Customer story
"Survey fatigue is a massive problem, so we were also keen to have an approach which would be more engaging, fun, and interactive for our participants."
Alicia Buckley & Jess O'Brien, Market Research & Insight, University of Warwick
The University of Warwick's insight team was watching survey response rates fall as Gen Z and Millennial students tuned out. The first Qualzy pilot turned that around: 74% engagement, 73% of participants rating the platform very good or excellent, and 863 posts in two weeks. The full story: how the Warwick Student Panel was built, and why it was presented at the Times Higher Education conference.
Essential reading for higher education insight and research teams facing the same survey fatigue problem.
The University of Warwick's Market Research & Insight team conducts research across all audiences: students, staff, alumni, business partners. But traditional survey methods were hitting a wall. Gen Z and Millennial students expected something different. Response rates were falling.
The pandemic had also removed face-to-face research options. And the team needed speed: internal clients (student services, facilities, wellbeing) needed insights quickly enough to actually act on them, not weeks after a survey closed.
"True partnership is when each can learn from the other. Working with Qualzy, their expertise becomes our expertise."
Market Research & Insight Team, University of Warwick
Rather than sending another survey, Warwick built a permanent online community on Qualzy Community: the Warwick Student Panel. Students engage with weekly activities (mood boards, video responses, image-based tasks) that feel more like social media than research. Weekly polls add quick-turnaround snapshots between deeper studies.
The platform also gives participants control over what's visible versus private, essential for sensitive research around wellbeing and safety. An incentive scheme with panel points and Amazon voucher prize draws sustains long-term engagement.
Research into student wellbeing, feelings of safety, and campus experience demands care. For the Warwick team, Qualzy's privacy controls (letting participants decide what others can see) are a basic requirement.
"We are often asking quite deep questions, especially around things like wellbeing and feelings of safety. We must manage how we interact, keep people safe, and protect their identity. Qualzy allows us to do that."
Alicia Buckley, Associate Director MR&I, University of Warwick
"Before this, although we had a database of people who'd participated in surveys, they never interacted together in a digital environment in the way that they now can. Qualzy changed that."
Market Research & Insight Team, University of Warwick
"They show a real sense of flexibility about what we need, because we are new to this world, and still working out what 'perfect' could look like. They have sometimes helped us out at very short notice."
Jess O'Brien, Market Research & Insight Manager, University of Warwick
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