Lately it seems like every time I visit a website, open an app, search for a product detail etc…. A survey pops up.
My pupils haven’t even focused on the pixels in front of me and someone wants to know how I’m enjoying my experience.
Here’s how sideways that can go…
I’m late for a meeting (typical)
Start the car (multitasking starts here)
Siri/bluetooth help me get team coffee orders (addicted, all of us)
Starbucks mobile order coming your way (best customer experience invention in recent times)
Mentally bookmarking all 27 custom features of this order – like trying to memorize a phone book (this has gotta go quick)
And….
A survey pops up.
#$%^&
I literally say, out loud:
“F#@k 0ff”
…to the Starbucks app, of course.
Guess what?
Siri was still listening,
Bluetooth in the car catches it,
Team chat still open
And…carplay sends before I can cancel
Good morning everyone and F#@k 0ff 😊
D’oh.
Those surveys don’t really want to know how people think or feel. They are a data-grabbing tactic by marketing and customer experience departments to prove the thing they created is loved by all.
Give me more than a millisecond to complete my task and maybe I’ll tell you.
Want to know what your customers like, love, need?
Watch what they do, what they don’t do, how your product fits into their day.
I’m willing to bet the brilliant idea behind mobile orders didn’t come from a satisfaction survey. Take it from Henry Ford: “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”
I might have been ranting to my sister about this very topic over the holidays. She and her team call it “drop your pants marketing” and I now have the perfect label for the thing I’ve grown to hate. (And by extension, pop up ads also really get my goat. The weather app is the WORST place. No, I don’t want to buy a Corona. I want to know if it’s going to rain today.)
Apologies in advance to anyone in my cyber orbit who might unwittingly encounter random expletives flying into the ether. I may hate it, but this probably isn’t stopping anytime soon.
Anyone feel like a coffee?
Before you go, please rate One Thing Thursday on a scale of 1-10 (just kidding, I would never do that 😉
Mary
P.S. Jobs to be done theory and the work by Hayden Christensen is a much better way to think about customer-focused innovation.
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