6q.io vs Emplify: which is the best employee engagement survey software?
Continuous feedback is the secret sauce of great teams.
You need to build a culture of regular, honest feedback, particularly if you want to see steady company growth.
Don't believe me?
Take it from Jim Yong Kim, one-time World Bank President (2012-2019):
No matter how good you think you are as a leader, the people around you will have all kinds of ideas for how you can get better.
So for me, the most fundamental thing about leadership is to have the humility to continue to get feedback and to try to get better.
Because your job is to try to help everybody else get better.
When your team shares feedback, they expect you to take action.
Doing so helps you build a positive company culture, increase engagement, and boost retention rates. And they'll be happy to show up to work.
However, to get accurate, insightful feedback, you can't rely on your employees' willingness to share their thoughts.
You'll lose that way.
Instead, you need a way that makes them feel safe, so they can freely share without judgment. And you can use their feedback to drive growth.
An employee engagement software provides this and more.
Beyond the anonymity it gives employees, it gives you (the leader) a chance to turn things around in your company.
Through weekly (or biweekly) team pulse surveys, you can know your team's thoughts, develop and take action based on their feedback.
So, how do you choose the right employee engagement survey tool?
Should you go for 6q.io or Emplify, some of the more prominent engagement platforms? Which is better?
I’ll provide answers to those questions here.
And you'll also see why managers now use ShowUp as an alternative for real-time, continuous employee feedback.
Let's jump right in, starting with how each tool works.
How 6q.io works
Six questions, two minutes, every week (bi-weekly or monthly).
With 6q.io, that's all it takes to collect feedback from employees and measure key engagement metrics over time.
There are over 200 questions to choose from the question library for creating pulse surveys.
After employees respond to six questions, managers receive actionable feedback to drive team and company-wide growth.
Managers get detailed web-based and email reports that are easy to understand.
They can benchmark the team's morale and feedback against hundreds of other organizations globally.
Managers can also access actionable tips and expert advice to guide their efforts better.
6q.io also promotes teamwork through their peer-to-peer employee recognition, where employees appreciate each other's efforts.
Their overall goal?
To help managers boost employee engagement, build positive company culture and increase retention and profits.
Let's now see Emplify.
How Emplify works
Emplify offers simple assessments for employees to keep managers in the loop. It provides insights that help managers see how their actions affect employees.
The assessment takes just seven minutes to complete via SMS or email. Emplify comes with built-in anonymity, giving employees a safe place to speak honestly without fear of being attacked.
Employees also get to pitch in via the Dynamic Feedback Feature.
In other words, employees can share ideas to solve the most pressing issues (based on their assessment results).
Managers can uncover grey areas that need the most attention.
They can also review the results with an Emplify consultant to show their wins and areas for improvement.
Emplify also assists with team alignment by letting employees, managers, and executives collaborate to find solutions.
Managers can also access actionable tips and expert advice to guide their efforts better.
Now let’s compare both.
6q.io vs. Emplify
1. Key Features
What's the point of using software to track your team's pulse?
Well, I'd say getting real, honest employee feedback that pinpoints issues on your team.
The feedback from your team allows you to kickstart meaningful conversations during 1-on-1 or group meetings. It’s not to attack your team but to brainstorm on the way forward.
When you do this, you give your team a reason to trust you, and together, you can create a happy environment that encourages productivity (and attracts/retains top talents).
ShowUp, for instance, takes this approach.
Every week, you can strike a new conversation with the team to get their perspective on happenings within the company.
Each one of the six questions sent to their inbox addresses critical engagement metrics. Metrics that determine how attractive and progressive your company culture is.
The results displayed on the dashboard reveals actionable insight on your team's strengths as well as growth opportunities.
So, you can focus your efforts on the areas that need work:
So what are the key features you must look out for?
- Regular Pulse Surveys;
- Question Library;
- Data Analysis;
- Interactive Dashboard;
- Visual trends;
- Detailed Reports;
- Support knowledgebase;
- Leadership Resources.
Once these features are available, you're off to a great start.
The good news is both 6q.io and Emplify have these features.
Additional features for 6q.io include:
- Benchmarking,
- Peer recognition,
- Custom Questions,
- Negative Feedback Management,
- Performance Management,
- Concierge onboarding (for teams with 1000+ users)
Additional features for Emplify include:
- Benchmarking
- Goal Management
- Negative Feedback Management
2. Pricing
Price is a priority item most managers consider when choosing the right employee feedback tool.
And I'm pretty sure you're no exception.
Don't worry. I'm not judging.
It makes perfect sense because breaking the bank for a tool, no matter how efficient, isn't a wise choice.
You can always get what you need at an affordable cost, and that's what I'm here to help you do.
Let's compare the pricing between 6q.io and Emplify.
