Just say "No!" to pop up web surveys

I know this is going to be a bit of a rant, but I just can't click in silence anymore..... 

Thing that has got me typing is the broad mis-use of of customer surveys on websites.  Now don't get me wrong - I don't have anything against asking your customers for feedback on their experiences to help you improve performance. That's the business ResponseTek is in.

My issue is that more and more these survey's pop up before I have even had an experience.  I don't now why but it seems that almost every site I go to these days has a pop up survey  as I enter the site asking me for feedback...."I have't done anything yet", how can I give you feedback?!?

Perhaps it's because the survey companies that specialize in selling these types of surveys are off-loading them for rock bottom prices, fueling the rapid spread across the web. Or maybe ecommerce and marketing depts are being pressured for more customer insights, and will buy anything for a "quick win". 

Whatever the reason, I just wish that companies would think about how to implement these programmes properly so they don't turn a positive customer insight strategy into an actual negative customer experience (irony of ironies) because of poor planning and bad implementation.

That is it.  I have had my say.  NO MORE MINDLESS SURVEYS! .

Syed  

Comments

[Tak Ishikawa]

Companies are inclined to use this kind of strategy because they are still attached to the old “reward” paradigm: “before I give you something, you need to give me something”. They ask for information before letting you in, because they assume that the user will egoistically take what he wants from the site and then leave. The effects on customer experience are evident in your rant, but the tactic itself is also potentially self-defeating.

Human Factors International (HFI) presented a study where researchers compared this widespread reward tactic to a different strategy based on trust and reciprocity: “you are welcome to visit the site and get what you are looking for, and I trust you will give me information afterwards”. The conclusions are roughly these:

1. More people give information if they are forced to answer questions before proceeding to the site.
2. However, people give more information about themselves (e.g., name, surname, email, ground address), if they are asked questions after they visited the site.

For marketing purposes, it all comes down to what kind of information is more useful for a company: more but not very detailed, or less but more complete. For customer experience, however, it is clear that reciprocity is better.

Thanks for sharing these thoughts.

Tak Ishikawa
PD: Here is the reference of the study and a link to HFI presentation.
Gamberini, L., Petrucci, G., & Spoto, A. (2007). Embedded Persuasive Strategies to Obtain Visitors’ Data: Comparing Reward and Reciprocity in an Amateur, Knowledge-Based Website. In Persuasive Technology, Vol. 4744/2007, pp. 187-198

http://events.powerstream.net/002/00143/20090115PersuasiveDesign/#powershow