BUSINESS - WEB SERVICES - 28.05.2013

Online polls among your colleagues

Tricider

Suppose you’re planning a company trip and you would like your employees to have their say too. In such a situation, a web service such as Tricider (https://tricider.com/en/t) can be of great assistance. On the homepage, there’s a data entry field: this is where you can formulate a question - even without signing up - for example “Do you have a suggestion for our team event?” This question is then stored as a unique URL which you can share with your colleagues via various channels: e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and your own website (via an embed code). You and your employees can make proposals via the Add Idea button and optionally add an extra description and a picture.

The others can vote for the suggestions and they can even present their arguments for and against. After signing up (free - also via Facebook or Google+), you are entitled to several extra options, including automatic updates whenever new suggestions and votes come in. It’s also possible to customise certain things via Settings, e.g. the most popular suggestions at the top, password protection. Note. Some options require the Plus formula: it costs €3.99 or £3.40 per month.

UserVoice

UserVoice (http://www.uservoice.com) is a webtool that allows people to vote via the well-known Digg system in a fully-fledged forum. The best-liked proposals will appear at the top of the list, and the answers can be filtered and sorted according to different criteria. UserVoice has paid for formulas, but we recommend giving the free version a try first. It allows you to create only one forum, but this should be enough to plan your event or to try out an idea.

AnswerGarden

AnswerGarden (http://www.answergarden.ch) is a cloud tool that you can use for brainstorming and organising opinion polls. You start the process by clicking on the Create AnswerGarden button. In the data entry field, type a question, and below it you can immediately change a number of settings - e.g. limit the number of answers from one single IP address. Here again, the question is stored as a unique URL that you can share via different channels or integrate into your own website. It’s even possible to turn it into a QR code for mobile devices.

Other people can answer the question you’ve asked, but they’re only given space for 20 characters. The answers appear below the question, and the more popular these answers are, the larger they will be displayed - let the mouse pointer hover over an answer to see the exact number of “votes”. This system is, of course, somewhat self-fulfilling as popular suggestions are more conspicuous than less popular ones.

Note. AnswerGarden is completely free, and you don’t even need to sign up.

Also for your customers!

You can also use these tools for your customers’ feedback, allowing them to suggest or develop new ideas, products or services. Their feedback offers added value and boosts their loyalty.