6q.io Pricing
6q.io offers a variety of pricing options, depending on your company size. Here's a rundown of their pricing plans:
| Plan | Number of Users | Pricing (per month) |
| 20 Team | Up to 20 | $49 |
| 50 Team | Up to 50 | $99 |
| 100 Team | Up to 100 | $189 |
| 200 Team | Up to 200 | $348 |
| 300 Team | Up to 300 | $499 |
| 400 Team | Up to 400 | $649 |
| 500 Team | Up to 500 | $799 |
| 600 Team | Up to 600 | $949 |
| 700 Team | Up to 700 | $1,099 |
| 800 Team | Up to 800 | $1,249 |
| 900 Team | Up to 900 | $1,399 |
| 1000 Team | Up to 1000 | $1,490 |
| 1500 Team | Up to 1500 | $2,099 |
| 2000 Team | Up to 2000 | $2,490 |
They also have a 25-day free trial period that gives you access to the essentials. With the free pass, you can check out the software to see if it's a good fit.
The 1000, 1500, and 2000 teams come with extra features like concierge onboarding and email plus telephone support.
There are also custom enterprise plans available, just if you couldn't find a suitable plan.
Emplify Pricing
Emplify's (annual) pricing is based on employee count. However, its pricing starts at $73.00. There's a free version as well as a free trial.
You can contact the sales team if you're interested in knowing how much Emplify would cost your company.
3. Customer Support
You need proactive customer support to make the process of adopting and using an employee engagement platform seamless.
It’s also a necessity to resolve issues instantly.
Without this kind of support, you'll struggle to get the best results from whichever software you choose.
So, what kind of support do 6q.io and Emplify give their customers?
6q.io supports customer email support for teams below 1000 users. And a blend of email and telephone support for 1000 users and above.
Emplify, on the other hand, supports customers via Email/Help Desk, FAQs/forums, Knowledge Base, Phone Support, 24/7 (Live Rep), and Chat.
6q.io vs. Emplify Comparison Chart
| 6q.io | Emplify | |
| Key Features | Benchmarking, Employee Recognition, Negative Feedback Management, Performance Management, Pulse Surveys | Benchmarking, Goal Management, Negative Feedback Management Pulse Surveys |
| Best for | Designed for Small and Large Businesses (20-2000+) | Designed for small and medium businesses (51-1000+ users) |
| Pricing | Based on employee count, starts at $49 (paid monthly) | Based on employee count, starts at $73 (paid annually) |
| Training | Live Online and Documentation | In-Person, Live Online, Webinars, Documentation |
| Support | Email and Chat | Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base, and Chat |
Final Verdict: Which one is best for employee engagement?
From the comparison chart, 6q.io has more features.
This is fair because it doubles up as performance management software.
Most reviewers (product users) on g2.com (and several other trusted business software review platforms) leaned towards Emplify than 6q.io.
Overall, based on user reviews, Emplify is easy to use, set up, and navigate. They also have better customer support and features.
What's even better?
Emplify was recently acquired by 15five.
The acquisition is another big plus for users as they'd have access to better features than when Emplify stood alone.
Conclusion: Track Your Team’s Pulse Regularly, Even While On a Budget
Going through our review of 6q.io and Emplify, what did you notice?
They are both employee engagement software, although 6q.io also doubles for performance management.
However, despite their many great features, they are pretty pricey for an early- or growth-stage company.
And the number of metrics they try to measure all at once…
It can make tracking your team’s pulse and measuring progress over time a bit confusing.
As a small or medium-sized business manager, you need a low-cost, full automated team pulse survey software.
A tool that helps you focus on measuring engagement metrics that count most, so you can build a positive company culture.
Team pulse survey software lets you check in with your team regularly. You can address issues before it is too late.
Its simplicity makes it easy to complete.
And you’ll have invaluable insights to make better, more informed decisions.
The right team pulse tool should have:
- Weekly or bi-weekly surveys or monthly (compared to traditional annual surveys).
- 5-10 questions, so it's easy to complete.
- Focuses on specific topics that determine company culture.
- Tracks the same topics (using different questions) over time.
- Provides relevant resources to help you take immediate action.
ShowUp, a team pulse survey built from scratch, offers all those benefits. It’s a platform designed with founders and managers on a shoestring budget.
Right off the bat, it comes with survey questions to measure different metrics within your organization.
Instead of trying to measure too many metrics all at once, ShowUp focuses on six critical essential team and company-wide metrics:
- Alignment
- Innovation
- Trust
- Passion
- Transparency
- Respect
These traits show whether or not you have a healthy company culture.
When you get it right in these six areas, you’ll see a continuous increase in engagement, productivity, retention, and of course, profits.
Employees give their voice by answering the six questions anonymously.
Then ShowUp’s interactive dashboard helps you spot your team’s strengths as well as potential problem areas.
But it doesn’t just stop there.
You also get easy access to actionable advice via ShowUp’s expert resource library. So, not only are you getting feedback from your team. You have full access to expert minds across the globe. Resources that’d help you take action and create the change your company desperately needs.
But that’s not even the best part.
You don’t have to spend so much to engage your team better and boost productivity.
You can become a beta user at zero cost.
Yeah, ShowUp is free for six months while we are in Beta mode. And your feedback can help us 10x your experience.
Your team deserves the best, after all.
This way, you can boost your team’s performance, engagement, and trust levels and give your company’s books a facelift.
Ready to listen and take action on your team’s feedback with ShowUp?
Start your 6-month free trial right away. No credit card is required.
