Here in Iowa, we recently tallied some very important votes. Here’s what I see as the big takeaways.

• Near-record participation: From both sides of the aisle, we had fabulous representation. I firmly believe the process works best when as many voices as possible are heard. So participation is an important metric, and we work hard to encourage as many to participate as possible.
• A winner by a razor-thin margin: Everyone has expectations and goals. So when you hit a personal goal – something you’ve worked hard to achieve – by even the slimmest of margins, it’s difficult not to bask in the victory.
• Come-from-behind surprises: Each time we go through this process, there are predictions of winners and losers…and then there are some results nobody on the outside predicted. Those unexpected results are important, and not just because they help keep the process interesting and the voters engaged. They’re important because they expose the hard work and focus that are happening every day behind the scenes.
• Clear momentum: And then there’s that all-important momentum. Not a top-vote-getter, it’s something that shows such a surge, the results actually change the conversation and platform. We certainly saw that in the results.

It’s not the caucus – it’s Geonetric’s client satisfaction survey
You might think I’m talking about Iowa’s caucus. And that was a pretty exciting vote that happened last week. Having the first-in-the-nation caucus is a responsibility and a privilege, and I was thrilled to participate … just like many of us Iowans do every four years.

But I’m talking about our recent client satisfaction survey. And it’s a little surprising just how close our headlines mirror those of the Iowa caucus. Here’s Geonetric’s exciting news.

Near-record client participation
I’m proud to report we had 79% percent participation, our third-highest level ever, and down only marginally from the whopping 83% last time around. Whether it was long-time clients or brand-new clients still in the implementation phase, we loved getting feedback from such a great percentage. Our approach of sending out surveys twice each year seems to be helping us achieve our high participation rate goal.

The overall winner by a .01 margin
Our overall client satisfaction score is an all-time winner, by the narrowest of margins. As you may recall, our baseline goal is 5.0, based on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 6 (highest). I’m beyond excited to report we hit a record-high score of 5.33 … a slim .01 winner over the previous high score of 5.32, achieved twice in 2013.

A come-from-behind victory
The come-from-behind surprise this time around was absolutely the result of focus and persistence. Not happy with their showing last time, our client advisors added and trained new team members, and they dedicated themselves to the goal of restoring themselves as the top category. Our client advisors earned both top AND most-improved scores. It’s great to know clients see the improvement and appreciate the results.

Clear momentum on our platform
VitalSite is the definite winner of the “momentum” category. We’ve been seeing improvement over time, and as the category with the second-highest improvement in this survey, the hard work of the development team, along with the input from our Client Advisory Group, is showing results. This platform is definitely on the upswing.

Your vote matters!
Perhaps those aren’t the results you expected to hear about when you started reading this, but to us they are just as important. At Geonetric, we ask clients to vote, not every four years, but every six months. Our clients’ voices matter!

Just like democracy, sometimes the process is messy and less-than-perfect, but at Geonetric, we are absolutely committed to this high level of introspection, transparency, accountability and ongoing improvement.

Our clients have chosen a Web partner who cares deeply about their opinion and satisfaction. Wish you had a Web partner like that? If so, join us. And stay tuned — we’ll continue to report our survey results and what we’re doing to continually “Wow!” our clients.