How SurveyMonkey transformed open enrollment
Overview
Giving employees personalized benefitsguidance at scale
SurveyMonkey is a survey and forms platform with approximately 1,000 employeesacross offices in the U.S., UK, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, India, and CostaRica. The company serves millions of customers globally who use its platform forcustomer experience, employee engagement, and market research.
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Company Size
~1,000 Employees
Industry
SaaS
Industry
Global
20%
utilization
369
hours saved
100%
positive feedback
Scaling personalized guidance during open enrollment
SurveyMonkey’s 2025 open enrollment reflected a commonbenefits consideration: how to deliver meaningful, personalizedguidance to employees at scale.
OneDigital, their broker, recommended AI. But the benefitsteam wanted to ensure any new technology added clear valuewithout increasing complexity. Rather than adding anotherinterface, they looked for a solution that would empoweremployees. Avante stood out because it was purpose-built for benefits; by using the most up-to-date data, it transforms afragmented support experience into a streamlined, one-stopcomparison solution.
“Our support model was intentionally high-touch, and as we scaled, we saw opportunities to enhance speed and accessibility. Our goal was to automate the routine and streamline the complex—replacing manual ticket queues with a system that delivers immediate answers directly into employees’ hands.”
Camila Menendez Santos
Global Benefits Manager, SurveyMonkey
Purpose-built benefits intelligence
SurveyMonkey deployed Carly, Avante’s AI agent with instant access to SurveyMonkey’s complete benefits documentation, plandetails, and enrollment data. Available 24/7, Carly could answer basic questions like “What is critical illness insurance?” or run complex scenarios comparing multiple plans based on family situation and expected healthcare needs.
The deployment served two audiences: employees seeking benefits guidance and the HR operations handling escalations. WhileCarly remains available year-round, the initial focus was the high-stakes open enrollment period.
Benefits transformation during the two-weeks of open enrollment
(October 27 - November 7, 2025)
Impact on the benefits team
“Carly enabled me to quickly validate and share accurateresponses with employees,” says Menendez Santos. “As aresult, I was able to dedicate more time to complex, highimpact cases.
”The impact extended beyond the core benefits team.SurveyMonkey’s HR operations team used Carly to answerquestions instead of escalating them. “When they receivedtickets related to open enrollment, they could just take thosequestions, put them in Carly, and use that as the answer,” notesLauren Clark, Director of HR Business Partners & Total Rewards.
Impact on employees
“Carly helped create a more elevated and personalizedbenefits enrollment experience,” Clark says. “Avante providedemployees with a confidential space to understand andexplore benefit options. Ultimately this allowed them to makedecisions that feel right for them and also reduced the needfor individualized conversations with the Benefits team.”21% of questions came after hours, revealing when employeesmake benefits decisions: at home, often with a spouse, whilereviewing household budgets. With Carly available 24/7, thesedecisions didn’t have to wait for the next business day.
One finding surprised the team: over half of questions about hospital, family, critical illness, and accident insurance were purelydefinitional. Employees weren’t asking about specific plan details; they were asking, “What is this?”
“I was surprised by how many ‘what is this’ questions we got,” Menendez Santos reflects. “Typically the question is ‘Will this cover X?’But seeing that folks didn’t have that foundational understanding was eye-opening.”
The data also pointed to strong interest in HSA optimization, cost-and-coverage considerations, and new benefit offerings. “As weshape our 2026 benefits education roadmap, this insight helps us prioritize the topics that matter most and tailor education to theright depth,” says Menendez Santos.
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100%
positive feedback from in-app ratings
369
hours saved (Equivalent to 4 full-time employees)
20%
of eligible employees used Carly
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26%
used complex scenario modeling
“What excites me most isn’t just the time savings. It’s the data, For the first time, we have deep insight into what employees actually want to learn and know about their benefits. Carly has enabled personalization, communication and education that have a material impact on our employees’ experience. ”
Benefits Manager
Major U.S. TPA
