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Why empowered customers aren’t answering your questions,
and how to win them back by SCOTT MILLER
visioncritical.com

CONTENTS
03 — OVERVIEW
04 — SPAM SURVEYS ARE EVERYWHERE
04 — RESPONSE RATES ARE PLUMMETING
05 — SPAM SURVEYS ANNOY CUSTOMERS
06 — SPAM SURVEYS DON’T PROVIDE
THE ANSWERS COMPANIES NEED
07 — SPAM SURVEYS ARE DAMAGED GOODS.
NOW WHAT?
08 — THE NEW RULES OF CUSTOMER
INTELLIGENCE
ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN W. TOMAC
10 — THE LAST WORD
10 — ABOUT THE AUTHOR
#NoSpamSurveys
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OVERVIEW
or a century, companies
have relied on surveys to
help them better understand
their customers. But the
world has changed and the
traditional survey, despite some cosmetic
improvements, has lost its usefulness.
Surveys are a blunt instrument in a world
that demands nuance.
Spam surveys feel more like an interrogation
than a genuine request for
feedback—an inconsiderate interruption to
your day. They are one-way conversations,
strictly about the results the survey
company wants to acquire, not the
interests of the customer. Some countries,
recognizing how the barrage of marketing
and market research surveys annoy their
constituents, have banned robocalls and
spam texts—blocking survey distribution.
This backlash was a long time coming.
Today’s customers, empowered by technology,
are eager to communicate with
the brands they care about, and want
that feedback to be on their terms. They
expect their opinions, experiences and
feedback will be used to drive improvements,
product innovation and ultimately
better experiences.
More than ever, customers demand
a different kind of relationship with
companies; they’re no longer content to
be treated like faceless data points and
they want to know what’s in it for them.
They want to know why they matter.
The era of the traditional survey is over.
To survive and thrive, businesses need
new tactics and techniques that yield
more intimate, more granular and more
human insight.
SPAM SURVEYS
They appear out of nowhere,
uninvited and, most often, unwelcome.
They are impersonal and generic, not connected
to the data or experiences of the individual customer.
They are often overly long, not respecting
the time and effort required of the customer.
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SPAM SURVEYS
ARE
EVERYWHERE
It’s become impossible to avoid surveys.
They’re everywhere: in spam emails and
texts, in pop-up windows and in nagging
robocalls received the moment you sit
down to dinner. The cheapest and easiest
method, the e-survey, has spread like an
epidemic: the e-survey company Mindshare
Technologies sends out more than
60 million e-surveys a year 1 . In 2014, the
survey service SurveyMonkey collected
more than two million responses every
day 2 —that’s billions a year.
In a study of customer satisfaction
surveying methods, the research company
B2B International found that the shift to
e-surveys has advantages (low cost for
the surveying company and convenience
for people taking the surveys), but many
more disadvantages 3 . Spam e-surveys get
low-quality responses, and survey responders
often can’t ask for clarification
on confusing questions.
As far back as 2005, there were warning
signs that the reign of surveys was coming
to an end. The topic that dominated that
year’s panel conference of the European
72%
say surveys interfere
with the experience
of a website
80%
abandon a survey
halfway through
52%
say they won’t
spend more than
three minutes
filling out a survey
(SOURCE:
OPINIONLAB)
Society for Opinion and Market Research:
survey fatigue 4 . A year later, the National
Science Foundation, a United States government
agency, issued a special report on
the future of surveys, which it described
as threatened 5 . It noted that e-surveys had
shown significant non-response problems
and sample bias, and that many members
of the public were suspicious of surveys,
which they assume are sales pitches in
disguise. The American Association for
Public Opinion Research, which oversees
polling companies, was so alarmed by the
growing public distrust of surveys that it
created stricter policies to distinguish the
work of its membership from unregulated,
low-credibility online survey companies 6 .
RESPONSE
RATES ARE
PLUMMETING
The constant bombardment of the public
with spam surveys has had an unintended
consequence: a decline in response rates.
