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Comment by zbuf | Hacker News Reader

Not calling it "SurveyMonkey" would be a good start for a business product.

For me, and when I try to put myself in others' shoes, I find it hard to see how a professional organisation linking to "SurveyMonkey" can do anything but create a negative impression. The product seems good, I'm just surprised the name has lasted this long.

Does the name stick because the brand recognition is stronger than the features -- when compared to competitors? What happens when a name like this has "stuck"?

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Heh I'm pretty sure we started using a different survey system purely because everyone hated sending out 'surveymonkey' links.

They should call their business side 'engage<something>' or whatever...

How about EngageMonkey?

They also support sending out unbranded links from research.net.

I can testify from my agency days, we had more than one client pass on them as a tech solution because of the goofy branding.

I'd like to see conversion rates between qualtrics and surveymonkey surveys. Who is the monkey, exactly? The person building the survey, the person filling it out, or the company providing the service?

What about the name is so negative for you? Do you feel the same about other companies like MailChimp?

In Australia the name is synonymous with online surveys - it wasn't until I moved to the US that I realized that some people think it's such a strange name.

A key difference is that MailChimp is invisible to the end recipient, while surveymonkey.com links are not.

They support a whitelisted research.net domain, but genuinely curious why the name has negative connotations.

A monkey is someone dumb. Isn't a survey monkey someone dumb who takes a survey?

Spank the monkey...

Depending on where you live, calling someone a monkey can range from mild to terrible insult implying stupidity through to full on racial epithet.

Where I come from the word "monkey" is used to describe an incompetent or fool. I doubt anyone would see a racist connotation here, but it has been used in that context too.

I don't know what MailChimp is but I'm already not taking a company with that name seriously! And definitely not having that name visible to my own clients or customers.

It's a memorable name, like "Yahoo!" I see no problem with a whimsical brand. Too late to change it, anyway.

Hmm... Yahoo! might not be the best example if you're making the case for stupid names.

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