Just a small rant about online surveys that often follow my purchases of goods and services. They always seem to ask some variety of the question:
On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all likely and 10 is extremely likely, how likely are you to recommend to a friend or colleague?
And nearly always, my honest answer is: zero. And it doesn't matter how happy or unhappy I am with .
Why? Sometimes there's a subsequent question asking for my rating reason. Here's (roughly) what I would say, if I cared enough to respond:
Well, first, I'm retired. No colleagues.
I do have friends, though. But you know what? Our conversations never even remotely approach the possibility that they might want to buy , from you or anyone else. And even if they did, I have enough respect for them not to push my stupid opinions about on them. It's very possible that their experience with buying from you would differ from mine. They may well have significantly different judgment criteria for . I don't want to be responsible for misleading them, one way or the other. I have a very laissez-faire attitude.
Why don't you just ask me how satisfied I was with my customer experience? Isn't that what you really want to know? I'd be happy to tell you! But not unless you ask.
As it turns out, we can blame one guy for this stupid ubiquitous query. From the relevant Wikipedia entry (lightly edited):
Net promoter score (NPS) is a market research metric that is based on a single survey question asking respondents to rate the likelihood that they would recommend a company, product, or a service to a friend or colleague. The NPS was developed by Fred Reichheld and has been widely adopted by large companies, initially being popularized in Reichheld's 2003 Harvard Business Review article.
So, gee, thanks a lot, Fred.
That Wikipedia article has a Criticism section, mostly aimed at its dubious value for the organization asking the question. There is also a link to a WBUR interview with Fred from January, and (let me retract my previous disrespect) he seems like a genuinely nice guy:
[Interviewer]: And you think [the would-you-recommend question] is reflective then of really customer satisfaction, which means what for a business?
REICHHELD: Well, the highest standard is that your life has been so enriched by an experience that you want to share that with a loved one. Thus the recommendation. And a recommendation is an act of love. I want my friend, my colleague, to have this wonderful experience. I trust this brand, this company, is going to do it for them. That's pretty awesome. It also turns out to be that's what drives company success. But since companies don't measure it very well, they don't see it. They think accounting measures success which actually takes them down the wrong path more often than not.
So I (slightly) regret messing up Fred's survey methodology. Maybe when I get asked the would-you-recommend question, I should just close the browser tab and move on.
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