CX-Files: How Eagerness Turns to Dread in Minutes

I spent 14 years in the market research industry, so I always participate in surveys. It's my way of paying forward everything I received in those years. So when I saw an ad on VarageSale offering $5 per survey completed, I followed through and started the signup process.

Here begins an exercise in #customerexperience: will the process and the rewards attached align with my expectations, surpass them or inevitably fall short?

1) Initiation - SURPASSED. It started as I expected: several different survey companies were running sample panels that their clients could access. You could sign up for as many companies as you want, based on a description of the types of survey and the nature of rewards on offer. I went for cash and immediate rewards rather than points-based systems; too much to manage. The fact that they provided this much info and gave me choice surpassed my expectations. I felt in-control and respected. Most importantly, it made me more eager to participate.

2) PROFILE - MET. I then had to complete a profile survey. again, this is as I would expect. Of course they need information about me in order to qualify me and save asking repetitive questions later. At this point, I'm still feeling in-control and happy.

3) VERIFICATION - FELL SHORT. I signed up to receive surveys from 8 different companies, many of which I know and recognize (e.g., Nielsen, Angus Reid). The aggregator whose ad I originally saw indicated the next step would be a verification email from each company; I just had to click on the link provided by each. If it actually worked like that I would have been fine. However, when I started with the Nielsen link, I had yet another drawn-out profile survey to complete (Note the image above claims "it only takes a minute"; not so). WHAT? I already provided all this information! A core rule of great CX - the customer should only have to tell their story once. The aggregator could have compiled a master profile and auto-populated much of this information with each company, but no. I was now feeling dread and mentally fatigued at the mere prospect of having to do this several times over.

That said, I still intended to participate, and this is a key moment of truth for CX in many companies. This part of the experience falling below my expectations has created the first glimmer of disappointment for me, but my loyalty is intact if somewhat shaken. This is where companies need to focus on fixing things, because @#$% will inevitably hit the fan. Because of this letdown, I am one bad experience away from leaving, quitting, and/or raging. Proactive CX need to preempt these faith-shaking moments.

4) CONCLUSION - FELL SHORT. So I spend several minutes completing the first of several profile surveys (which feels like a decade in this digital age), and then I receive the message I had not even contemplated: "Sorry, we are not currently recruiting households in your area."

WHAAAAT?!?

An atomic CX bomb just went off. I was recruited on VarageSale - a location-focused app. This should have been identified much earlier in the process. As in, I should have been allowed to sign up for it in the first place after completing the profile survey for the aggregator. I felt un-valued, betrayed and supremely pissed. I had still been willing to go through with each company's profile survey, but the mere potential of not being wanted made each already feel like a waste of time.

The ad offered a win-win-win-win. The end clients would get data, the survey panel owners would get paid by the clients, the aggregator would receive commissions based on my signups and I would get rewarded for doing something I do anyways. Because of this broken experience, nobody won and I had actually now lost the time I invested.