By Shep Hyken
I’m getting survey fatigue. But it’s different than it used to be. In the past, companies have sent me surveys that were so long I became tired – or fatigued – at some point during the survey, and as a result, I wouldn’t complete it and therefore the company never received my feedback. We’ve covered survey length before, and that’s not what this is about. This time I’m talking about being fatigued, as in sick and tired of getting so many surveys.
It seems that almost every time I get my car worked on, call my internet provider, stay at a hotel, fly on an airline, order almost anything online, etc., etc., I get a survey. You get the idea. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t receive one or more surveys in my email inbox from the places I do business with. I’m tired of getting surveys. And do you know why? It’s not even that they are long or that I receive so many. If I have something to say, I’m happy to share some feedback. It’s because I believe that most of my comments are never read. Why do I believe that? Because many times I leave my name and phone number in the comment section for the company or brand to call me. And this probably won’t surprise you … they never do!
That brings me to a recent email I received from the CEO of Walgreens. Of course, the CEO of this great company wasn’t reaching out directly to me. He was emailing everyone who is a member of the MyWalgreens rewards program. His message was short and to the point. The short, paraphrased version of the email was simple: “You spoke, and we listened. This is what we heard you say you wanted, and here’s what we are doing.” The email went on to share some of the changes they were making in their stores.
I liked reading that email. It made me feel like my feedback might have made a difference. When’s the last time you or your company emailed or called a customer to thank them for their feedback and tell them the changes that were being made as a result of their suggestions?
Not every company ignores feedback, but sometimes it feels that way. Feedback is nothing if you don’t do anything with it. Once you collect information from your customers, you must act on it. You must analyze it, use it, make changes with it, and once you have done that, you should communicate with your customers that because of them, change is happening. You must let your customers know you are listening to them!
