The Top Three Ways to to Combat Survey Fatigue in Your Suppliers

Article Highlights:

• Survey fatigue refers to the state suppliers reach when they’re tired of, or overwhelmed by, surveys from their customers, and their weariness begins to show itself in their responses. 
• One of the main factors that can drive suppliers into survey exhaustion is having to fulfill too many information requests from customers scattered throughout the calendar year. OEMs can mitigate this problem by making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of surveys they administer by consolidating multiple information requests into a single survey. 
• Businesses that want to conduct effective due diligence—and reap all the rewards that come with it—but that don’t have the internal resources to carry it out themselves may want to consider a compliance management tool. SCRM platform Z2Data offers a full-service compliance program that does everything from collecting and consolidating supplier contact information to following up with manufacturers through a regular cadence. 

Gone are the early days of globalization, when original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) could source from suppliers all over the world with little more than an occasional phone call. In today’s supply chain environment, communicating regularly with suppliers is a critical aspect of effectively managing risks and preserving manufacturing continuity. That’s because those global supply chains are under more scrutiny than they were 10 or 20 years ago, with consumers, regulators, and investors all demanding a greater level of transparency—and higher ethical standards—than in the past. In practical terms, this means that businesses are under increasing pressure to obtain a wide variety of information from their suppliers, including ESG data, labor documentation, and materials specifications. All this data is required to satisfy environmental regulations, reporting requirements, and ESG directives, among other obligations.

But as any compliance expert will attest, suppliers aren’t always rowing in the same direction as their customers when it comes to providing all this information in a timely, efficient fashion. In many cases, these manufacturers are overwhelmed with the data demands being foisted on them by customers all over the world. They may struggle to carve out the time and company bandwidth necessary to fill out the surveys customers are administering to them; in fact, they may not even have dedicated professionals with backgrounds in compliance. Beyond the composition of their workforce, completing surveys from customers generally doesn’t confer the same immediate benefits to suppliers as it does to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), a reality that impacts their incentive and degree of urgency. 

In short, survey fatigue is an unavoidable phenomenon in contemporary supply chains. OEMs and other importers need a plan for effectively navigating it. 

When Do OEMs Need to Administer Surveys?

In general, businesses administer surveys when they need to collect information from their suppliers that is not publicly available. While these surveys are often related to regulatory compliance, they may also be sent out for a myriad of other reasons. 

Regulatory Compliance

Surveys are a significant part of the compliance process. For environmental regulations like REACH, RoHS, California Proposition 65, and the PFAS directives burgeoning all over the world, OEMs must gather data from suppliers on material compositions, concentrations, risks, and safe usage. ESG regulations like the CSDDD and the CSRD require businesses to obtain information on adverse human and environmental impacts within their supply chain, as well as develop a climate transition plan that may require emissions information from direct and subtier suppliers. Finally, trade compliance, including laws like the UFLPA and sanctions lists, compels OEMs to survey suppliers about subtier manufacturers and raw materials sourcing. 

Supply Chain Risk Management

The more supply chain information companies have, the more effective their supply chain risk management (SCRM) program can become. For companies to understand all the risks in their manufacturing networks and implement measures aimed at assuaging them, they need to campaign their suppliers and gather a multitude of information. Risk management surveys may solicit information related to:

• Cybersecurity frameworks
• ESG performance
• Sourcing
• Manufacturing locations
• Financial health

Traceability 

Supply chain traceability is gaining traction as the new gold standard in due diligence. In order to achieve it, businesses need to campaign their manufacturers. Supplier surveys developed for this purpose typically include questions related to supply chain documentation, including:

• Bills of lading (BOLs)
• Customs declarations
• Certificates of origin
• Shipping manifests

What Are the Main Reasons for Supplier Survey Fatigue?

Survey fatigue refers to the state suppliers reach when they’re tired of, or overwhelmed by, surveys from their customers, and their weariness begins to show itself in their responses. 

Scale and Frequency of Surveys

One of the top causes of supplier fatigue is the sheer amount of surveys coming in from customers. Given the regulatory landscape and the growing expectations from consumers and investors, OEMs are under pressure to achieve transparency and communicate information about their supply chains at a historically high level. As a result, more and more of them are reaching out to their direct and subtier suppliers for information on parts, substances, raw material origins, ESG protocols, and other data categories. 

Requirements and Specifications

The requirements and specifications within the surveys is another consistent source of supplier fatigue. Some OEMs ask for data in specific formats, or request information that takes time and effort to retrieve internally. In addition, the submission structure may be confusing, including disorienting online portals, platforms suppliers have never used before, and other reporting technology they’re not familiar with. Without the right level of guidance from customers, all these challenges can leave manufacturers exasperated with the process and, over time, less willing to see surveys all the way through. 

