The True Cost of Using Qualtrics for Small Businesses

Qualtrics is a powerful customer experience management tool widely recognized for its advanced features, robust analytics, and scalability. It is a preferred choice for large enterprises and organizations that require sophisticated survey tools, in-depth data analysis, and extensive customization options. 

However, despite its capabilities, Qualtrics may not be the best fit for small businesses due to several key reasons. Understanding these reasons can help small business owners, like you, make more informed decisions when selecting the right survey and customer feedback tools for their needs.

Is Qualtrics Ideal for Small Businesses?

Here are the key reasons why Qualtrics is not ideal for small businesses.

1. Qualtrics: Cost

Qualtrics’ pricing structure is often out of reach for small businesses. The platform offers enterprise-level plans that come with a high subscription fee, making it less accessible for businesses with limited budgets.

The paid plans of Qualtrics start at $420/month. But for such a high price you only get 1000 responses total, across all users, along with other advanced features and settings like 23+ question types, advanced analysis, dashboards, etc. Also, in the free version, you only get 500 total responses with limited settings and features like skip, display, and branch logic and limited styling options.

Additionally, beyond the base subscription, additional costs for premium features, advanced analytics, and customer support can add up, further straining a small business’s financial resources. So, the tool might be ideal for an enterprise-level organization with a big budget, but if you are a small business owner, then paying such a huge price for such limited features is not an ideal solution.

*Source: Gartner, Mar 26, 2024

2. Qualtrics: Complexity with Steep Learning Curve

Qualtrics is designed with a wide range of advanced features and functionalities that may be overwhelming for small businesses that need straightforward solutions. The platform’s complexity requires significant time and effort to learn and utilize effectively. 

This can be a concerning matter for small businesses, as these businesses often lack dedicated teams for managing complex software. The steep learning curve associated with Qualtrics can be a barrier, as small business owners and employees may not have the time or expertise to fully leverage the platform’s capabilities.

*Source: Gartner, Feb 28, 2024

3. Qualtrics: CX Consultation

Are you new to the world of CX? 

Then these questions must have crossed your mind – Where to start? When to launch which survey? What to ask? 

If yes, then you are not alone. These are some of the basic questions but they can also make or break your CX program – especially when you are new to CX and want to launch a CX program that gives you actionable insights and improves your business performance.

Now, this is where CX consultants come into the picture. They provide end-to-end implementation support – from creating effective surveys to analyzing and prioritizing data points to close the loop and drive revenue.

But Qualtrics lack in this area. It doesn’t provide any type of implementation support or consultation for new users or beginners to get started with the tool. Users from small businesses get affected by this as they have little to no knowledge of how to use CX metrics to improve and boost their overall business metrics and performance.

*Source: Gartner, Oct 4, 2023

4. Qualtrics: Customer Support

Have you ever used a tool where you didn’t need any support? 

Every user requires support at some point while using a product, whether they are just getting started or encountering issues later on. Everyone needs help at some stage in their customer journey.

This is where quick and responsive customer support is more than required. But Qualtrics lacks in this area as well.

With a tool with so many advanced capabilities, it is more than required to have a robust and responsive customer support team. But with Qualtrics, the support comes in late or never. The only support channel is email which takes a lot of time to respond and resolve. 

Need an alternative to Qualtrics that suits your small-scale business needs? Simply sign up for SurveySensum to explore advanced survey capabilities at affordable prices and start transforming your feedback into revenue today!

So, if you are a small business owner and stuck with these drawbacks and looking for a Qualtrics alternative, then scroll down.

Top 3 Qualtrics Alternatives

1. SurveySensum

SurveySensum is an AI-enabled customer feedback tool that helps businesses improve and boost their customer experience the right way.  The tool helps businesses design, launch, and analyze different types of CX surveys – NPS, CSAT, CES across different industries – B2B, SaaS, NBFC, Fintech, etc.

The tool serves as a perfect balance between basic and advanced features. Along with basic features like customizable surveys, ease of DIY interface, multiple-channel survey sharing, etc, the tool also provides advanced features like coss-tab analysis, text and sentiment analysis, trend analysis, and a real-time ticketing system (for closed loop), etc.

