Employee appraisals increase engagement and drive improvement, but chasing responses and consolidating feedback can become overwhelming for small businesses.
360-degree appraisal software makes the performance review process faster, fairer and more actionable by automating feedback collection and analysis
In this article, you’ll discover five leading tools and learn how to find the best solution for you. You’ll also see how Pipedrive can act as appraisal software, letting you save money and consolidate your tech stack.
Key takeaways for 360 appraisal software
360 appraisal software does the heavy lifting during performance reviews, automating feedback collection and eliminating manual data entry.
The right tool depends on your specific needs, but small businesses should prioritize usability, customizability and price.
A CRM can double as a feedback tool, meaning you don’t always need expensive HR suites.
Pipedrive lets SMBs combine their CRM and employee appraisal platform in one system. Try it free for 14 days.
What SMBs can expect from 360 appraisal software
360-degree appraisal software automates feedback collection from an employee’s entire professional circle. It centralizes data in one place, making it easy to spot trends and track growth.
The right solution significantly reduces appraisal workloads. Small business employees spend less time jumping between spreadsheets and chasing feedback and more time turning appraisals into action.
Here are several other ways 360-degree feedback software streamlines your appraisal process:
Eliminate bias and get a holistic view of employee performance by collecting feedback from a variety of sources, including management and colleagues
Improve the quantity and quality of appraisals by collecting anonymous feedback
Identify skill gaps and improvement opportunities by visualizing data with custom reports and intuitive dashboards
360-degree performance appraisal software also improves employee engagement and performance.
Gallup finds that 80% of employees who receive meaningful appraisals are fully engaged, with feedback delivering four times the engagement increase of working a certain number of days in the office. Employee retention may increase, too.
Companies that focus on employee performance are also 4.2 times more likely to outperform competitors and realize around 30% higher revenue growth, according to McKinsey.
If you want to realize these improvements, here are five tools that can help.
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5 best 360 appraisal software tools for SMBs
Whether you want a dedicated appraisal solution, an all-in-one human resources (HR) platform or a cost-effective survey tool, these five appraisal software solutions have you covered.
1. Qualtrics 360 Development Feedback: best survey-based solution
Qualtrics is an enterprise-grade experience management platform with a dedicated product for collecting employee feedback.
The 360 Development Feedback module lets you create highly customizable employee surveys like the one below and automatically send them to the right people at the right time.
Qualtrics comes pre-loaded with template questionnaires to get you started, as well as an expert-backed development framework for managers.
The tool is versatile and delivers actionable insights. It allows you to run ongoing lifecycle surveys, such as exit interviews, in addition to 360 reviews. Advanced features can take time to master, though, and the price may be too high for very small teams.
Key features include:
A self-service portal that lets employees request their own feedback
A library of relevant resources and training modules that help you close skill gaps
Personalized reports that help you turn feedback into actionable growth plans
What users are saying:
Who Qualtrics is best for: HR teams wanting to run multiple surveys at regular intervals.
2. Spidergap: best dedicated appraisal software
Spidergap is a dedicated 360-degree feedback platform that emphasizes reporting and improvement.
The 360-degree feedback tool gives each employee an easy-to-understand report card, shown below, that highlights the areas requiring the most attention.
It also aggregates reports across departments, letting managers quickly see which skills their team members need to develop.
Spidergap is easy to use because it focuses solely on 360-degree feedback. If you still need help, customer support will respond to queries within 24 hours.
The platform may not be sufficient for fast-growing teams seeking an all-in-one HR solution.
Key features include:
Pre-loaded best-practice templates
Drag-and-drop questionnaire builder that lets you change questions, add text and edit rating scales
Personal development tools are built directly into the results
What users are saying:
Who Spidergap is best for: Lean teams that want to run a professional 360 review cycle without investing in an HR software suite.
3. Lattice: best all-in-one HR software
Lattice is an all-in-one, AI-powered HR platform with a dedicated employee performance management tool.
Run detailed performance reviews as often as you need. Lattice offers several pre-built templates, workflows and dashboards to get you started. There’s also baked-in AI that can summarize feedback as shown below:
Once you’ve collected feedback, you can arrange 1:1 check-ins within the platform, create OKRs (objectives and key results) and run goal-setting initiatives. There’s also a mobile app so you can manage all of this on the go.
