An e-mail from Claudia landed in my inbox with the notation that she wanted feedback on our recent call. I sighed, prepared to delete the e-mail, then gave in. I had already entered the feedback tube and there seems to be no end to it. One of my credit cards offered me an opportunity to earn points toward airline flights if I agreed to take surveys. The points could only be earned if the survey was completed. A few qualifying questions are asked and then a more complete survey is called up. For about a year or so, I was gobbling up those queries, completing great gobs of them and piling up the flight points. But lately, I have not been able to qualify for points. When the qualifying questions are about how many children of a certain age are in my household, and when was the last time I bought deodorant, or when was the last time I filed an automobile insurance claim, the survey says that I do not qualify for completion.
When I have occasion to call one of my service providers — cell phone, Internet, gas or electric — at the end of the conversation I’m often queried if I would answer a few questions about my interaction. One of my providers will send me a text, asking if I would answer six questions about my recent interaction. And on a scale of one to ten, would I recommend my bank, credit card company or my cell phone provider to my friends. One credit card company sends me e-mails telling me I could earn 50,000 airline flight points for referring my friends. (Considering the atrocious interest rate that I pay on that card, should you hear from me with a recommendation, run away.)
I worked in retail advertising for more than 20 years, so I understand how merchants want to be able to assess the wants and needs of their current and future customers. But the electronic age gives retailers a leg up, what with cookies being deposited onto our hard drives so our Internet searches can be tracked; a search for shoes will generate an ad for shoes that gets plopped onto our social media page. Small retailers (such as this newspaper) cannot afford to blow up our inboxes and plant ads on social media soliciting our business over and over. Despite the irritation that I feel about the unsolicited intrusion, I understand a company’s need to compete in the Grand Prix of sales pitches, jockeying for the lead and trying to bump competitors into the wall. I still get e-mails from two companies that I did business with more than ten years ago. My lack of response has not dampened their enthusiasm for sending me offers, not one of which I have even peeked at for many years. The “survey for points” company, despite finding me lacking in terms of completion, sends me upwards of four survey opportunities each day. (I’ve gotten two while finishing this column.) Of course, I could delete them immediately, but I am ever hopeful that I might be able to score some flight points. I suppose they are hopeful that they may glean some information that will provide them leverage in a sales pitch. I wonder what algorithm they use, and how, for example, my rating of my ride-share experience is used.
I addressed the e-mail that purported to be from Claudia in a straightforward way. Claudia handled my frustration with aplomb, explained why I had encountered a problem, and gave me solutions for the handling of future interactions.
Survey says, good work, Claudia.
cjon3acd@att.net