Frequently Asked Questions

360-degree feedback (also called multi-rater feedback) is a performance review process where an employee receives confidential feedback from multiple sources — typically their manager, peers, direct reports, and sometimes clients or vendors. This gives a more complete picture of an employee's strengths and development areas than a traditional top-down review from a single manager.

The process has six steps: (1) an administrator creates a review using EchoSpan's competency library or custom questions; (2) participants are added individually or imported in bulk; (3) raters are selected by administrators or participants themselves; (4) raters complete the survey online in minutes; (5) reports are generated on-demand or automatically; and (6) employees build development plans based on their results. EchoSpan's Project Autopilot handles scheduling, reminders, and report distribution automatically throughout.

360-degree feedback is used by companies of all sizes — from small businesses to Fortune 500s — for leadership development, performance management, executive coaching, team effectiveness, and succession planning. EchoSpan is also widely used by HR consultants, executive coaches, and organizational development professionals who run feedback programs for multiple client organizations.

EchoSpan is a professional web-based platform for designing, administering, and reporting on 360-degree feedback programs. It is used by HR teams, learning and development professionals, executive coaches, and consultants. Features include customizable surveys, an 80+ competency library, automated project management, AI-powered reporting, development planning tools, and support for 100+ languages.

Yes. EchoSpan offers a free 14-day trial account with no credit card required. A permanently free 360 feedback tool is also available for individuals who want to collect feedback about themselves. You can also request a pilot project or schedule a live demo before committing to a subscription.

Many customers launch their first project the same day they sign up. EchoSpan provides ready-made survey templates, a professionally written competency library, and pre-configured report templates so you don't need to start from scratch. The Project Autopilot handles scheduling, reminders, and report distribution automatically once configured.

No. EchoSpan is designed so that survey respondents and feedback recipients can use it without any training. The interface is clean, intuitive, and mobile-friendly. Administrators have access to product guides, how-to videos, and complimentary live training sessions to help them configure and manage their programs.

EchoSpan is sold as an annual subscription priced by the number of people being reviewed and the feature plan selected. Three editions are available: 360 Essentials, 360 Professional, and 360 Professional Plus. A pay-per-review option is also available for consultants and one-off projects. Pricing can be calculated instantly on our Plans and Pricing page.

360 Essentials includes core features for running simple, customizable surveys — competency library, AI survey generation, Project Autopilot, unlimited PDF reports, and GDPR/EEOC compliance tools.

360 Professional adds custom report templates (500+ options), advanced Autopilot, development planning, group reporting, and rater anonymity controls.

360 Professional Plus adds conditional survey logic, API access, benchmark scoring, change-over-time reports, bulk rater management, and configurable admin roles.

All subscriptions include U.S.-based email support, access to product guides and training videos, and complimentary live administrator training. Standard Support ($1,500/year) adds phone support and a 4-hour response time SLA. Enterprise Support ($5,000/year) adds priority 2-hour response times, private training sessions, pre-launch project review, a 99.5% uptime SLA, and assistance with vendor onboarding and security assessments.

Yes. EchoSpan's project management team can build and run your 360 feedback projects end-to-end, including survey setup, participant upload, reminder management, report generation, and data export. Project management services are available at an hourly rate, typically averaging around $1,250 per project.

Yes. EchoSpan offers extensive branding options including custom logos, report cover art, color schemes, and email templates. The Professional plan includes 500+ report customization options. Consultants and resellers can apply their own branding to deliver white-labeled feedback reports to clients.

Yes. EchoSpan supports 100+ languages and regional dialects as an optional add-on. Survey content and the respondent interface can be automatically translated using neural machine translation, and all translations are fully editable. Written comments can be translated into the feedback recipient's native language, and reports can be delivered in the recipient's preferred language automatically.

EchoSpan's AI Insights Toolkit is an optional add-on that includes: AI-generated narrative summaries from feedback ratings; personalized reading and action plans tailored to each recipient's role and experience; manager debriefing guides; written comment summarization; an interactive AI writing assistant that helps raters write better feedback faster; and InsightScout, a chat-based AI tool that lets managers, participants, and HR staff analyze and query 360 feedback data in real time using natural language. Learn more about EchoSpan AI.

EchoSpan protects rater anonymity through configurable minimum response thresholds — if a rater group doesn't have enough respondents, individual scores are withheld or pooled to prevent identification. On the Professional plan and above, rater group pooling is available, which combines responses across groups when sample sizes are small. Administrators can configure anonymity rules to match their organization's standards.

Yes. EchoSpan uses at-rest and in-transit data encryption across all accounts and is GDPR, WCAG, and EEOC compliant. The platform includes a legal scan feature to help ensure survey content meets EEOC guidelines. EchoSpan has maintained 99.99% uptime since 2005 and actively monitors its infrastructure. Data is hosted for up to 5 years under standard support plans.

Yes. EchoSpan supports SAML 2.0-based single sign-on, allowing employees and administrators to log in using their existing corporate credentials. One-time password (OTP) capabilities are also included. SSO is available as an add-on for $1,200/year and can be self-configured or set up with EchoSpan's assistance. Learn more about SSO.

Yes. EchoSpan supports HRIS integrations via automated SFTP file imports (JSON or CSV format), SAML 2.0 single sign-on, and a full REST API available on the Professional Plus plan. Participants can also be imported manually via Excel spreadsheet at any time. Learn more about integrations.

Yes. EchoSpan has a dedicated consultant and reseller licensing program. Consultants can manage multiple client accounts under a single login, brand reports with their own logo and colors, and purchase reviews on a pay-per-use basis — making it well-suited for coaching practices, HR consultancies, and organizational development firms. Learn more about the consultant program.

EchoSpan is built specifically for 360-degree feedback — not a general HR suite with feedback bolted on. It combines deep customization with ease of use, transparent modular pricing, and genuine human support. Trusted by over 6,000 organizations worldwide since 2005, EchoSpan does not charge per report and offers unlimited report generation on all plans. There are no bundles or unnecessary features to pay for — only what your program actually needs.