Measuring Stakeholder Satisfaction in Data Teams
Value perception is an important component of proving the value of analytics. I believe that data teams should take regular, intentional actions to understand stakeholder satisfaction. Consider setting a goal like this:
Improve the data team’s stakeholder satisfaction from 60% in Q4 2024 to 80% in Q4 2025.
Surveys help data teams gauge stakeholder satisfaction, providing a well-rounded picture of business impact when used in conjunction with other techniques such as usage metrics (for more on usage metrics, see my earlier article here ). You can use surveys to reveal the perceived value the data team generates.
Overcoming Common Challenges
Although the benefits of surveys are clear, some challenges might make you hesitant to implement them. Here are common issues and practical solutions:
1. Getting Honest Feedback
You know what? People lie. To put it another way, respondents might not be entirely truthful on surveys, even if they are anonymous. Colleagues may still fear their responses could be identified. As a result, you might not get the whole truth. Make sure your survey settings allow people to respond anonymously, and mention this fact when you invite people to participate. If you are especially concerned, you could even combat it by involving an external party to run and analyze the surveys. This third-party approach may encourage more candid feedback.
2. Increasing Response Rates
It can be a struggle to get enough survey responses. Follow-up reminders and direct messages from execs can boost participation. If your survey design supports it, split in-flight response rates by business area and target reminders to leaders whose teams are lagging. If surveys still fall short, consider alternatives like focus groups or one-on-one conversations to gather anecdotal feedback. There are multiple ways to gauge stakeholder satisfaction. Find an approach that works for you.
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3. Dealing with a Shifting Audience
If you establish surveys as a series - which I strongly encourage - you may find that you can’t easily compare across them. You are unlikely to get the same respondents each time due to employee turnover, vacations, or other factors. This variability shouldn't stop you from running surveys, but it’s just something to keep in mind when analyzing results.
4. High Satisfaction Is Not Always a Win
Survey results may not always align with your strategic priorities. For example, if your org has dedicated data analysts for specific stakeholder groups, those stakeholders are likely to be highly satisfied. If you decide to shift your strategy to pull back some of those dedicated analysts and have them focus instead on broader business priorities, it might lead to pockets of unhappiness. Satisfaction scores might decline even though you’ve made a justifiable strategic move. It’s important to understand that lower scores in this context are not necessarily negative.
Conclusion
I believe that all data teams should run stakeholder satisfaction surveys at least annually, ideally two to three times a year to avoid survey fatigue. If you're not already doing this, what’s holding you back?
See Also
This article is part of a series on proving the value of analytics. Check out these related posts:
Finally, here’s a Google Drive folder with links to sample surveys . More on that in a future article.
Inqqa AI connects the dots in employee surveys & market research
3 个月Great point on the importance of stakeholder feedback! How do you handle the analysis of open-ended responses in your surveys? Have you found any effective tools or methods for turning qualitative feedback into actionable insights?
Simplifying and Automating Marketing Tag QA
4 个月Something a team I was on did was created a Figma board where we all put challenges in our processes on cards. We then grouped them together into common areas. Then we voted on which ones we believed were most important. Then we took the top items and worked on plans of action to resolve those issues. This involved both the analytics team and the stakeholders so the outcome was balanced.
Vice President Of Technology at LPL Financial
4 个月I really like the point about survey i.e., "high satisfaction is not always a win" we need to slice and dice the data to understand real inference and fix the real issue.
Rethink Venture @ Team8 | Early-Stage Ideation | CDAO Community
4 个月Eidan Siniver This is exactly what we spoke about