breeze with Ethnio Pool. I have lots of sources for my quant and qual participants, so I needed one place to upload, email, survey, and track all my participants in one place. 

Full disclosure, I used Ethnio in my last role at Airbnb where I basically invented their Pool product. True story.