Do you always respond to after-purchase or after-service surveys?

October 16, 2024 5:00 AM

Am I being a healthier manager of my digital world by ruthlessly deleting unsolicited messages or am I hurting the career track of some workers by refusing to answer survey questions about their performance?

For quite some time now, whenever I have a medical appointment or make an online purchase, or pay a utility bill, it is followed by requests for a survey. Rate our service. What could have made it better, did everything meet your expectations?. . . . I know part of this is driven by the extremely low-cost of communicating via text or e-mail.
On the one hand, I appreciate that they are asking and that I have an avenue to communicate. On the other hand, it seems like I would have little time left if I sought to answer each and every one of these requests. I am currently overwhelmed by the volume of requests. So unless an experience was particularly fraught with difficulty I end up deleting the vast majority of them.
Perhaps companies recognize this and assume if they don’t get many responses that things are going along OK and that is just fine.
In my value system, it feels like I have, say, chosen to order item B and have paid the required funds. They have fulfilled their part by sending me item B. Now they are asking me for more of my time and attention and clogging up my inboxes which I did not calculate into the original choice.

I understand this is what businesses do. This is a part of connecting with the customer, paying attention to feedback, attracting repeat customers and so forth. Why does it feel like more of an intrusion than a needful part of a working transaction?

posted by tronec to Shopping (17 answers total)

If someone wants my time or my opinion they can pay me for it.

The only utility a post service survey has is if you've received abominable service on something that is continuing to cause a problem and you've been unable to secure support for, in which case you can give a low score, tank their NPS rating, and get a nearly immediate reach out from someone with a title like "experience manager" who might actually escalate the issue you're having to someone competent to help. (But mostly they will just look at you like this 🥺👉👈 and say sowwy pweas give us a 10 next time.)
posted by phunniemee at 5:13 AM on October 16

Survey response rates, even for meaningful stuff, generally are very low. I'm guessing that the "how'd we do" type surveys get exceedingly low engagement rates. I don't think you need to feel like you're affecting individuals by ignoring those.

I do not respond to these unless occasionally if an individual working there went above and beyond on my behalf (ie I want to return the favor), or I have something specific to complain about.

As a rule, I will not respond negatively or even neutrally to them if the question could appear on an individual worker's performance report.
posted by ambulanceambiance at 5:19 AM on October 16

I don't do surveys unless there's bank for me. If I have a service complaint I'll write something specific and send it to someone who can react.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:20 AM on October 16

I always respond when asked to review the response to an issue by an actual human customer service agent, since I assume these (often numerical) ratings have impact on their continued employment.
posted by blue suede stockings at 5:20 AM on October 16

Yes, when there's one specific human being rated, I respond "A+++ BEST EVER"-style because I've been the one evaluated based on those and it is unfortunately important to have over-the-top positive metrics to balance the chronic complainers and misdirected ragers. General "rate our facility!" stuff, especially if it goes to public social media instead of an internal survey, gets ignored unless properly incentivized.
posted by teremala at 5:29 AM on October 16

I've studied surveys such as these a little. One reason companies do surveys is that it has been found that some customers have a better opinion about companies who ask for a response. As written here, response level is so low that the actual responses aren't useful.
posted by tmdonahue at 5:35 AM on October 16

Put me in camp 'that actual human being I intereacted with was the best!' -- even if they were only passably acceptable -- and otherwise delete. I don't negatively review CSRs unless they are actively hostile. I don't respond to 'how could our website be better?' unless something was absolutely atrociously hard to find and I want to complain.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:09 AM on October 16

I no longer respond to surveys, they are pointless and don't generate useful data.

Anything less than a 10 (or whatever the max rating is) generally counts the same as a zero as far as i can tell anymore.

Is your mediocre hotel breakfast just fine and only rate an 8, well now i get bombarded with profuse apologies and requests to call the manager about why it's not a 10? You are a 2-3 star hotel, not ultra luxe. If it wowed me, id rather you spend less and lower the room rate.

Rate if you want, its generally just an invitation to be pestered into correcting your rating into an inflated max rating. They aren't going to fix any negative experiences you had, just your rating of them.
posted by TheAdamist at 6:12 AM on October 16

Same as many folks above, I only respond when being asked to rate how a human person did their job, and I always give them the highest rating possible. Otherwise I ignore them. Your time is precious and you can never get it back. Don't waste it on this bullshit.
posted by number9dream at 6:19 AM on October 16

Someone suggested rating everything all-fives, on the grounds that we cannot give an honest rating. My view is different: since I cannot rate honestly, I rate nothing. Or, as Wittgenstein said: Of that which we cannot speak, we must remain silent.
posted by novalis_dt at 6:26 AM on October 16

I always respond at the blood bank when I've given platelets, to say how awesome everyone is. (I feel bad because I take so many cookies.)

And I reply after shopping at the Attleboro, Mass., Target because the place is a dump now and I want their metrics to tank.

Most of the rest of them I ignore, unless someone was especially helpful or prompt.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:29 AM on October 16

tmdonahue: I've studied surveys such as these a little.

Go on.....
posted by wenestvedt at 6:30 AM on October 16

I generally ignore them but sometimes take 2 seconds to tap "5 stars," especially if it's clear that the response will be linked to an individual who did at least a decent job.

I very occasionally take time to submit constructive criticism. Last year, I went to a restaurant where the staff were quite welcoming and the food was generally good, but two dishes were really awful. I politely emailed telling them that and got an appreciative response.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:36 AM on October 16

+1 ignore unless connected to an actual person.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:03 AM on October 16

I ignore surveys unless

a) they are asking me to rate a staff member, and the staff member was genuinely unhelpful and terrible - I have no qualms about rating someone 0 out of 5 if at the end of a 45 minute phone call my problem has still not been fixed (especially if the staff member lied to me that the problem had been fixed when it had not been fixed);

or b) if they are paying a reasonable $ amount for the survey

or c) if it's something I really care about
eg I was happy to do a survey for free recently for a business run by a disabled woman who is trying to build the perfect shower chair to sell to other disabled people.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:09 AM on October 16

The way capitalism is supposed to work is that I give you money, and you give me a product or service. It's not that I give you money and you give me a product or service, and then I have fill out a survey.

Somewhere along the way, they've added that last part. As a general rule, I just delete the surveys. It's not my job to spend time and mental energy to rate a company. I've already fulfilled my end of the bargain.
posted by Leontine at 7:51 AM on October 16

I kinda hate surveys now, specifically because "if it's not 5 stars, it's a zero" and then the employee gets shit for it. People now beg you to give the highest of rankings because anything else hurts them.

I only fill them out (a) if I'm bored/in the mood, (b) if things were genuinely great. If the service was bad or mediocre, I skip it, for the reasons above. You can't give a bad/mediocre review without unleashing hell upon yourself by the service provider, so why bother.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:44 AM on October 16