directedfocus

Reader, member and customer surveys are de rigueur at present

Nearly every business I interact with has sent me a request to complete a survey in the last couple of weeks

The challenge is to get the focus the right way round.

Two surveys I recently completed are highlight how things can go horribly wrong.

I purchased my first Apple product, an iPhone 3GS, and afterwards received an email asking for my impressions of the buying process and setting up the phone.

The first question asked what Apple product I purchased, the iPhone 3GS.
The second question related to what other Apple products I had purchased or owned, none.

Things went down hill from there when the questions continually focused on my experiences when I purchased my Mac and Mac software. Go figure I don't own one.

Paypal sent me an email entitled ... PayPal would appreciate 2 minutes of your time

I worked my way through what was I think six questions, only to be presented with a screen that said something like ... We have received enough answers like yours thank you very much.

What went wrong?

Given the resources available to both organisations I was stunned that they could get things so wrong.

• Apple received a lot of answers that were just plain wrong. I was not being truthful at all and I couldn't be.
• Paypal was arrogant in not wishing to hear what their customers had to say about their experiences when they didn't like the response.How skewed was this survey.

Customer surveys are serious business.

Most people didn’t like taking surveys when the economy was booming, and chances are people are more pressed for time than ever.  Make each question count and make sure that you will get answers that will allow your team to take action.

This is not the place to go into detail about what the questions should have been but three key areas need to be addressed

• Define specific goals for the survey and and think about why you are doing the survey in the first place.
• Provide an "other" option with a response box. Alternatively a "none of the above" box
• Pilot-test the survey with a small number of people from the target market, who fit the profile of the respondent, and fix any problems before sending the survey to a large group.

Apple did it again ... go figure

Thank you for your purchase of the Apple iPhone. We would like to ask you a few questions about your experience with your new phone.

Ok so I'm a sucker I give it another go.

This time the survey was carrier related and only 4 or 5 questions

This is an example of why questions need to be audited and the survey pilot tested.

Had I sought assistance from ...

• The carrier
• The carrier's retail store
• The carrier's web site
• From an Apple reseller
• The Apple website
• None of the above I didn't need any support

Ouch!

I actually asked a family member and then had to contact Apple Care and spend some time with them working out why iTunes would not complete the registration activation of my phone.

That question assumbed all the wrong things.

Customer surveys are great ... when you ask the questions that give you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.