The iSalient folks trust me with a review of their product so they have paid me megabucks through ReviewMe to provide my superior analysis to their survey software.
If you run a website or your company does then more times than not you would like to get into the head of your visitors. You can do this either by writing an entry and looking for comments or the more popular way of doing a survey. Unfortunately, much of the survey software out there is generic and not of a professional quality. iSalient has created an online survey application that takes the headache out of managing surveys and does so through an interface that with a little improvement makes this a total winner.
The Interface
The interface that guides you through the software is fairly intuitive although I do wish the icons were a bit larger along with the font. Working with 11px font on an application interface isn’t my idea of fun, but it is good enough to get you through the steps. The tabs help to keep things simple while helping you get to the area you want quickly.
Features
For me, when I think of survey software I simply envision a package that lets you create a question, some answers and get the results. iSalient takes that idea and runs with it allowing you to customize your surveys with a number of options. The reports that are generated from the surveys become more like statistics reports which should help you get the information needed.
You can also setup email lists that are gathered through your surveys so you can track the answers left by people. This is key when you wish to simply go beyond an anonymous response that you might not be able to follow up on. Too often you see surveys where the responses are silly answers with no foundation, so if you get curious about any responses you have a means to communicate with the respondents.
Finally, you have the ability to add new styles to your surveys or import old ones. Nobody likes a generic looking survey so this ability goes a long way in helping the survey fit your brand although as you will see in a bit that might not be that important considering how the surveys are implemented.
Implementation
Now honestly this part disappoints me a bit. I would think that you would have the ability to paste your survey on your site as is the method used in most cases. Instead you are given three options:
- A link that points back to iSalient for your survey.
- A pop-up survey.
- A text link that you can use for emails.
None of these sound like a method I would want to use. Implement an onsite feature that isn’t a popup and I think they are well on their way. Of course if you have a newsletter or mailing list, the email option works perfectly for you. But for the rest of the web I am sure they will be looking for a bit more.
Conclusion
Not a bad product, but a slightly improved interface and the option to have the surveys directly on the site would go a long way. The reporting and email lists functionality is a great feature to have for anyone seriously looking to get quality results and an understanding from their surveys.
Originally posted on May 23, 2007 @ 10:48 pm