Online Surveys Help Keep Food on This Organization's Table

In 2004, Traverse City, Mich., resident Mary Rogers launched Marigold Women in Business, an organization that helps women create economic opportunities through entrepreneurship and career development. Now, in a tougher economy, Marigold's services are as valuable as ever, helping local area women network, interact, and keep (or put) their businesses on track.

Six times each year, the group meets for its "Marigold Over Lunch" program. In alternating months it also offers its "Marigold Forum Series," a program of small-group business development meetings. Then, every other Monday, Marigold runs a popular dining program called "Chef du Jour," which features local restaurants and chefs, often providing more than $100 worth of dining for just $25.

Challenge: Gathering Feedback and Making Adjustments

With all the details associated with running those programs, Karyn Hertel, Marigold's director, says she doesn't have time to draft surveys after each event — let alone tabulate their results. But the feedback is crucial to making sure that the attendees' needs are being met.

Also, in addition to using the surveys to improve its own operations, Marigold shares the feedback with both its sales staff and its partner restaurants. For example, with its "Chef du Jour" program, it asks attendees how the most recent dining experience went, as well as where else customers would like to dine the next time. Then it forwards the comments to the previous host restaurant (to help the chefs and owners improve their businesses) and they move on to book the next eatery of choice.

Solution: Automating the Process with Online Surveys

Time is money, and to keep down the costs of manually tabulating surveys, Marigold uses Online Survey from Constant Contact to stay in touch with their customers. After each event that they conduct, the organization surveys attendees to continually improve its offerings.

Luckily, the Constant Contact Online Surveys feature has pre-written sample questions that help Marigold compose their questionnaires. Constant Contact helps us stay in communication with our constituent base in a very affordable way — we're not paying print expenses or things like that. "We just make it fit our events and send it away," Karyn says.

Karyn's favorite aspect of the service is its simplicity. "It's very easy; it's very user-friendly," she says. "Anyone who didn't know anything about computers could pop right in and use it pretty quickly."

For example, Karyn finds importing her contacts into Constant Contact to be a snap, "whether it's 15 people who attended a dinner party that we did, or 100 people who attended a luncheon." And exporting reports so her sales staff can track down the next restaurant is also a cinch. "It's increased sales for our sales team because they take that list and prospect," she says.

Results: Saving Time and Money

"I've only been working with the Online Surveys product for six months," Karyn says, "but I've already seen great success."

In addition, switching to Constant Contact has had a great impact on Marigold's budget. "Constant Contact helps us stay in communication with our constituent base in a very affordable way — we're not paying print expenses or things like that."

This allows Marigold to do more with less. As a result of the savings Marigold is realizing by using Constant Contact, it has been able to help stimulate the economy by putting on some free events, like book club meetings where attendees can check the required reading out of the local library. "Let's face it, people have less money to spend these days," Karyn says. "It's our way of giving back."