Friday, January 06, 2012

When "Quick" Surveys Get To Be Too Much Work

I was reading an article on INC Magazine's website. A window popped up, asking if I'd be willing to take a survey. Yeah, sure. It promised to be quick.

So I finally get around to doing it. And I made it three steps in. First it asked the year I was born. OK, easy for an unsolicited voluntary survey.

Then it asked how much influence I had in decisions related to my organization's health plan. I said I had none.

Then it asked me what level I worked in, as in, peon, manager, CEO, etc...

Then it asked me what companies come to mind when I think of insurance companies. It had blank text blocks. I typed in several insurance companies, before I felt like I was being asked to do work. I clicked next. The next screen listed several insurance companies, offering me four choices. The first choice was "I have never heard of this insurance company". The next three choices were all levels of "I've sorta kinda heard of them... and I offer this choice to all my employees".

I could not answer the question. I have nothing to do with health insurance selections, I have nothing to do with hiring employees, and I have nothing to do with benefits offerings. I already answered the question stating that I have nothing do to with this.

So I closed the survey out.

It's almost as bad as going to HP's website looking for a driver. Before the page loads completely, it greys out, and a survey appears asking how easy it was for you to find what you need. Yeah, real easy, asking me before the page loads. I have to wonder what was going through their business analysts' heads. That's as stupid as if  Best Buy employees knocked on your car window while you waited at the light a block away from the store on your way there to ask if you had trouble finding anything.

No comments: