Benchling vs. Formstack Forms vs. SnapSurveys

Benchling is especially well suited to groups or contexts where there are many users who do not have a coding background but need a seamless and structured approach to data. Benchling is particularly useful in cases where there are data flows from instruments and other devices where the data can be deposited in an automated fashion. It is likely less appropriate or useful to users who are just looking for a general data warehouse solution.

Incentivized

Formstack makes it easy to create a variety of forms. I have used it for event interest and registrations, email list sign-ups, and surveys. I have found it easy to customize, and easy to export data for import into other systems (e.g., CRM).

Incentivized

I think it is very important to go through their training videos and user guides. Devote the time to learning it correctly from the beginning. In the long run you will enjoy it much more than plowing right into it and then trying to find out if you did it right. Also, while you are not required to buy the annual maintenance contract, I think if you are going to use the program, don't skimp, buy the annual maintenance contract. The free technical support is necessary, especially when you are up against deadlines.

• Excellent easy to use and beautiful UI
• Great customer support and training
• Has no code ways of retrieving and depositing data

Incentivized

• Allows for unique situations. As a school, we don't have the luxury of being cookie cutter. Neither do our forms.
• Support. If we don't know how to do it, their support team has been very helpful and actually attempts to understand the issue on hand.
• User friendliness. In our field we have a phrase: "what if you get hit by a bus?" With Formstack, you can "get hit by the bus" and someone else can jump in and still keep things running (this is used as a phrase for illness, not termination).

Incentivized

• The training helped me to customize surveys for the different departments that the office of IR served.
• Surveys were easy to create and gathering information was made easy because SnapsSurveys worked well with SPSS.
• Once surveys were created I could scan them and have the results to my boss in less than an hour depending on the size of the survey group.
• Snaps customer service reps were always willing to help.

Incentivized

• Some of the integrations can be a bit spotty so it depends on what kind of data source you are integrating
• Sometimes new users are not always aware of all the various functionality that Benchling has - can do better to provide more user awareness of more complex features

Incentivized

• Setting up our multi-step form took some getting used to. Some of the branching logic configuration wasn't as intuitive as would be ideal.
• Since we were pushing data directly into Hubspot, I found it cumbersome to deal with data storage limits within Formstack. I would get frequent notices that new responses were not being stored in Formstack and that I needed to upgrade or delete data. I got tired of that.
• More/easier support for custom fonts would have been a huge plus. We were able to customize the form's appearance, but had to make some concessions in that regard.

Incentivized

• Though the user interface is easy to navigate, it would be nice to see is design updated to something more aesthetically pleasing.

Our user base has come to rely on Formstack to get forms done. The Formstack tools make it easy to start from scratch or copy an existing form to "quick start" a new, similar form. The price is right and frees up IT staff to do more transformative work.

Incentivized

The main reason we will renew is that it does the job, it supports our system, and we have budgeted for it so why change?

It's easy to learn how to use, generally easy for clients to use, and overall I've never had an overwhelmingly negative experience with it. While there are a few tweaks that could make it really shine, Formstack Forms serves almost all our needs and we're super happy with it.

Incentivized

I think as an organization there is always room to grow, however, this application has really helped us with our dilemma with offline, online, and paper surveys. We are able to make our surveys fun and engaging and the interface for the person creating the survey is user-friendly. Customer service is very helpful if you need additional support.

Incentivized

The agents in the original group, especially the ones in cahoots with the developers, are really solid and know what they're talking about--I'm looking at you, Collin. The 'Tier 1' support agents that typically reply to the tickets are really spotty. If you have an overly technical question, i.e. bugfix, or describe a feature from a few years back that randomly disappeared, these agents typically will give you what feels like a generic reply and not know what you're talking about.

Incentivized

We implemented on one of the earlier versions. Through continuous engineering improvements, the interface keeps getting easier and more intuitive. Therefore, later implementations keep getting easier and better.

Incentivized

Benchling was much more of a full stack solution and provide much more features that were relevant to the group. Airtable was more of a generic way to manage large amounts of data, but the complexity was still high for the types of data that would be need to be managed and there would need to be some workarounds. Overall Benchling was selected since it also had an electronic lab notebook feature which was very useful to associates in addition to its data workflows.

Incentivized

Drupal is a much more customizable platform, however you must have someone build the forms first and then you can work with them if you do not have the programming knowledge. If you have any changes to make, it can sometimes be both a time consuming and difficult process. Formstack is much more efficient if you do not have an in house programmer.

Incentivized

It is an in between option. The options we evaluated were Qualtrics and SurveyGizmo. It's cheaper than Qualtrics and easier to design surveys than SurveyGizmo. Nonetheless it's not the worst option out there like SurveyMonkey.

Incentivized

• It had a positive ROI in terms of reducing the amount of time spent on data movement and curation by associates
• It had a positive ROI in terms of increasing the number of insights from structured data
• It reduced the number of data entry and analysis errors by associates which led to a positive ROI in terms of efficiency and reducing time wasted by tracking down errors in data

Incentivized

• Positive - ability to analyze submission trends - e.g. when a marketing email is sent, looking at increased form viewing and submissions in relation to the sending of the campaign.
• Immediate response - those that submit forms receive immediate response that their form has been submitted.

Incentivized

• Using a professional survey package enhances my reputation as a research professional.
• I have been able to use the software's functionality to exceed my clients expectations.