If you already use Lattice to manage talent or compensation, then it makes sense to use it for 360-degree appraisals. It may be too expensive for smaller teams that don’t require all the bells and whistles.
Key features include:
Automated workflows, rules and triggers that let you systematize reviews
Customizable reports that identify top performers and track sentiment trends
Suggested actions that help managers put feedback into practice
What users are saying:
Once you’ve collected feedback, you can arrange 1:1 check-ins within the platform, create OKRs (objectives and key results) and run goal-setting initiatives. There’s also a mobile app so you can manage all of this on the go.
If you already use Lattice to manage talent or compensation, then it makes sense to use it for 360-degree appraisals. It may be too expensive for smaller teams that don’t require all the bells and whistles.
Key features include:
Automated workflows, rules and triggers that let you systematize reviews
Customizable reports that identify top performers and track sentiment trends
Suggested actions that help managers put feedback into practice
What users are saying:
Sending questionnaires within these apps reduces tool fatigue and increases the quantity and quality of responses. It’s an ideal tool if your SMB runs on Microsoft 365, but Google Workspace will have to look elsewhere.
Key features include:
An extensive library of questionnaire templates with the ability to create your own from scratch
An AI assistant that can add comments, check for biases and enrich responses
Integrated OKR software that lets you turn reviews into action plans
What users are saying:
Who Teamflect is best for: SMBs fully invested in Microsoft 360 that want a frictionless implementation process.
5. Culture Amp: best for improving the employee experience
Culture Amp is a comprehensive employee wellness platform with a broad range of modules to help you engage employees and increase performance.
Use the platform to build one-off performance reviews or create a culture of continuous feedback by building an automated feedback system.
In either case, there are dozens of templates to choose from:
Culture Amp makes it straightforward to turn appraisals into employee engagement initiatives through shoutouts, 1:1 meetings and personal development plans.
It’s an excellent choice for teams that want to use feedback to drive improvements in employee engagement, but it may be overwhelming for smaller teams.
Key features include:
Science-backed templates and the ability to benchmark scores against thousands of other companies
An AI coach that summarizes feedback and highlights development opportunities from previous performance reviews
Heatmaps to visualize sentiment across departments
What users are saying:
Who Culture Amp is best for: Fast-growing SMBs that want to improve company culture and run engagement surveys alongside 360-degree reviews.
How to use Pipedrive as appraisal software
You can save money by using existing tools like a customer relationship software (CRM) platform to automate 360-degree appraisals.
The per-user pricing of dedicated tools can add up quickly for small businesses, whereas you’re already paying for your CRM.
If you already use Pipedrive, it has several core features to collect, track and visualize employee feedback effectively.
Here are four steps to using Pipedrive as 360 review software.
Collect feedback with Web Forms
With Pipedrive’s Web Forms, you can collect employee feedback seamlessly from all of your employees without needing third-party survey tools.
For example, a SaaS company can use Web Forms to send annual surveys to all employees and collect feedback from respondents directly in its CRM.
Because the form connects to your Pipedrive account, every submission automatically creates a new deal or record, centralizing all data in one place.
Customize surveys to your exact requirements, using multiple question formats to capture different types of constructive feedback:
Open-ended questions for qualitative feedback (e.g., "What are this employee’s greatest strengths?")
Multiple choice for categorizing feedback (e.g., "Which department are you reviewing?")
Multi-rater options to quantify performance metrics (e.g., "Rate this employee’s punctuality on a scale from 1–5")
Once you’ve hit publish, share your form using the link or embed it into your company’s internal wiki or employee portal for easy access. Digitizing feedback collection saves your team hours each review cycle that would otherwise be spent sending individual emails.
Track and store feedback with custom pipelines
Pipedrive makes it easy to manage the appraisal process within your CRM using custom pipelines. Rather than tracking potential leads, you can create entries for each employee.
In the same way you link phone calls and other sales data to deal cards, you can link 360 appraisal data to each employee’s CRM entry.
Use customizable pipeline stages to define the exact journey appraisals take. An example pipeline might look like this:
The benefit of using a CRM to track appraisals is that you can use the Kanban view to see at a glance exactly where every single employee sits in the review cycle.
