Top 5 Employee Survey Tools: The Ultimate 2023 Review

Halfway through 2023, the need for effective survey tools is more evident than ever. According to the Gallup research, in the US, only 32% of full- and part-time employees working for organizations are now engaged, while 18% are actively disengaged. By surveying employees, businesses can gain valuable insights into their engagement levels and take necessary measures to improve them. 

This review presents the top 5 employee survey tools that excel in meeting the demands of modern workplaces and company culture in 2023. With it, our aim is to help business owners make informed decisions in selecting the best software for their needs.

Key criteria for evaluating employee survey tools in 2023:

• Features and functionalities: Look for tools that offer a range of functions to create effective questionnaires, including scheduling recurring surveys and the flexibility to add or pause questions during ongoing surveys.

• User experience and ease of use: Choose tools with intuitive and user-friendly interfaces to encourage higher participation rates and accurate data collection.

• Survey customization and branding options: Prioritize tools that allow customization to match an organization's specific needs, including branding and design elements.

• Advanced data analytics and reporting capabilities: Opt for tools that provide comprehensive data analytics, real-time analysis, and meaningful reporting to gain actionable insights from survey results.

• Integration capabilities with other HR systems: Seek tools that seamlessly integrate survey results with employee profiles, goal-setting processes, and performance review software for a holistic view of employee engagement.

• Security and data privacy measures: Ensure tools prioritize data encryption, compliance with data protection regulations, and secure storage options to protect sensitive employee information.

• Pricing and value for money: Consider the affordability of the tool while assessing its long-term usage, striking a balance between cost and the provided features and benefits.

Top 5 Employee Survey Tools: The Ultimate 2023 Review

Tool 1: Plai

Plai is an exceptional performance management and employee engagement tool that offers a wealth of innovative features:

• Intuitive user interface
• Advanced analytics capabilities
• Seamless integration options
• Robust data security measures
• Competitive pricing

When it comes to its employee engagement functionalities, Plai’s key advantage lies in its ability to schedule recurring surveys and track indicators over time, such as eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score) and ESAT (Employee Satisfaction) scores. Plai automatically includes new employees in recurring surveys, streamlining the data collection process.

Integrating survey results into action plans is also made effortless with Plai. Managers can link survey results to individual employee profiles, facilitating one-on-one discussions and enabling HR departments to align survey data with organizational goals.

Furthermore, Plai provides access structures that mirror your organization’s hierarchy, allowing managers to easily access survey responses of their teams without manual intervention from HR. This eliminates the need for HR to export responses to spreadsheets, filter data by department, and distribute it manually.

On top of that, Plai comes with performance management tools including 360 degree feedback, OKRs and AI capabilities.

Pricing model

Plai offers the following subscription plans on an annual contract basis:

• Starter — $2.4/user/month (best for startups and small teams)
• Pro — $4/user/month (best for small and medium companies)
• Enterprise — custom pricing (best for 1000+ ppl companies)

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Tool 2: SurveySparrow

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SurveySparrow is an online survey platform that allows you to construct visually appealing, conversational surveys. Notable features include:

• Sub-accounts and multiple users
• Multi-language surveys
• Visual workflows

Surveys made using this tool can be made more interactive using photos, GIFs, emoticons, and videos. You can also construct website chatbots and integrate them on your website to conduct chat surveys which collect reliable data while engaging your site visitors.

SurveySparrow offers an easy-to-use interface that allows you to construct surveys rapidly using pre-built templates. 

However, one drawback of this tool is that it may require reliance on developers for certain customization and implementation tasks, which can be inconvenient for businesses.

SurveySparrow also lacks comprehensive email marketing capabilities, which potentially limits its effectiveness of survey distribution and follow-up communication.

Pricing model

SurveySparrow’s subscription plans can be billed quarterly or annually. However, business owners are required to leave their contact information in order to gain access to detailed pricing information.

Tool 3: SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a widely recognized and popular employee survey tool. The tool has certainly established itself as a reliable choice for organizations in need of effective employee engagement solutions.

Main features include:

• User-friendly interface
• Intuitive survey creation process
• Analytics and reporting 
• Lots of customization options
• Integration capabilities with various third-party tools

SurveyMonkey provides a powerful survey builder that allows users to create customized surveys tailored to a range of specific needs. It offers a wide range of question types and ample options for survey customization and branding. Users can personalize survey themes, colors, and add logos to create a consistent brand experience for participants.

However, while SurveyMonkey offers the option to create recurring surveys, it does not have the same level of automation as Plai. Users may need to manually add new employees to recurring surveys, which can be time-consuming for larger organizations.

Additionally, SurveyMonkey’s advanced features and functionalities require higher-tier pricing plans, making it less suitable for smaller and medium-sized businesses with tighter budgets.

Pricing model

• Basic — free (10-question limit and other response limits apply)
• Individual Advantage — €36/month
• Team Advantage — €30/user/month

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Tool 4: SurveyLab

SurveyLab is a cloud-based survey solution designed to help businesses create surveys, conduct market research, and collect employee feedback effectively. Notable features include:

• Survey branding
• Analytics and reports
• Multi-channel response collection

With SurveyLab, users have access to a range of pre-built survey templates that can be customized with different question types, logical branching, colors, and branding to suit specific needs. 

To enhance research capabilities, SurveyLab provides access to online research panels that are ISO certified and aligned with industry standards.

However, this tool comes with a limit of 1,000 respondents in the basic plan, which might be inadequate depending on the desired sample size for surveys targeting larger audiences.

Some users have also reported that it can occasionally be challenging to locate features within the platform, and that the absence of automatic saving of changes may lead to the risk of forgetting to save modifications made during survey creation or editing.

Pricing model

• Starter — €49/month
• Advanced — €99/month
• Professional — €249/month
• Enterprise –- custom pricing

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Tool 5: ZohoSurvey

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Zoho Survey is a part of Zoho’s suite of tools and offers surveys for various purposes such as customer satisfaction, human resources, marketing, market research, and employee satisfaction, making it a solid competitor in the survey tool market.

Generally speaking, this tool is suitable for small to large businesses and provides:

• Multi-channel distribution
• Feedback management
• Email marketing
• Reporting and analytics

It offers pre-built survey templates with a large question library, allowing users to customize surveys to their specific needs. Branching and skip logic, along with multimedia support, enable dynamic and engaging survey experiences.

However, compared to other survey tools (like Plai), ZohoSurvey comes with limited integration and customization options. The tool also blocks the ability to accept responses during updates. And, just like other Zoho modules, ZohoSurvey is difficult to use as a standalone product — it is intended as an extension of Zoho One.

Pricing model

• Free (limited options)
• Plus — €25/month
• Pro — €35/month
• Enterprise — €75/month

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Employee survey software: comparison table

Conclusion

Ultimately, Plai’s innovative features related to employee engagement, performance reviews, and competitive pricing make it the best employee survey tool and the most compelling choice for organizations that want to elevate their employee engagement efforts and workplace culture in 2023. 

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to drive positive change within your organization. Sign up with Plai today and empower your employees to voice their opinions, improve employee engagement, and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

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