Infamous for 15 Minutes

My skepticism of customer surveys is an extension of my skepticism of traditional usability studies - both are out of context and not at all customer-centric.

Today, customers are far more likely to talk about their experiences with a company on their blog, facebook, twitter, campfire, yelp, amazon, etc - especially those that want their voice to be heard. Like this:

“15 minutes is 15 minutes I could spend working (or blogging about an annoying survey email!). Without any incentive to fill out the survey, why would I even bother?…I took the survey and they didn’t give me a single stinkin’ thing” - Tony @ Halogen Labs