Pulse vs full surveys

Whether you’re looking to enhance client relationships, strengthen your market position or improve employee experience, there is a survey approach that can help you gather the insight needed to inform better decisions and deliver stronger outcomes.

The key is choosing the right one for your purpose.

Whether you’re gathering feedback from clients, stakeholders or employees, the starting point is always the same: be clear about what you want to understand and why.

Clarity at this stage ensures your survey is purposeful, focused and valuable - rather than just another data collection exercise.

Pulse vs full surveys: What’s the difference and which to use?

1. Choosing the right survey type

Having defined your objective, the next step is selecting the survey approach that best supports it. Below, we outline two commonly used approaches and how they differ. 

Full survey:

  • In-depth survey covering multiple areas to inform strategic business decisions, providing holistic insight across your key strategic priorities 
  • Provides opportunities to gather testimonials for marketing and internal communications 
  • Establishes and benchmarks key metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) or employee engagement 
  • Often repeated every 12-24 months  

This survey establishes a clear benchmark, offering a complete view across your client base, market or workforce. 

Pulse survey: 

  • Shorter, targeted surveys focused on a specific area 
  • Quicker to complete and analyse, delivering faster results 
  • Helps you get to the heart of an issue quickly and respond with agility 
  • Can collect testimonials related to the focused topic 
  • More cost-effective 

Pulse surveys come into their own when you need timely insight – for example, during a rebrand, service launch, or to test new approaches and ideas among your employees. 

They can also provide an opportunity to delve deeper into issues uncovered in a full survey that require further exploration. 

2. Data trends: long view vs point in time 

Different survey approaches provide different types of insight. 

Full surveys: long term trends 

  • Track changes in client satisfaction, market perception or employee engagement 
  • Gather regular insights and intelligence that can enhance business success and deliver transformational change 

Pulse surveys: real time signals 

  • Offer quick health checks on specific business areas or changes 
  • Deliver immediate feedback on new initiatives, services or policies

Choosing the right approach for your context

Full and pulse surveys aren’t competing tools – they’re complementary. The right approach depends on your goals, your context and the people you’re engaging. 

Used at the right time and for the right purpose, surveys deliver meaningful insight and support confident decision-making. 

Ready to begin? 

If you’re unsure where to start, we can help you design a balanced feedback approach – one that respects people’s time, delivers meaningful insight and supports confident decision-making. 

Contact us to discuss your business goals and research needs. At Holistic Insight, we  support business leaders, client relationship managers, business development, marketing and people teams to evaluate and enhance the relationships with stakeholders that matter most – clients, employees, project teams and market influencers.