Undeterred, online survey companies have
responded by sending out even more
e-surveys to achieve a critical mass of
responses. This only serves to annoy more
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A public backlash has prompted governments to introduce
legislation that makes it more difficult for marketers and market
researchers to distribute spam surveys
customers—no wonder the survey has
developed a bad reputation.
Surveys work best when they have a
high response rate. In the past decade,
however, response rates experienced an
unprecedented slide. The analyst service
Econsultancy estimates that response
rates to e-surveys are as low as 10 percent
7 . The Pew Research Center witnessed
the drop first-hand. In 1997, the
Center could count on a response rate to
its surveys of about 36 percent. In 2003,
that number was 25 percent. By 2014,
Pew received a response rate of just
nine percent 8 .
Jonathan Levitt, the CMO of Opinion-
Lab, watched response rates drop from
approximately 20 to two percent over the
last 20 years 9 . “You are annoying your customers
and not getting the answers you
want,” he says. “It’s a lose-lose.”
Survey Sampling International observed
the same phenomenon in France, the
United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
The Netherlands experienced the most
dramatic change, from a 59 percent
response rate in 2004 to a 13 percent response
rate in 2009 10 . Another surprising
finding of the SSI study: most researchers
would assume that the length of a survey
would impact response rate, yet the study
Anyone who can
craft a customer
survey and throw
it on the Internet
is doing it.
—Jonathan Barsky,
Market Metrix
found that both long and short surveys
saw precipitous drops. The lesson to be
taken from dropping response rates and
public irritation is clear: people no longer
tolerate surveys.
SPAM SURVEYS
ANNOY
CUSTOMERS
The e-survey is cold and impersonal and
tedious. Who wants to answer the same
set of identifying questions about gender
and age and income over and over
again? In some traditional surveys, profiling
questions make up half of the survey.
Such surveys are disconnected from
customers’ experiences, asking questions
that don’t respond to their specific interests
and desires.
Customers are more likely to participate
in a survey if they feel like their voices
are being heard. In a study of survey-takers,
Vision Critical found that 86 percent
participated because they wanted to
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The nightmare scenario is the prospect of entire
families filling in surveys for money at the kitchen table,
selecting answers at random
make a difference in the world, and 87
percent wanted to have a say in a company’s
future products and services. Yet
the more people are asked to give their
time to multiple surveys from dozens of
e-survey services, the less the experience
seems worthwhile. They send their survey
responses into what can seem like a black
hole—survey companies take their input
and never let them hear what they do
with it or if it results in any change.
In a rant on his HBO show about his
frustration over the constant irritation of
customer satisfaction surveys, the comedian
Bill Maher put it this way: “A. I don’t
work for you. And B., I don’t give a shit.”
Maher’s comments resonated with viewers
and quickly went viral. His feelings are
echoed by the dozens of people who post
YouTube videos complaining about surveys,
as well as the many Facebook groups
with names like I Hate Surveys and How
to Skip Annoying Surveys. 11
This backlash has prompted governments
to introduce legislation that makes
it more difficult for marketers and market
researchers to distribute spam surveys. In
the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission,
which had already introduced a “Do
Not Call List,” adopted strict rules allowing
phone companies to prevent robocalls and
spam texts—two common methods for inviting
the public to partake in a survey. The
new rules were a reaction to the unprecedented
number of complaints (more than
200,000 a year) the FCC receives about
robocalls. To get around the rule, some
marketing companies have resorted to using
fake phone numbers—so-called “spoof”
numbers—which only degrades the reputation
of surveys even more. 12
SPAM SURVEYS
DON’T PROVIDE
THE ANSWERS
COMPANIES NEED
Surveys are harvesting data from a shrinking
segment of the population—and often
not the people companies want to hear
from. If fewer people are eager to participate
in surveys, who’s filling them out?
The answer: the wrong people.
Many survey companies have resorted
to a form of bribery: they pay respondents
to fill out surveys, and offer prizes and
rewards such as store gift cards or pur-
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A single Facebook post or YouTube video can easily
damage a brand. Companies need to pay attention more than
ever to what their customers think and feel
chase points. Paid surveys have become
so widespread, it’s created a population
of professional survey takers who attempt
to earn a living by answering them. Advice
websites offer tips on how to organize
your day to complete the most surveys.
