VACATION AND TRAVEL
-end questions which only require a one word answer. I found if they would’ve just asked more open-ended questions this would’ve helped the company they were marketing for find better solutions in helping their company grow and get better. An open-ended explanation would require more than one word, for example; “Why did you answer, “yes” to question #4. Your answer would then explain in detail why you answered the way you did.
This was another survey I did for cash; I was contacted by this marketing company to come and do a survey in person. A friend of mine did this same survey and told me that this was a legit company that paid cash for your opinion. This was a 90 minutes round table discussion with 7 to 8 other people like me. The subject was banking. All they wanted was my opinion on banking fees and other such banking questions which were very easy to discuss.
At the end of the 90 minutes, I was given 40 dollars for my opinion on banking, plus they fed us well and I left after that. This survey I participated in was done many years ago, but this same survey now pays well over 40 dollars. If you are offered to participate in surveys like this you may want to do it, because these surveys are legit and they happen every day somewhere, plus they pay well.
To conclude, a survey is one avenue companies use to gather information on how their potential customer feels, and their degree of loyalty to their company. Information given in most cases is used to better the company that surveys you. Some companies use surveys just to promote certain individual interests which do not help the company in the long run. I personally know some companies that
fudge their surveys just to drive up their satisfaction percentage ratings. They have friends and family members that give them 5 stars out of 5 stars just to drive the percentage rate of satisfaction up. This is what I refer to as fake reviews.
One perfect example I can give is this hotel I investigated had a 3 star rating which is an average rating. The previously average reviews on this motel was a 2 ½ star rating which is considered not good. Most people will not book a motel at that rating.
All their reviews are done in order according to the date they are posted. For 12 months, this motel was at a 2 ½ star average, then all of a sudden, they had 15 reviews in a row that were given a 5 stars rating. After I read all of them, it was very obvious that all these reviews were written by the same person on different computers.
They were able to drive the average from a 2 ½ star to a 3 star rating by doing this. Now they started to get more business because they are now a 3 star property. So what I’m telling you is reviews and surveys are the same thing, you can use them as a guideline in buying something, booking a room or anything else, but you will know right away if they are living up to their ratings. So take the survey if you wish. I believe most companies will use the information in a positive way, but I believe the list is shorter for the very few that manipulate the figures for their own use. I believe that surveys are good but they need to be shorter.