Do You Freely Give Away Information in Surveys?

Cunning Linguist on 08/07/2019 - 14:40
Last edited 08/07/2019 - 14:51

Just to be clear I'm not talking about data from online behaviour. I'm talking about every survey you get on email from a company who "wants to improve their service", every NPS survey you get after an interaction with a company and every phone call from a research company be it a political poll or TV ratings research.

Personally if I don't see an incentive, whether it's some sort of credit/voucher or at least an entry into a prize draw I'll delete the email or politely end the phone call - but who are the people that just freely complete these surveys and give their information away for nothing? Why do you do it?

Maybe I've worked in the data driven marketing industry for too long to know that this information is hugely valuable, and make no mistake - companies are making money either by building new strategies based on the results or collecting and on-selling the insights for profit. So why would you help multi million dollar corporations make more money if there's nothing in it for you? Would you expect them to give you something for free if you asked for it, no matter how cheap?

  • Charities and some not-for-profits excluded
    ** Yes I realise the irony that this post is in fact a survey

Poll Options expired

  • 1
    I love surveys - take my information!
  • 2
    I never do a surveys on matter what
  • 47
    I'll happily oblige if there's something in it for me
Financial

Comments

  • Ocker on 08/07/2019 - 14:47
    +1

    Happy to oblige but why should I give you my valuable time for free?

  • p1 ama on 08/07/2019 - 14:57
    -2

    So why would you help multi million dollar corporations make more money if there's nothing in it for you?

    What's in it for me is that I hope to get better service in the future. The fact that they're multi-million dollar companies is irrelevant. I like to think that feedback is valuable and should be given where possible. I won't spend more than a minute doing these surveys, but given how much time I waste doing other useless crap, I don't particularly mind.

    You can look at it from the reverse angle too - plenty of people give me feedback on the things that I do - colleagues, friends, family…etc. There's nothing in it for them either. But I appreciate their feedback and it helps me do a better job in the future.

    The ironic part (and I acknowledge your recognise this) is that this is posted on a forum where 99% of the time, it's random people giving their opinion on a whole host of different issues that don't concern them at all, so you could also ask what's in it to be posting and responding to threads here. What's in it for me to reply to this post?

    but who are the people that just freely complete these surveys and give their information away for nothing?

    The premise of this question is a misleading:

    1. I wouldn't call your opinion on the quality of service you've received to be "information" in the sense that it's not something you've had to put any time, effort or money into discovering and/or creating.

    2. It's not exactly for nothing - if the companies that provide you with services provide you better services, you do benefit from that.

    3. Count the number of times you're asked for your opinion on something. At the train station this morning, a tourist asked me if he should get on this train to go to the city. Then at the morning coffee run, a colleague asked me if I liked the chocolate crossaints at this cafe. Then when I was working, another colleague asked if XYZ was the best way of going about this task. Then at a meeting in the afternoon, a manager asked me for my thoughts on taking onboard this new project. I don't see the surveys you refer to as anything different from this.

  • scrimshaw on 08/07/2019 - 15:33
    +1

    Depends on how much their brand forms part of my life or how much I use it

    Survey for a service I use on a daily basis, like the ones sent from NBN. Yes, I have taken about 4 to 5 of their surveys and provided pretty good detail on what happened. In return there's a draw to win gift cards.

    Survey for how a particular service at a hotel or restaurant was without any incentive. That just goes into my SPAM folder.
    If there is a coupon provided at the end of said survey then I might consider but most of them also goes in to junk mail.

  • poboy on 08/07/2019 - 15:52
    +3

    While not directly answering your question, I have a bunch of different email addresses that are marked for separation.

    Primary: Friends / Family etc
    Personal: Bank, utilities and other commercial arrangements
    Spammy / Wild West: Used for everything else, so the spammers can target it to billy-o

    There is no way I would give my primary email address to a survey. That's like intentionally cutting my arm and shovelling dirt inside the wound.

  • Almost Banned on 08/07/2019 - 16:06

    https://www.bigtoken.com/

    Might help someone on this thread.
    I like my Google Opinion Rewards.

  • bluesky on 08/07/2019 - 16:10

    Sometimes, a survey is asked for after a contact with the Customer Service - e.g. Amex, 28 Degrees CC etc.
    If I receive good or exceptional service, I will do the survey, and provide great feedback and compliment the Customer Rep involved. Hopefully, that person will benefit from it. If someone is nice, I will be nice back - rule of reciprocity! :-)

    • MadeInPRC on 08/07/2019 - 16:25

      similarly, if the experience was atrocious, i also like to let them know.

  • arkie0 on 08/07/2019 - 16:32

    Depends on what the survey is for, but I just randomly choose answers or go through the survey as quickly as possible just to get to the reward.

  • JIMB0 on 08/07/2019 - 17:14
    +1

    I'm not telling you.

  • Of Aquitaine on 08/07/2019 - 17:40

    When I have contacted a company via webchat, I like to do their surveys afterwards to tell them how the customer service agent helped me. I have never had to leave negative feedback because I have always had my queries sorted promptly via webchat. My main motivation is that I don't want them to decide that webchat is no longer viable to them as a business- because I love to use it. It's the easiest and quickest recorded communication there is for my liking and I get what I need then and there when I use it.

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