Joe Bish, a writer for Vice.com, published
an article in 2015 in which he
recounted how he tried earning cash by
filling out online surveys. “I powered on,
doing survey after survey after survey,”
he wrote. “It was extremely depressing.
The work was silent, indolent clicking of
‘strongly agree’ or ‘mostly disagree’ on a
slew of inconsequential questions about
Netflix.” In the end, after a day of taking
surveys, he discovered his only reward was
a discount on a photo album website. 13
For market researchers, the nightmare
scenario is the prospect of entire families
filling in surveys for money at the kitchen
table, selecting answers at random. Now
that the people filling out surveys are
doing so to make money, it’s impossible
to rely on the information surveys yield.
The flaws of surveys are many: surveys
are providing companies information
about customers who don’t want to be
surveyed, or about customers who only
answer surveys because they’re being
paid. The survey is damaged goods.
36%
response rate
to surveys in 1997
9%
response rate
to surveys in 2014.
(SOURCE: PEW
RESEARCH CENTER)
SPAM SURVEYS
ARE DAMAGED
GOODS.
NOW WHAT?
Companies need a new approach to
customer intelligence. While the survey
once provided a new way for customers
to provide feedback to companies, that
state of affairs has been turned on its
head. The megaphone of social media
has empowered customers with a voice.
When a single Facebook post or YouTube
video can easily damage a brand, companies
need to pay attention more than ever
to what their customers think and feel. To
understand their customers, companies
need to start treating them like people,
not interchangeable data points, and
adopt new insight methods.
The new approach to customer intelligence
rests on four common sense rules:
1. Treat customers like people you truly
care about. 2. Engage with customers over
time. 3. Draw on insight that already exists
in your company. 4. Break down your company’s
internal silos.
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THE NEW RULES OF CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE
1
TREAT
CUSTOMERS
LIKE PEOPLE
2
ENGAGE WITH
CUSTOMERS
OVER TIME
Our customers are our most precious
commodity. Every interaction we have
with them is an opportunity to create
a lifelong advocate for our brands—or
to push them away forever. So why do
so many companies continue to treat
customers like interchangeable, disposable
data points? More than anything,
customers want to feel they matter.
Empowered by social media, they are
eager to share their feedback—but only
if they believe we are really listening. We
have reached a tipping point in which
customers will no longer answer surveys
unless they are personally relevant and
offer genuine value in return. In our fastmoving,
hyper-connected world, time
has become the new global currency. If
customers agree to spend five minutes of
their time answering one of your surveys,
they need to understand what’s in it for
them. So how do you know if you’ve
succeeded? Just look at the response rates
to your surveys—and the average time
your customers take to respond.
One way to demonstrate to your
customers that they matter is to build an
ongoing, continuous, two-way dialogue
with them instead of spamming them with
disconnected, one-way interrogations.
When you leverage all of the information
a customer has shared with you over time
instead of asking them a litany of profiling
questions again and again, you limit what
you need to ask to a handful of the most
relevant, impactful questions. What you
learn through each successive interaction
builds over time, producing a much richer,
more human portrait of your customers.
They appreciate that you are respecting
their time and repay you with better
quality insight. Besides, this is how humans
interact. We don’t ask what we already
know. Instead, day by day and minute by
minute, we observe our surroundings,
absorb new information and adapt. The
more you mirror human interactions in the
way you approach your customers, the
more meaningful those interactions will
become—both for them and for you.
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THE NEW RULES OF CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE
3
DRAW ON
INSIGHT WITHIN
YOUR COMPANY
4
BREAK DOWN
INTERNAL
SILOS
Our customers aren’t the only ones
empowered by technology. Today, buried
somewhere within our companies is the
data we need to build a comprehensive
profile of our customers and prospects.
But our ability to analyze data has not
kept pace with the volume we collect in
our CRM systems from every transaction,
credit card swipe, social media post
and geo-location device. In 2012, IDC
found that only a half of one percent
of potentially useful big data ever gets
analyzed. Our challenge is no longer
about data collection—it’s about weaving
that data into a story we can share
across the enterprise to enable smarter,
more customer-centric decision-making.
