How do I benchmark respondents against others in the same group (for example, the same department)?

As well as comparing against all responses, you can benchmark a respondent against others in the same group, for example others in the same department or role. This uses a classifier. For the full reference, see Setting Up Benchmarks for Reporting.

Worked example used throughout: we want each respondent to see how they scored against the average for their own department, where the departments are Marketing, Sales, HR, and Customer Support.

Step 1 - Enable and create a benchmarking classifier

1. Go to Site Settings > Features, tick Use Classifier, and click Save. A Classifiers tab now appears under Features.
2. Open the Classifiers tab and click Add Classifier.
3. Enter a Classifier Name and a unique Classifier Number. In our example, the name is Department.
4. Tick Benchmark.
5. Choose the Calculation Type:
   • Average (default) - the average score for each group. We use Average so each respondent compares to the average for their department.
   • Cutoff % - a percentile, for example enter 75 for the top quartile.
   • Seeded - benchmark values you upload.
6. Set Benchmark Minimum Values - the minimum number of responses needed before a benchmark is generated, so you are not comparing against only one or two responses. For example, set this to 5 so a department benchmark only appears once at least 5 people from that department have responded.
7. Set the Benchmark Label. This is the label shown on the chart, and it updates automatically for each respondent. Use the {Classifier} token to insert the respondent's own classifier value into the label.
8. Save.

How the dynamic label works: if you set the Benchmark Label to All {Classifier} staff, the {Classifier} token is replaced at report time with the respondent's own department value:

• A respondent in Sales sees the benchmark labeled All Sales staff.
• A respondent in Customer Support sees All Customer Support staff.
• A respondent in HR sees All HR staff.

You only set the label once. You do not create a separate label for each department.

Step 2 - Link the classifier to a question

1. In the Builder, edit the question that captures the group (single-choice, drop-down, or a hidden text question). In our example this is a single-choice question, "Which department are you in?", with the answers Marketing, Sales, HR, and Customer Support.
2. On the Options tab, select your Department classifier.

Each answer to the question now becomes a value of the classifier, so the system can build a benchmark for each department.

Step 3 - Report the benchmark

1. In a chart, from Options choose Benchmark 1 and select your classifier (filter by classifier).

The merge string is, where BM1 is your classifier number (the number you gave the Department classifier in Step 1): {BarMultiHorizontal[SectionNo=ALL BM1=8]}

On the finished report, a respondent in Sales sees their own score next to a bar labeled All Sales staff, and a respondent in HR sees theirs next to All HR staff, all from this single chart.

How this differs from splitting a chart

These two classifier uses are easy to confuse:

• Splitting a chart (see Using Classifiers) shows each group's score side by side in a cohort report.
• A classifier benchmark compares one respondent to the average (or percentile) of their own group.

For full details, see Setting Up Benchmarks for Reporting and Using Classifiers.