It also lets you create an appraisal process that actually meets your needs without investing in a full HR suite. If your needs change in the future, you’ve got an excellent framework to build on.
Trigger feedback forms with automations
Pipedrive’s workflow automation features let appraisal processes run on autopilot, with collections triggered by specific events, such as an employee’s work anniversary, a promotion or the start of a new quarter.
It reduces manual administration, a significant bottleneck in performance reviews.
Use Pipedrive’s drag-and-drop builder to design a workflow that fits your specific review cadence:
Create a trigger event when a deal (which can represent individual employees) moves to the “Request Feedback" stage of the custom pipeline
Set an action that automatically sends a questionnaire to the employee’s peers
Here’s what the workflow builder looks like in Pipedrive:
You can set up notifications for employees who have not submitted feedback within a specified timeframe.
For instance, if a feedback form hasn’t been submitted after five days, Pipedrive can automatically nudge staff via email, ensuring no one falls through the cracks.
Visualize feedback in dashboards and reports
Pipedrive’s Insights turns raw appraisal data into dashboards and graphs that help you track employee performance and create improvement plans.
Here’s an example of the kind of dashboard you can create to track company-wide appraisals:
There are three major report types you can use for appraisals:
Dashboard views: create a visual board that shows the status of all reviews, so you can see how many reviews are stuck and which employees perform best
Custom reports: generate reports that track average scores across departments to identify high-performing teams or managers who might need support
AI reports: save time with AI-powered reporting tools that generate specific reports via text input in real time
All of Pipedrive’s reports are entirely customizable, meaning you can use them to track as many custom metrics as your business needs.
What should SMBs consider when choosing 360 feedback software?
Choosing the right software will determine how willing employees are to provide feedback and how smoothly your appraisal process runs.
While most solutions share similar core features, you can find the best solution for you by prioritizing the following characteristics.
Usability | SMBs benefit from intuitive tools that require minimal training. The faster employees deliver feedback, the sooner they can continue their work. Look for solutions with an intuitive design, a straightforward user experience and a short onboarding video or workflow to reduce time-to-value and increase response rates. |
Customizability | While pre-made templates help you get started faster, you’ll want to customize the software to your business’s needs. Prioritize tools that let you build custom questionnaires with flexible question types and multiple rating scales. |
Integrations | The best appraisal software will integrate seamlessly with existing HR software and the rest of your tech stack. Check for API-led integrations that let you connect tools within a couple of clicks or a repository of native connections like Pipedrive’s Marketplace. |
Analytics and reporting | Reporting features help you make feedback actionable by spotting patterns and creating visualizations you can share with colleagues. Look for dashboards and customizable reports that help you make sense of dozens of responses. |
Pricing | Many feedback tools charge a monthly fee per employee, which can quickly become prohibitive as small businesses grow. Find the best value for money by looking for transparent pricing models and tiered pricing plans. Use trials and product demos to evaluate platforms at no cost. |
Another way to avoid software and cost creep is to evaluate whether the tools you already use can collect, manage and visualize 360-degree feedback.
If you’re paying a $10 per-seat fee to appraise a dozen employees, you could save hundreds of dollars each month by using an existing tool like your CRM – especially if it already includes forms, automation and reporting.
How Pipedrive helps: CRMs are particularly versatile tools for small businesses that can serve many purposes until you’re ready to invest in a more complex tech stack.
For example,solar panel installation company Sun4power uses Pipedrive as both a CRM and project management tool to stay on top of over 100 projects. You can do something similar using Pipedrive as an employee feedback tracker.
Pipedrive also integrates with several HR tools like SurveyMonkey and Google Workspace, letting you combine the flexibility of specialized survey tools with Pipedrive’s powerful contact management capabilities.
Final thoughts
360-degree appraisals increase employee engagement, improve self-awareness and contribute to company-wide growth. The right software can automate the process, letting you collect, store and analyze feedback at regular intervals.
If you’re appraising a small team, your CRM may already give you everything you need. Pipedrive’s forms, customizable pipelines and automations make it easy to manage sales and employee feedback.
Start a 14-day free trial to discover how Pipedrive’s all-in-one CRM solution can act as a powerful employee appraisal software and save hundreds of dollars.
