FluidSurveys (Discontinued) vs. ProProfs Survey Maker

For surveys, and for centralized info-gathering, FluidSurveys provides an excellent solution. There are other programs out there which provide a wider range of solutions (i.e., they can be used for surveying AND comprehensive online engagement, rather than just a data-gathering type of consultation); however, for programming and implementing surveys, FluidSurveys has an effective variety of strengths and options that make it optimal for users who are focused specifically on surveys.

If you have many hours to spend on the phone or chat with customer service and want to save $100, ProProfs is your platform. For those with limited time to invest, it's worth spending a bit more to get quality service and functionality without a hassle.

• User-friendly. For the majority of the general and basic tools you can use with FluidSurveys to build surveys are simple to use and intuitive. When certain issues come up, the service is quick (chat room) and effective.
• Anonymity: the software has the reputation of being safer in terms of safeguarding private information the respondents share by answering surveys (this is mainly due to the fact that the servers are in Canada). Thus, indirectly, they increase response rates.
• Extensive possibilities: FluidSurveys offers a plethora of possibilities and options that really renders the experience interesting in terms of micro-managing each details of the surveys you are sending out there. When the invitation leaves by email, it is exactly how you want it.

• ProProfs is cheaper than its competitors.

• There should be more flexibility and customizability with regard to survey design (e.g. background, fonts...)

• [I feel] Customer service closes tickets without resolving the issues first....and there are a lot of issues.
• I paid for the upgraded version, but couldn't get the upgraded functionality without spending days on the phone, chat, and remote desktop with customer service.
• We paid for 500 responses/month, but the survey closed before we reached that number. We asked for a refund so we could pay for another month of advertising, but they ignored the request, instead giving us more days to use the platform (not sure how this was supposed to help).
• Every time you view the Welcome Page, the changes to font and formatting revert back to default and you must re-do them every time.
• The reports aren't what you expect. They are very limited. I expected Q1- 75% answered Yes, 25% No. Instead the reports are listed across columns in an Excel spreadsheet with every respondent's answer in the rows below. The stats are a bit better, but I don't think you can share them with others.
• Very limited functionality in the free or 1st upgrade. You need to go to premium and get on the phone with customer service to get basic functions that appear in Survey Monkey. {I think] their advertising is misleading.

Note: I am responding to this question as a user of the system and not a representative of my organization.

On a personal level/as a user only, I would definitely continue to use FluidSurveys.On a personal level/as a user only, I would definitely continue to use FluidSurveys.

I think the average person can very quickly pick up on the basics of the system: they would have no problems programming and launching a basic survey. Organizations may benefit from having people of different backgrounds getting their hands dirty in the system: at a minimum, both web programmers and opinion research advisors should be solicited for input or help.

They shouldn't have opened for public use before they figured out their tech glitches, functionality, how to report, billing issues, and customer service. [I feel] it's poorly run and creates hassle, negative ROI, and frustration for organizations using the platform. Unfortunately, needing to call or email ProProfs every week to get the platform to work is not a good service model.

The customer service is not well trained on the issues I've needed to call about. There doesn't seem to be good interaction cross-department at ProProfs and every time I talk to someone new, I have to re-explain the situation or they blame the situation on another department. They don't get quick results for the client.

Although I do not have much experience with Survey Monkey, the only two reasons why I choose FluidSurveys is that clients demand it (privacy and anonymity) and because managing multiple surveys at a time is easier. As for ODK Collect, I think it is a valuable alternative to FluidSurveys if you have time to learn the coding (not very complicated). ODK is a little less user friendly and you cannot address small details as you can with FluidSurveys (e.g.: formatting).

ProProfs feel like a garage start-up that didn't really figure out the functionality or customer service before they launched, while Survey Monkey is reputable and reliable. ProProfs has very limited reporting, but Survey Monkey is exactly what you expect with the basic package- analyzing percentages of each response. Survey Monkey is more customizable, even if you have to pay a bit more.

• Confidentiality of data is a big concern for our company, and we feel more secure working with a Canadian company. Our clients feel more secure, too.

• Negative ROI based on extra money spent on upgrading, losing days with the survey not being upgraded on time, losing money on external advertising when the survey closed early, and losing many work hours reaching out to customer service.