Avis Experiment: Will the survey trigger a response?
Jeff ToisterBackground: I've unsuccessfully tried four times to resolve a problem with Avis. I signed up for "Preferred" status so I could bypass the rental counter, but I've had to go to the rental counter anyway. Now, I'm using my blog to chronicle my attempts to see if Avis will finally resolve the issue or cause me to find a new "Preferred" rental car company.
I received an email from Avis inviting me to take a short survey to let them know how they did on my recent rental in Honolulu. This is a great way to kick-off my experiment. I just had to remind myself to rate everything objectively.
It was a pretty decent survey overall. Here are some things I liked about it:
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It took me less than 5 minutes to complete.
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I had the opportunity to add specific comments.
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The survey asked me a follow-up question based on the poor rating of my pick-up experience.
My real question is whether or not I'll hear from Avis. Customer surveys can be very powerful if someone follows up with upset customers. Customers might get even more upset if you survey them but don't follow-up because the survey re-opens the wound. I'll keep you posted!
Reader Comments (2)
Some companies (e.g. Microsoft?) warn in advance that no action will be taken as a result of completing a survey, if a response is desired/required, call 1-800-EXAMPLE, or follow a hyperlink to submit a form request for further assistance, such as http://www.example.com/helpmeNOW. I'll be curious to learn in subsequent posts if Avis/their survey vendor will use the survey as an opportunity to "Try Harder" or if they have another vision of customer service.
Thanks for the comment, John. It's a good practice to give customers a better outlet for customer service so they don't expect a response to a survey. However, it's also a good idea to follow-up on poor survey scores anyway to try to resolve the problem.