I have worked in advertising and marketing for years and my job often requires me to survey groups, create surveys, do market research, call people who I am sure don’t want to talk to me and try to get people to spend money on things so when I am presented with a survey, out of compassion for the person who I can identify with, I fill it out. I have filled out surveys online and sent in the mail for websites (many, many times), my stay at Sibley Hospital (great), my physical therapy (not so great), items for Hadley (varied), dinner at restaurants (usually good) and hair products (always get a coupon after filling it out). I don’t really know anyone else who does this but I know how hard it is to get the information so I feel obliged to take the few minutes and answer the questions.
If you have been following this blog, you know that we just returned from a vacation. We stayed at three different hotels and used one rental car service. They all sent surveys and I filled out each one. Our first hotel stay was nice and they had the most comfortable mattress. I answered the standard questions and then when asked for additional comments or questions- I asked about the mattress. They have nicely responded that they were happy we enjoyed our stay and the mattresses are Tempur-Pedic. The second hotel was just as nice but I noted in the comments that we would prefer a king size mattress. They responded that the suites are not designed to fit king mattresses but they do appreciate the feedback. Our third hotel was nice and comfortable but they used the worst smelling air freshener. Like, eye irritating and bad taste in your mouth air freshener. They sent an apology for this and have noted it with the hotel management. Now, our car rental experience was anything but nice so my survey noted that we did not like the uncomfortable, gas guzzling, no acceleration, uncleaned inside and out, hardly any room inside, hard to get in and out of H3 Hummer. And, we did not like the fact that our name was not on the reservation board and we have to stand in line forever or that they have failed to change my name to the name that is on my driver’s license or that the customer service folks were lacking in customer service. But, we did like the price. I got a nice email from them saying they needed more details and would look into the issues so I added more details and replied back.
Sometimes I have tried to take surveys and I get disqualified because it will ask if you work in advertising and/or marketing. Once you check the box, they quickly tell you,’ thanks but no thanks.’ But, from filling out surveys- I have gotten great coupons, free night stays in hotels, points added to accounts and really nice emails that make me feel like it does matter. So, next time you are asked to answer a few questions while surfing on the internet- just fill it out and think of people like me who create those things.
Onto a new subject- we got Hadley flipper slippers in Colorado.
all three of us 