Ensuring a Smooth Migration: CX Group's Journey with Checkbox

Introduction

For nearly four decades, CX Group, through its member companies BestMark and Second To None, has led the charge in customer, shopper, and employee experience research. With an impressive track record of over 16 million shopper interactions and 10 million customer and employee surveys, CX Group has built a legacy of deep market understanding and insight. This case study explores CX Group's pivotal decision to partner with Checkbox, a decision that not only addressed their immediate challenges but also set a new standard for operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness in their research endeavors.

CX Group conducts market research for companies like Target, Ford, United Healthcare, and Chipotle, to name a few. Together, Checkbox and CX Group combine deep market understanding with technological excellence, driving market insights and contributing to the continuing growth and success of CX Group's customers. We chatted with Chris Krosnowski, Chief Technology Officer at CX Group, to walk us through the company's journey in selecting and implementing Checkbox as a new solution for the business. 

Challenges

Before Checkbox entered the scene, CX Group was facing a crucial challenge that jeopardized its operational sustainability. The incumbent survey provider, Qualtrics, announced a drastic 400% increase in their annual pricing—a move that placed CX Group in a difficult situation, given its collection of millions of survey responses annually. The financial strain of continuing with Qualtrics was unsustainable, prompting CX Group to seek a more feasible solution.

In a market characterized by dynamic demands, CX Group also struggled with unexpected updates from the previous provider, which occasionally disrupted their surveys. For larger survey programs collecting over 3-5 million responses per year, such issues could significantly impact operations, often requiring the Information Technology and Client Services teams, sometimes in collaboration with the Qualtrics team, to urgently find a solution while surveys were on hold.

Decision

The quest for an alternative led CX Group to Checkbox, discovered through diligent online research. What captured CX Group's attention was Checkbox’s extensive feature set. This includes a comprehensive library of question types, branching, skip logic, support for high-volume survey responses, and quota management. These capabilities closely matched those offered by Qualtrics, guaranteeing that CX Group’s switch would maintain the integrity and depth of their research capabilities.

The deciding factor, though, was Checkbox’s low total cost of ownership. In contrast to other survey solutions charging per completion, Checkbox’s model of unlimited responses offered CX Group a cost-effective solution. "CXG typically collects millions of survey responses per year, so survey solutions that are priced per survey complete quickly became very expensive for us," stated Chris Krosnowski, Chief Technology Officer at CX Group. Furthermore, compatibility with .Net was a pivotal benefit, aligning perfectly with CX Group’s primary technological framework.

Solution

Checkbox’s solution was a perfect match for CX Group’s needs, addressing the critical challenge of reducing the total cost of ownership for their survey provider solution. The unlimited survey response model offered by Checkbox meant that CX Group could continue to collect millions of survey responses annually without the financial strain imposed by per-completion pricing models.

Implementation

Implementing Checkbox within CX Group's complex environment was a meticulous process that spanned nearly a year. Though the installation and setup of Checkbox took less than a day, transitioning all surveys from Qualtrics, testing them, and integrating Checkbox with CX Group's systems required a concerted effort. Securing client sign-off was also an important step in the migration process, and it was completely transparent for them. The lack of complaints post-migration only proves that Checkbox was the right fit for their needs.

The ability to fully test new versions of Checkbox in a Stage/Dev environment before deployment marked a significant improvement, allowing time to understand any potential breaking changes and to prepare workarounds.

Using DBAs with Checkbox On-Premises

CX Group's database administrators play a crucial role in seamlessly integrating Checkbox On-Premises into their internal systems and processes. Checkbox is deployed within their existing web farm and database infrastructure, where it functions harmoniously alongside their core internal systems. 

The process is straightforward yet sophisticated—survey participants are directed by their internal systems to Checkbox for survey completion. Once a survey is completed, the same internal systems retrieve the data from Checkbox and transfer it to their Data Warehouse Reporting environment. This meticulously designed workflow enables them to efficiently report the results back to their clients, ensuring a smooth, uninterrupted flow of valuable customer insights. 

Results

The transition to Checkbox was a resounding success. Checkbox not only met all of CX Group’s expectations but also paid for itself within two months compared to the Qualtrics licensing costs. This transition was seamless to CX Group’s clients, who did not experience any disruptions or quality issues with the survey data. The implementation of Checkbox has proven to be a strategic move that has significantly reduced annual survey provider spending for CX Group. "Since implementing Checkbox in the CXG environment in 2016, we have realized significant survey licensing savings. Moreover, Checkbox continues to innovate and add new features that help us accommodate our clients' survey needs', adds Chris.

One notable success story highlighting Checkbox's value is its role in mitigating the stress and operational disruptions that unannounced updates from Qualtrics used to cause. Thanks to Checkbox, CX Group now enjoys full control over update deployments, enabling comprehensive testing and preparation to ensure their survey programs run smoothly.

Furthermore, the CTO of CX Group highlighted Checkbox's performance, noting the minimal number of support tickets raised over the years and commending the support team's prompt and precise responses.

Conclusion

CX Group’s partnership with Checkbox has been a game-changer. The switch not only solved the immediate financial challenge posed by Qualtrics' pricing increase but also introduced efficiencies and improvements in how CX Group conducts, analyzes, and derives insights from their extensive volume of research. The Checkbox platform has become an integral part of CX Group’s operations, enabling them to continue their legacy of excellence in customer, shopper, and employee experience research. CX Group's satisfaction with Checkbox extends beyond the platform's performance to include the responsive and effective support provided by the Checkbox team. Looking ahead, CX Group is excited to continue leveraging Checkbox’s technology in their future research endeavors, confident in its ability to meet their evolving needs in the dynamic landscape of market research.