Internet surveys....

[aja8888]

I get these all the time......from Schwab, United Airlines, Holiday Inn, Amazon, other retailers, etc, etc. I never take the time to take the survey.

Do any of you think taking these surveys is a worthwhile exercise? Are the initiators really getting any good out of these? Do you believe they expose you to spam? Any other concerns about these?

Here is an example of what I am talking about:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Dear Schwab Client,

The purpose of this email is to ask you to complete a short survey.

Your opinion matters.
One way to improve our products and services is to find out how you feel about them. For example, your feedback on our customer service or website can help guide our improvements, which in turn can make your investing experience at Schwab better.

Click here to take the survey"
[/FONT]

 

[braumeister]

I think they can sometimes be useful, and I bother to fill them out when I have a particular gripe about something. But I omit the personal questions at the end (age, income, etc.).

Most of the multiple choice buttons and boxes are probably ignored, but they usually have someone read the comments you write when you check "Other" for an item.

 

[W2R]

I never fill them out.

I presume that somebody got a promotion for imagining and creating the survey, and that other than that, nothing good comes of them. I could be wrong! But that is where my thought processes seem to end up.

 

[Meadbh]

In general, I do not fill out any survey that wants my contact details. However, I do complete surveys from my frequent flyer plan, because they already have my information and I get frequent flyer points as an incentive. They are currently migrating their credit cards from one bank to another and are asking questions which I believe are quite relevant to their future business strategy. I have every expectation that they analyze the information from their panel with all sorts of statistical tools.

 

[frayne]

Nope, never fill them out either.

 

[scrabbler1]

I don't think these are the ones the OP is referring to, but I sometimes go to websites indicated on store receipts to provide feedback, good or bad, about my experience. This is mainly true for restaurant chains where I can comment on the quality of the food and/or service. My comments get routed to the local store's manager pretty quickly if I need to speak to someone there.

 

[aja8888]

I don't think these are the ones the OP is referring to, but I sometimes go to websites indicated on store receipts to provide feedback, good or bad, about my experience. This is mainly true for restaurant chains where I can comment on the quality of the food and/or service. My comments get routed to the local store's manager pretty quickly if I need to speak to someone there.

No, but that sounds like a good idea.

I responded to one from Holiday Inn Express a couple of years ago and literally got bombarded with all kinds of Spam from the parent company, IHG, shortly after that.

 

[LOL!]

Surveys like these are just another marketing/advertising ploy. Studies show that these surveys lead folks to purchase goods and services in the future from the survey issuer. And that is even true if the responder to the survey completely trashes and disses the company asked about in the survey.

It is simply one of those behavorial economics things. Since a survey is a more involved interaction, your brain remembers the company better, longer, more positively in the future when you have a choice.

So if you want to do the survey, go ahead, but also make sure in the future that you don't get sucked in by your subconscious.

Full disclosure: I get to propose survey questions to our marketing group.

EtA: I filled out survey/review for a hotel room that I booked through hotels.com. My comments then appeared on the website for the hotel, except all the negatives were edited away leaving only the positives. OK, it's not like I believe any review I read online, but this was a little more blatant than I expected.

 

[chilkoot]

In general, no, I don't bother with them.

One brief story though--Recently I had an ongoing problem with a major cell service. Working through their normal channels wasn't getting me anywhere. I returned one of the website operator's pop-up surveys and related the problem under "other".

Problem solved.

(The survey really pertained to the website. I gave them high marks because the site generally did what it was supposed to.)

 

[photoguy]

I would only fill out a survey if they offered cash or equivalent. Definitely not for a survey that enters you in a "drawing".

If I really had feedback I wanted the company to know, I send email to the appropriate person.