Posted March 1st, 2018

So you’ve setup your suggestion box and are starting to receive some great feedback. While much of it is helpful, some suggestions are vague and need more clarification. That’s where Incogneato shines. All Incogneato plans come with a unique message relay system that lets you anonymously chat with your respondents, either via email or in real-time.

Here’s how it works:

1) When leaving a suggestion, your respondent has the option of including their email address. We encrypt it and never share it with you.

2) If your respondent included an email address, you’ll see a reply arrow beside the suggestion in your dashboard. Simply click the arrow to reply.

3) When you reply, your respondent will receive an email with your reply text and a link to continue the conversation.

4) If you’re logged in to your dashboard, you’ll hear a notification chime when someone replies so you can continue the conversation live in real-time.

If you haven’t already, test out this unique feature by creating a free trial account. It’s free for 30 days and no credit card is required. Not convinced yet? Here are five reasons to choose Incogneato for your anonymous feedback.

Posted February 22nd, 2018

Employees are expensive to recruit and often more expensive to retain. Many organizations find it more efficient to retain their best employees than recruit and train a replacement. According to SHRM, the average cost-per-hire is $4,129. One study found the cost of re-hiring a midrange position ($30-$50K per year) to be 20% of the employee’s future salary.

Employees leave for a variety of reasons. Among the most common are:

• They found a better opportunity (more pay, better hours, more seniority)
• They are dissatisfied with co-workers, management, or the work environment
• They are experiencing personal issues

Engaged employees are more connected

Communicating with your employees is the first step in retaining them. According to Gallup’s 2013 “State of the American Workplace” report, engaged employees make strong contributions and are more connected to their organization. While some may candidly share their views during a face-to-face conversation, we believe that anonymity is better for sensitive issues. This is especially true if the employee fears retaliation or being ostracized. For example, an organization with a strong hierarchical power structure might be less open to feedback from those at the bottom. Even a flat organization may have employees who would rather remain isolated than share their ideas face-to-face.

Employees experiencing personal issues

While there may be little you can do to retain an employee experiencing personal issues, employees can also use an anonymous feedback tool to disclose workplace issues or tell you why they are dissatisfied in general. Plus, giving your employees a real outlet to improve their work life can make all the difference for those experiencing difficulties at home. Even if change is not possible at the moment, you can use Incogneato’s anonymous communication feature to explain your position or discuss alternatives.

If you haven’t already, give Incogneato a try by setting up a free anonymous suggestion box. No credit card is required during your trial. Not convinced yet? Here are five reasons to choose Incogneato for your anonymous feedback.

Posted August 27th, 2017

tl;dr – The lands of Westeros in the HBO series Game of Thrones would be more peaceful were the main characters to seek anonymous feedback and use it in their dealings within the realm.

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You probably shouldn’t read much further in the post if you are not caught up on HBO’s Game of Thrones series or the Song of Ice and Fire book series. You also probably know how this works by now.

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Now that we have either only the true fans or those that don’t care here with us, let’s discuss a few ways that an anonymous feedback tool like, Incogneato could help all of the Queens, Kings, Lords, and frankly the entire populace of the realms of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy saga.

Instead of relying on fear and the whispers of her “little birds’ Queen Cersei could simply provide a way or her subjects to tell her what she is doing well and not so well (ahem stockpiling wildfire)—all without fear of beheadings. Maybe Jamie could use it too, to let Cersei know that his twin is being a huge b****.

Maybe others would have told Daenerys that Tyrion’s war plans needed iteration or that or that burning the Tarley’s might not be the best way to diminish the comparisons with her and her crazy father, the “Mad King”. Or maybe people could just comment anonymously on her new braid-game without fear of dragon fire (or being called a suck up, those braids are pretty sick!).

Jon Snow could have used some feedback during his brief time as the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch to really get a sense of if his brothers were going to stab him repeatedly.

Had Arya and Sansa had access to an Incogneato Anonymous Feedback box, maybe they would set aside their silly squabbles and hug for pete’s sake! Not even Littlefinger could sneak his way past the 2048-bit encryption that protects respondents’ privacy. Though maybe they wouldn’t need a feedback tool if they would just talk to their omniscient brother Bran, already!

If you’d like to know the honest truth about something why not give Incogneato a try? It’s free for 14 days and you can cancel at any time—no long contracts.

Posted August 11th, 2017

This past weekend’s release of a Google employee’s now-infamous “Google Manifesto” has received quite a bit attention of worldwide, and subsequently led to the firing of it’s author, James Damore. The document has sparked a torrent of debate over workplace culture, tolerance, and dissent.

