Todd Hollander Market Research

In a recent post, I critiqued the invitation for a Technical Support survey from Apple. Here’s my review of the online survey.

Grade: B-

Pros

• The survey is short enough that a low percentage of respondents are likely to abandon the survey (exit without completing).
• The rating scales are well balanced
• It includes an open-ended question to capture additional comments and suggestions

Cons

• It lacks an instruction for a grid rating
• There is a separate question for a rating that could have been included in the grid
• The grid columns are a little too wide
• The button that says “Next Page” should read “Submit Survey”
• The survey ends on a closed-ended question instead of the one open-end

Details

(click on image to enlarge)

Bottom Line

This survey is likely to produce actionable information for Apple but needs a little tweaking to be more user-friendly.

I recently contacted Apple technical support via their online support form to solve a problem I was having with a download from the iTunes store. A few days later I received the following invitation to complete an online survey:

Dear Apple Customer:

Recently, you contacted Apple support using Apple’s online web support form. We’re very interested in getting your feedback regarding your support experience.

If you have a moment, we hope that you’ll take our support survey. The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete. To get started, simply click on this web address or copy and paste the entire URL into the address field of your web browser.

http://abs.apple.com/ssurvey/survey.html?id=76B5F6C

The information you provide will be used to improve our product support and future offerings. We will not use information collected via this survey to sell you products or services. If you have additional questions about how Apple will use this data, please consult Apple’s privacy policy at http://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/.

We know you’re very busy and we appreciate the time you take to give us your thoughts and suggestions.

Sincerely,

The Apple Online Support Team

Note: We are unable to respond to messages sent to this survey e-mail account. Please call AppleCare, visit Apple’s support website, or visit an Apple Retail Store if you require further assistance.

Grade: A

Pros

This invitation conforms to 7 of the 8 best practices I detailed in “How to write an email invitation for an online survey,” (Dec. 17, 2007):

The survey invitation should communicate:

1. That the recipient is being invited to take part in a marketing research study
2. The purpose of the research
3. Who is conducting the research
4. How to complete the survey
5. How long the survey will take
6. What the the incentive is (if any)
7. How the privacy of survey respondents is protected
8. That the recipient can opt out of further contact with the sender

Cons

This invitation does not allow the recipient to opt out of future survey invitations. While not a fatal flaw, failing to include this option can have two negative consequences:

1. It may annoy or anger someone who would never participate in this type of survey, which could diminish the consumer’s perceptions of or satisfaction with the company.
2. It may cause some consumers to refrain from using the online support option in the future because they know it will provoke another survey invitation. As a result, they may opt to use telephone support, which is more expensive and less efficient for the company.

Bottom Line

This is an excellent invitation. With one addition I would recommend it as a template for online survey invitations.