Supplier Bandwidth 

There’s also the simple, unavoidable reality of a manufacturer’s bandwidth and its limitations. Smaller suppliers may only have one person responsible for handling all compliance-related requests, or sometimes even nobody at all. For these smaller outfits, resources are extremely limited, and in these cases a state of fatigue and even exhaustion with surveys can be reached relatively quickly. 

Lack of Incentive

As referenced earlier, suppliers may not have the same level of incentive to complete surveys as their customers. This is especially true if the surveys were not explicitly incorporated into supplier contracts. When there’s no clear benefit to completing a survey—whether that’s through a contractual obligation, legal responsibility, or revenue implications—then manufacturers are not going to prioritize it. In cases like these, where the incentive for manufacturers just isn’t clear, they may reach survey fatigue faster. There’s ultimately nothing in it for them, and so their patience runs thin more quickly. 

When there’s no clear benefit to completing a survey—whether that’s through a contractual obligation, legal responsibility, or revenue implications—then manufacturers are not going to prioritize it.

How to Effectively Combat Supplier Fatigue

Despite the plethora of obstacles, there are proven strategies OEMs can use to effectively combat survey fatigue among their suppliers. Use these methods effectively, and organizations can meet their compliance, ESG, and SCRM goals faster and more consistently. 

Consolidate Requests Into a Single Survey

One of the main factors that can drive suppliers into survey exhaustion is having to fulfill too many information requests from customers scattered throughout the calendar year. OEMs can mitigate this problem by making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of surveys they administer by consolidating multiple information requests into a single survey. As long as organizations give their suppliers ample time to complete them, a single large survey is almost always preferable to a succession of shorter ones. When companies can minimize the number of requests they’re sending to their manufacturers, they help open up their bandwidth, thus reducing the chances of fatigue setting in. 

Communication, Education, and Guidance 

Organizations should not want their suppliers to be stuck or confused by a survey, without any support from them. To avoid this scenario—a major trigger for frustration and exasperation—companies should establish clear channels of communication suppliers can use to ask questions about information requirements, data formats, and submission platforms. This type of guidance can go a long way, fostering goodwill between parties and demonstrating to manufacturers that their customers are willing to invest their time in this project, too. 

In addition, a clear protocol for educating suppliers at the beginning of the campaign process can put them in a better position to move through the survey process with clarity and competence. Education may entail:

• Phone consultations
• Written guidelines
• Instructional booklets, via PDF or another form of online documentation
• Videos that guide manufacturers through the survey and its data requirements

Response Flexibility 

One of the recurring obstacles for suppliers is laboring to submit the requested information in the right format. This is something just about anybody can relate to: the frustration that comes with trying to upload a file that you know contains the correct information, only to see it fail because it’s not in an acceptable format or is over the maximum file size. This can be very discouraging for suppliers who may not be strongly incentivized to follow through on these responsibilities in the first place. OEMs that are willing to accept information in multiple formats make their suppliers’ jobs significantly easier—a surefire way to reduce fatigue and drive up response rates. 

OEMs that are willing to accept information in multiple formats make their suppliers’ jobs significantly easier—a surefire way to reduce fatigue and drive up response rates. 

Z2Data Executes Expert Supplier Campaigning 

Whether for regulatory compliance, ESG goals, or supply chain risk management, campaigning suppliers can be a rigorous and time-consuming endeavor. Businesses that want to conduct effective due diligence—and reap all the rewards that come with it—but that don’t have the internal resources to carry it out themselves may want to consider a compliance management tool. SCRM platform Z2Data offers a full-service compliance program that does everything from collecting and consolidating supplier contact information to following up with manufacturers through a regular cadence. Z2Data’s supplier surveying offering includes (but is far from limited to):

• Data and supplier contact collection
• Survey creation
• Supplier campaigning
• Survey education guides for manufacturers
• FMD analysis
• Data validation

Z2Data brings a systematic, proven process to the task of supplier surveying. The result is a level of diligence and professionalism that streamlines data collection and submission for all parties. Further, the tool’s compliance professionals deploy expertise, guidance, and a white-glove approach with manufacturers. This hands-on, cooperative technique mitigates fatigue and helps customers obtain the data and documentation they need in a timely fashion. 

To learn more about Z2Data and its full suite of compliance offerings—including supplier campaigning—schedule a free trial with one of our product experts.