Also, unlike typical CX tools, SurveySensum offers free CX expert advice. These CX consultants help you with everything – from creating effective surveys to figuring out what the results mean and how to use them to improve your business.  The objective is basically to extract actionable insights, take action in time, and boost the overall customer experience while driving the CX-driven ROI.

*Source: G2, April 13, 2022

SurveySensum Key Features

• CX Consultation (no extra charge)
• Text analytics software
• 2-hour SLA support guaranteed
• Transparent and affordable pricing
• Real-time customizable dashboards
• Advanced Reporting 
• Integrations (along with data import)
• On-site support
• Industry-specific In-built Survey Templates

Pricing

In the free plan, you get 25 survey responses. Along with that, you also receive website integrations, unlimited surveys, unlimited users, and unlimited questions. The paid plan starts from $99/month and goes higher with survey responses.

Some more value-added features of SurveySensum:

• Ad hoc research in the same feedback platform
• Transparent pricing with no hidden cost
• Text Analytics in your native language
• Unlimited survey templates
• Survey white labeling
• Unlimited surveys 
• Unlimited users
• Unlimited Ad Hoc research

Sign up today to SurveySensum to take action on your gathered feedback that impacts the bottom line and transform your feedback into revenue!

2. SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow is a cloud-based survey and feedback management platform designed to help businesses of all sizes gather, analyze, and act on customer and employee feedback. Known for its user-friendly interface and versatile features, SurveySparrow aims to transform traditional surveys into engaging and conversational experiences. This approach increases response rates and provides more meaningful insights.

Our View: The tool is ideal for businesses looking for a simple survey tool and also has a huge budget. But if you are a small business that is looking for a cost-effective CX tool with advanced survey settings and features, then this tool might not be ideal for you. This tool can be expensive for small businesses and also lacks advanced analytical insights.

*Source: G2, Mar 06, 2024

SurveySparrow Key Features

• Branching/Skip Survey Logic
• Multilingual Surveys
• Chat-like Interface
• White-labeling
• Real-time Reporting

Pricing

• Basic: $19/month
• Starter: $39/month
• Business: $79/month
• Professional: $249/month

For more pricing details contact the team.

3. ProProfs

ProProfs offers a robust and versatile set of tools that can help businesses and educators effectively manage training, assessments, surveys, and customer support. Its focus on ease of use, customization, and comprehensive analytics makes it an excellent choice for organizations looking to enhance learning experiences, gather meaningful feedback, and provide superior customer support.

Our View: The tool is a simple survey tool and if that’s what you are looking for then this might be ideal for you. But if you are looking for a tool with a better and longer trial period so that you can explore the settings and features, then this tool might not be ideal for you as most users complain about the limited trial period of this tool, which is 15 days.

* Source: Capterra, 2023

SurveySparrow Key Features

• Tracking and Reporting
• Quiz Creation
• Customizable Survey Templates
• Advanced Reporting
• Content Management

Pricing

The prices start from $20/month.

Conclusion

While Qualtrics is renowned in the CX industry for its advanced features and settings, it might not be the best fit for everyone. It’s an ideal choice for large, enterprise-level organizations with big budgets and experienced professionals.

However, for small-scale businesses, Qualtrics may not be ideal. If you fall into this category, consider alternatives like SurveySensum. SurveySensum offers all the advanced features you need at an affordable price without sacrificing quality. Additionally, with SurveySensum’s CX consultation services, you can gain insights on which actions to take and which areas to prioritize, helping you turn feedback into revenue.

Start Your Journey of CX Excellency With SurveySenum Today!

Frequently Asked Questions

The pricing for Qualtrics starts at $420/month. But at such a high price users only get 1000 responses total, across all users, along with other advanced features and settings like 23+ question types, advanced analysis, dashboards, etc.

While Qualtrics is a powerful and comprehensive survey tool, it has several disadvantages, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses:

• High Cost: Qualtrics is generally more expensive than many other survey tools, which can be prohibitive for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets.
• Complexity: The platform’s advanced features and extensive customization options can be overwhelming and may require a steep learning curve.

Resource Intensive: Implementing and managing Qualtrics effectively often requires dedicated IT resources and support, which might not be feasible for smaller businesses.

Qualtrics does offer a free tier, known as the “Qualtrics Free Account,” which provides limited access to some of its features. In the free version, you only get 500 total responses with limited settings and features like skip, display, and branch logic and limited styling options.