Highlights
Why the annual company satisfaction survey (VTU) is a recurring time-sink for schools.
Quick facts
Customer: Kold College — Danish vocational school with several programmes
Sector: Education
Survey type: VTU — annual company satisfaction survey
Challenge: Declining response rates from survey-fatigued companies
Result: Response rate up from 37% to 48% (nearly 30% improvement)
Reporting: Data converted and reported correctly to STIL, with quality assurance by Surveyxact
What if you knew who answered your survey — and could follow up?
For Kold College, chasing contact details for companies that had filled in a survey used to be a real obstacle to follow-up. With a Surveyxact-based VTU solution, the school can add its own fields — including who responded — design its own questionnaire, and follow up properly. The response rate climbed from 37% to 48%.
Why are company satisfaction surveys (VTU) a challenge for schools?
Company satisfaction surveys are a challenge because they are time-consuming to run and response rates keep falling as companies grow tired of receiving the same generic questionnaires again and again. Like most education institutions, Kold College had seen declining response rates on its VTU surveys from companies.
The recurring annual survey is, as few would dispute, a time-sink. The goal of the Surveyxact solution was to make the process easy and more accessible while giving the institution more control over it — so the school could focus on what matters most: maintaining and strengthening the relationship between the school and the companies.
How does the Surveyxact VTU solution work for Kold College?
The solution makes it easier to collect responses, prepare data for upload, share data with STIL, and — not least — follow up on results in a usable way. Working together with Kold College, the approach is built to give the institution more ownership of the whole process. Specifically, the solution provides:
- A 100% ready-to-use questionnaire template via Surveyxact
- Data conversion and correct reporting to STIL
- Guaranteed data quality, with Surveyxact responsible for quality assurance
- Full access to all collected data — both as a classic table report and as raw data in Surveyxact
The school can also write its own intro email and message so recipients are better guided into the survey's purpose, and add its own logo and brand.
How did Kold College raise its response rate from 37% to 48%?
Kold College raised its response rate by gaining the flexibility to get the maximum out of its questionnaires rather than sending the same generic survey companies had learned to ignore. With a set of tools that allow the school to tailor and own its surveys, the response rate rose from 37% to 48% — close to a 30% improvement.
In short, the result is a flexible solution with more ownership that delivers usable results, the best possible conditions for following up on data, and closer collaboration with companies.
“Just being able to easily follow up on the surveys now — that makes an enormous difference. And I know it's something many other schools struggle with, even though it's really the whole point of the exercise.”
— Hanne Fischer Boel, Executive Assistant, Kold College
How does the solution give Kold College ownership of its survey?
The solution gives Kold College the freedom to define and formulate the questionnaire itself, even though the STIL question framework is fixed. Connecting through Surveyxact, the school gains greater latitude over the survey within the mandatory structure.
For example, Kold College added a question about who completed the survey. That means the school never again has to hunt for the email and contact details of an employee at a company that filled in a form it wants to follow up on. It's only one small advantage among many — but the difference is night and day.
Results
- Response rate up from 37% to 48% (nearly 30% improvement)
- Easier collection, data preparation, and STIL reporting
- Reliable follow-up — respondents can be identified within the questionnaire
- Full data access as both table reports and raw data in Surveyxact
- Closer collaboration between the school and its partner companies
Why does ownership of a survey improve response rates?
Ownership improves response rates because a questionnaire a school can tailor — with its own branding, intro messaging, and relevant added questions — feels less generic and more worth answering than a standard form companies receive from everyone. Survey fatigue is largely a response to sameness; flexibility is the antidote.
Equally important, ownership makes the data usable after collection. When a school can identify who responded and follow up directly, the survey stops being a compliance exercise and becomes a genuine tool for strengthening relationships — which is the real purpose of a company satisfaction survey in the first place.
FAQ
How did Kold College improve its VTU response rate?
Kold College used a Surveyxact-based solution that let it tailor its questionnaire, add its own branding and intro messaging, and follow up directly — lifting the response rate from 37% to 48%.
Can you customise a VTU survey if the STIL framework is fixed?
Yes. The STIL question framework is fixed, but connecting through Surveyxact gives the institution freedom to formulate the questionnaire, add fields such as who responded, and apply its own logo and intro messages.
Does the solution handle STIL reporting?
Yes. The solution converts the data and reports it correctly to STIL, with Surveyxact responsible for quality assurance, while the school retains full access to all data.
Why do company satisfaction surveys get low response rates?
Companies often grow tired of receiving the same generic questionnaires repeatedly. Tailoring the survey and following up personally — as Kold College did — counters that fatigue and raises response rates.
Key takeaways