The fact that it is so controversial (even within Google) demonstrates that there is a very real divide within many organizations. Intuitively, one would assume that most do not support anti-diversity views. The events of this week, however, show otherwise and strongly underscore the need for internal, anonymous feedback channels. Had James Damore been provided a tool to anonymously disclose and discuss his opinions with Google’s management, he may have never felt the need to pen his manifesto and Google wouldn’t have felt the need to terminate his employment. As research shows, suppressing emotions at work can lead to aggressive behavior.

Anonymous feedback solutions, such as Incogneato, allow organizations to anonymously gauge internal opinion on any topic—and not just topics that could publicly embarrass a company. Maybe a whole team is about to call it quits over a toxic manager. Maybe that recently-launched product contains bugs or issues that employees are afraid to speak about. Maybe a manager has done something illegal. The list of “what-ifs” can go on and on.

Sure, every company likes to think it’s employees are comfortable enough to share their views out in the open. Open door policies and listening tours are commonplace in many organizations. Those may work fine for some employees, but there will always be others who, for a variety of reasons, prefer to remain anonymous.

Posted May 17th, 2016

We’ve recently added a little comparison on our homepage to help provide a balanced look at other online suggestion box providers and help you to decide which one best for you.

We’ve compared Corpell Anonymous Box with SuggestionOx, Boxwire, and Vetter. These three competitors have varying offerings, but at their core offer a similar product as we do. With the exception of SuggestionOx (which is free), Corpell Anonymous Box is by far the least expensive, full-featured online suggestion box platform. While SuggestionOx is free, it does not offer anonymous chat, voting, or box restrictions — which all come standard with Corpell Anonymous Box. Vetter offers the most similar feature set (but does not include anonymous chat), but costs more than 10 times more than our unlimited box account per year.

<see our new comparison here>

Posted June 24th, 2015

Is anonymous feedback accurate? We hear that question time and time again. The three most common arguments we hear against it are:

• Anonymity can lead to ballot stuffing. What if one person submits multiple suggestions (phrased differently), polluting our results?
• Anonymous suggestions are often vague, and since we do not know who left them, we cannot ask for clarification.
• The need for anonymous feedback is a sign that our team does not feel completely comfortable around one another and suggests a deeper issue that should be addressed first.

The first two we actually agree with. Ballot stuffing can be an issue, especially in large organizations where management may receive thousands of responses. That’s why we’ve implemented a technology in Corpell Anonymous Box that only lets each person respond once. Of course, a smart, savvy respondent may find a way around it, but a majority likely will not. We also offer additional custom features, like limiting the ability to respond to a pool of specific people.

We’ve also solved the issue of vague responses by including an anonymous chat feature in every suggestion box. If your respondent chooses to leave their email address (which remains confidential), you can reply back to them — and they to you. Our system simply relays the messages back and forth, maintaining anonymity.

Finally, we agree that it would be awesome if every employee or team member felt comfortable enough around one another to share their suggestions/complaints/feedback, but that’s simply a utopian fantasy. Even if you think your organization is like that, try collecting anonymous feedback and you’ll probably see some surprising results. You can provide the most open, respectful environment, and there will still be people who do not feel comfortable sharing their opinions publicly. It’s nearly impossible to create an organization with people who are both skilled in their field and feel comfortable expressing their ideas.

What are your concerns with anonymous feedback? We’d love to hear about in the comments or on Facebook.

Posted June 23rd, 2015

If you’re reading this, then you are probably looking into launching your own employee suggestion program. At Corpell Anonymous Box, we’ve helped many organizations create successful suggestion programs, and have received our fair share of suggestions along the way. Based on our experience, we’ve developed these 5 tips to get you started.

1. Find a tool that works for you.

Of course we’d love for you to use Corpell Anonymous Box, but we understand that every organization has different needs (although we do offer customized solutions too). There are literally hundreds of solutions out there. Take the time to research and price all of your options. Make sure the one you pick offers up-front pricing and a free trial to test it out (all of our full-featured boxes are free for 90-days).

2. Get employee buy-in

Employee suggestion programs only work if your employees feel comfortable using them. Hold a meeting to discuss why you’re launching the suggestion program and offer sample ideas. If your reason is to save the organization money, tell them how that will benefit them (raises? better benefits?). If you’re using Corpell Anonymous Box, make sure they know that their responses are completely anonymous, and that they can anonymously chat with you about the suggestion.