Customer intelligence is more valuable
when it’s ongoing and cross-departmental,
not contained within a single discrete
project. The solution is simple: don’t waste
time spamming your customers to collect
redundant variables. Focus on what’s
already known about customers and build
on that understanding.
Customer intelligence needs to deliver
value across the enterprise. But the
gate-keepers of all that valuable customer
data have become increasingly protective
of it. They are unwilling to share it
because they know it will be used to
spam and scare away their customers.
Ironically, when companies provide the
right opportunity for customers to engage
with them and share their feedback and
insight, customer retention, satisfaction
and share-of-wallet actually increase.
Once a company abandons the spam
survey and engages in the new rules of
customer intelligence gathering, customers
are eager to participate because they feel
their opinions matter and their voices
will be heard. By integrating customer
intelligence into the very heart of the
business, companies are able to develop
new products, new marketing messages
and new initiatives that resonate strongly
with customers and deliver ROI to the
enterprise as well as to the customers
themselves.
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THE
LAST WORD
meaningful relationships with your customers,
be it an insight community or some
other technology, the time for throwing out
the spam survey is here. It’s up to you to
take the next step.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Surveys are impersonal at a time when
customers want intimacy; they lob demands
at customers who are increasingly
unwilling to be interrogated; and they
rely on an increasingly unrepresentative
sample size.
Today’s empowered customer wants to
provide feedback, but they want to do so
through a meaningful, two-way dialogue
with companies instead of a one-way
questionnaire—a conversation rather than
an interrogation. People want to be heard.
Moreover, customers want to feel
invested in the places where they do
business and they want those businesses
to be invested in them. They want to feel
like their voices are driving product innovation
and steering the direction of
a customer-centric business.
At Vision Critical, our solution to the
tyranny of spam surveys is insight communities.
Insight communities are everything
surveys aren’t: you talk with your customers,
make intimate connections, get insight, analyze,
come back and close the loop. Whatever
your method for developing ongoing,
Scott Miller is the CEO and a board
member of Vision Critical. In this capacity,
Miller focuses on developing and leading
the execution of Vision Critical’s strategy,
including strengthening relationships with
customers and partners, driving innovation
and growth across all markets and ensuring
operational excellence across the company.
Miller joined Vision Critical after 12 years
at Synovate. Most recently, Miller had
been the CEO of Synovate North America,
where he led the business to industryleading
growth by re-aligning all 1,000
employees on client sales and delivery.
Miller also led the rebuilding of Synovate’s
advanced analytics business: MMA. His
leadership successes can be attributed to
the alignment of the complete organization
around a common
vision, clarity
and passion in
communication,
and empowering
others to
contribute at their
absolute best.
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END NOTES
1. http://www.nytimes.
com/2012/03/17/business/onslaught-of-surveys-is-fraying-customer-patience.html?_r=0
2. http://www.vbprofiles.com/companies/53c8b4ddfc17a10453004b56
3. https://www.b2binternational.
com/publications/customer-satisfaction-survey/
4. http://www.surveysampling.com/
blog/ahhhhh-zombies-are-invading-our-surveys/
5. http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_
reports/survey/index.jsp?id=question
6. http://www.aapor.org/
AAPORKentico/Standards-Ethics/
AAPOR-Code-of-Ethics.aspx
7. https://econsultancy.com/
blog/65034-what-is-a-decent-emailmarketing-response-rate/
8. http://www.people-press.
org/2012/05/15/assessing-therepresentativeness-of-public-opinion-surveys/
9. http://www.forbes.com/sites/
lydiadishman/2014/03/07/retailers-your-surveys-are-making-customers-suffer/
10. http://www.surveysampling.com/
blog/ahhhhh-zombies-are-invading-our-surveys/
11. http://www.hbo.com/real-timewith-bill-maher/episodes/0/191-episode/video/new-rule-customer-survey?autoplay=true&cmpid=ABC127
12. http://www.wsj.com/articles/
fcc-moves-to-prevent-robocalls-andspam-texts-1434659448
13. http://www.vice.com/read/itried-to-earn-big-dollar-doing-onlinesurveys-all-day-457
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