Parkinson's UK

Parkinson's UK is the largest charity funder of Parkinson's research in Europe, supporting everyone affected by the neurological condition. Parkinson’s UK joined SmartSurvey in January 2015 in order to manage their online survey needs. They use the advanced software to conduct internal research and to communicate with over 38,000 members of the organisation.

What they do

One person in every 500 has Parkinson's and the charity works to drive better care, treatments and quality of life.

They provide expert information on every aspect of Parkinson's so that people affected by the condition can stay in charge of their lives. The free information and support they provide is made available via multiple channels, including;

• Their Website
• A confidential helpline
• A UK team of advisers
• Information resources
• Self-management courses

Parkinson’s UK strategy is to cut the red tape that’s slowing progress, make sure breakthroughs are being shared, and think more creatively to open up new avenues of exploration.

The challenges they faced

Using SmartSurvey has enabled Parkinson’s UK to take advantage of multi user management features. This enables them to have one master account and a range of sub accounts for users across the organisation, allowing them to carry out a range of different surveys.

• Training course evaluations
• Internal surveys
• Health & social care satisfaction surveys
• Fundraising evaluations

By only having one account, that everybody used, meant that there was little overall control of what surveys were sent and when.

Parkinson’s UK also needed to know what information was being stored at any one time and what data needed to be deleted in order to fulfil privacy requirements.

Multi user management benefits

Before switching to SmartSurvey, Parkinson’s UK had one online survey account. They used a single login that the entire organisation used to send a multitude of surveys such as;

We are happy with the switch to SmartSurvey across the organisation and are experiencing a good response rate in comparison to other surveys”, commented Luis Perpetuo, Head of Involvement and Inclusion at Parkinson’s UK

Parkinson’s UK accounts include;

• A Master Account
• HR and Internal Communications
• Support and Local Groups Directorate
• Digital Team – Editorial and Creative
• Research Team
• Policies, Campaigns and Media work

Why SmartSurvey?

SmartSurvey provided Parkinson’s UK with a branded template that helped to increase awareness of the charities brand identity, which in turn improved the engagement rate of people completing surveys.

As the surveys are fully mobile responsive, Parkinson’s UK are able to deliver surveys across a variety of platforms. Respondents are able to interact with the surveys on mobile, tablet or desktop and responses can be reviewed immediately in real-time.

We are pleased with the mobile responsiveness and the look of the surveys. We plan to use SmartSurvey’s ‘Send by SMS’ feature more in the future, as people are responding more and more on mobile devices

With SmartSurvey storing data in the UK/EU, it means that Parkinson’s UK remain compliant with the Data Protection Act and EU Privacy Law.

The results

The SmartSurvey account serves Parkinson’s UK purpose well. By working as a team and sharing the account, they can now schedule surveys across the entire organisation from within the master account. This multi user management system means the surveys they send out do not clash and people are not contacted too often, which could result in survey fatigue.

SmartSurvey have an excellent support team who offer immediate, helpful support that I would rate very highly. It’s great to be able to pick up the phone to speak to someone and not be in a queue

Staff engagement and satisfaction levels at Parkinson’s UK have risen as a result of using SmartSurvey because employees enjoy having control over their own bespoke survey campaigns.