SurveyMonkey makes inroads into CRM with Clicktools investment

The purchase of a 49.9% share of Clicktools marks SurveyMonkey’s first investment since raising $100m in debt financing in November.

SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg (pictured) said: “Integration with Salesforce CRM for surveys is a frequent customer request, and Clicktools is the best company in the market already doing it.”

As an example of the integration at work the company said survey responses can be linked to any information in Salesforce CRM and certain survey responses will trigger specific follow-up actions with customers.

Goldberg said: “A partnership with Clicktools enables us to leverage our leadership providing online surveys with their best-in-class product to offer customers of both companies a streamlined solution for Salesforce CRM survey integration.”

As part of the investment Brent Chudoba, SurveyMonkey’s vice president of business strategy, and Tim Maly, vice president of business operations and finance, join Clicktools’ board of directors. Other terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition marks SurveyMonkey’s first foray into CRM. Last year the DIY survey software firm expanded from online into telephone research with the acquisition of Precision Polling.