Did this Survey Make You Think Less of Us? (part 2 of the continuing tragedy)
The Magnetic Group - Ziggy |
April 24, 2012 I’ve picked on The Weather Channel before for poor survey design, but that hasn’t stopped them.
They’re back with an all new, eye-crossing questionnaire that’s more tedious than reading your iTunes user agreement backwards.
It’s hard to envision a person with (a) enough free time to take this monstrosity, and (b) enough self-loathing to make them persevere through questions such as:
- How does this site compare to your idea of an ideal website?
- How likely are you to use weather.com to provide information specific to your individual activities and hobbies beyond the weather you might typically expect from weather.com?
Still awake?
And, to make the whole thing perfectly absurd, they rely on 1-to-10 scales. (I’m trying to move beyond my disdain for 1-to-10 scales; I’ve belittled them enough; it’s time to let go and move on.)
You really have to see the survey for yourself to appreciate its daunting, mind-numbing qualities.
I would love to know how many people (like me) agreed to the survey, saw this thing pop up on their screen, and realized that it would be more fun to see how far you can stick a screw driver into your ear.
It’s worth saying again- surveys are communication pieces, and what people think about your survey will influence what they think about your overall brand.
- Bad surveys demonstrate poor communication skills.
- Bad surveys suggest that a company that is unaware of (or indifferent to) the customer experience.
- Bad surveys reflect a lack of respect for customers’ time and intelligence.
- Bad surveys…well, are just bad surveys.
Think about how hard The Weather Channel management probably scrutinizes every aspect of their brand, from the on-air personalities and their special programs, to their sponsors and their corporate giving. All of these things probably require a seal of approval that they maintain the company’s brand standards.
But somehow surveys have escaped being reviewed for standards.
Don’t get me wrong…I would never, ever want communications people in charge of survey design. That’s not their specialty.
But in this case, the researchers would have benefitted from someone reviewing and challenging their work before this survey became an unfortunate piece of the TWC’s overall brand.









