My wife and I bought a new car recently. And today, just as they told us we would, we received an email asking us to rate our buying experience. I clicked the link to the survey and started answering their questions about how I would rate the appearance of the facility, the selection available, the comfort of the room where the purchase price was agreed on, etc.
Twenty-five multiple-choice questions later (most of which I didn't have strong opinions about), I hadn’t even completed the first half of the survey. So I gave up.
A long, laborious, multiple-choice survey doesn't communicate that you actually care what people really think any more than the SAT questions make students feel like someone cares about their test-taking experience. And I’m not going to rave to my friends about the thesis-like survey that our car dealer asked me to fill out.
Wouldn’t it have been easier—and more effective—if the manager had just emailed us personally, thanked us for our purchase, and asked if we might email back briefly to tell her what we liked most and least about the experience?
I would have told her that our salesman was great, that the guy who tried to upsell us on the warranty was pushy and argumentative, and that overall, we love our car and are happy with our purchase. Those are the things that I noticed and are taking with me, not the comfort of the room where I agreed on the price.
And imagine if she had written back with an acknowledgement and a thank-you, along with an offer for a free car wash to make up for one negative part of our experience. Now, she’s given me a cool story to tell people (which I would have done).
If you’re going to ask your customers, counselors, teachers or students for feedback, give them an opportunity to actually share real feedback, not to take a survey. Promise to read what they share, and to follow up with them if they ask you to. Your business or school will get better because of it, and your constituencies will feel like you actually listen to and care about what they think.