3. Respond Immediately

It’s best to respond to – or at least acknowledge – a suggestion while it’s fresh in your employee’s mind. If you’re using Corpell Anonymous Box, you can anonymously chat with your employee if they provide their email address (which is encrypted and hidden).

If the primary person in charge of the suggestion box is out of the office, make sure you select an alternate so responses do not pile up unacknowledged.

4. Present ideas in a public forum

Regardless of whether or not you agree with the suggestion, get others to weigh in on it. Bring a list of your top suggestions to your group’s weekly or monthly meeting and let them decide. It may spark another idea that was much better than the first.

5. Take action

There’s no better way to prove to employees that their suggestions matter than to actually take immediate and meaningful action. That’s not to say you have to implement every suggestion – but if enough people think it’s worthwhile, at least put your organization on a path to achieving it.

Is there anything you would add to this list? Comment below or hit us up on Facebook.

Posted June 19th, 2015

Collecting customer feedback does not have to be a difficult or costly endeavor. You don’t need to read flashy white papers, sit in on a sales call, and then agree to a long-term contract just to collect suggestions. Corpell Anonymous Box makes it easy to create a feature-rich online suggestion box in seconds, which includes both a unique web page to collect your responses and html code to collect them directly from your website. On top of that, it’s cheap. Free for 90 days, and then just $20 for an entire year if you decide to renew. And best of all, you can anonymously chat with your respondents.

Here are a few tips on how to get the most out of your Corpell Anonymous Box

• Make it enticing. When creating a name for your suggestion box, be as clear as possible, but also make sure it stands out. Calling it “Company ABC’s Suggestion Box” is fine, but calling it “Company ABC is passionate about our product. Tell us how we can make it even better. Your suggestions really matter” will probably get you better, more detailed responses.
• Encourage a conversation. When explaining your suggestion box initiative, encourage people to leave an email address (which we do not share with you), so you can anonymously reply back to them. Corpell Anonymous Box’s most empowering feature is the ability to anonymously chat with your respondents. It can be an invaluable tool help clear up vague responses or immediately solve a problem.
• Create multiple boxes for each business unit/team. Since all boxes are free for 90 days, there’s no need to cram all your responses into one box. Try setting up one for your customers, one for employees, and so on. If the box isn’t working for you, simply let it expire.
• Link it. Placing your suggestion box link on your “contact us” page is a good start, but you need to put it front of everyone to get the response volume you need to make it worthwhile and relevant. A few examples include your website header/footer, email signature, or employee intranet. We also provide html code that allows visitors to your website to respond within your pages.

Do you have any suggestions for us? Is there a feature you’d really like? Here’s our official Corpell Anonymous Box for improvements/suggestions.

Posted April 1st, 2015

We like to call Corpell Anonymous Box “one of the most versatile online tools” because it’s so much more than an online suggestion box. The problem is, we’ve been calling it a “suggestion box” because it’s difficult to find a more appropriate way to describe it. That’s where we can use your help. In the comments below — or on Facebook — tell us how you would describe in Corpell Anonymous Box in 5 words or less.

Here’s a partial list of what Corpell Anonymous Box can be used for:

• Employee feedback
• Internal/external company feedback & suggestions
• School/daycare feedback
• Professor/teacher feedback
• Restaurant/local business suggestions
• Anonymous social media feedback (e.g. “Do I share too much personal information”)
• News/media tips
• Law enforcement/community watch crime tips
• Website feedback (for bugs, feature requests, or general suggestions)
• Personal feedback
• E-mail feedback (goes to either the person or manager)

This, of course, is an evolving list and will get bigger over time.

Posted March 27th, 2015

Chances are, you’ve received an e-mail from someone with a little blurb at the bottom saying something to the effect of “How am I doing? E-mail my manager at my-manager@company.com”. By giving your recipient the ability to e-mail your manager, you’re boldly stating that you have full confidence in your integrity, and are willing to put your reputation – and possibly your job – on the line.

It can also be very useful to solicit feedback for your own use. For example, you could ask something like “Do you have any tips for how I could have better helped you?”

Corpell Anonymous box makes it easy to do both. And most importantly, it lets your recipients do it anonymously so the feedback may be more candid. Managers can create one box for each of their employees and have them place their answer page link in their e-mail signature line. Or, employees can each create their own box and do the same. Create as many boxes are you want at corpell.com.

Any other ideas for how to use Corpell Anonymous Box with e-mail? Post a comment below!