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Comment by usaphp | Hacker News Reader

> each with 20+ branching questions

I never understood , why would anyone waste their time answering 20+ questions for free?

I just did that today, for a podcast I follow. I usually say "no" to popup surveys on web sites but if it's anybody I have any kind of business or consumer relationship with I'm usually more than happy to spend 10-15 minutes on a survey.

Why?

* Help products/companies I like to improve

* Help products/companies I dislike to get less bad

* Increase the chances that the product/company will skew towards my preferences

* Hope someone might answer my questions some day (reciprocal altruism)

* Basic decency, helpfulness

* In rare cases, curiosity as to what the questions will be

You'd be amazed. I was an account manager at Medallia (Qualtrics competitor, also backed by Sequoia) and the response rates on 20-50 question surveys was typically in the double digits. When you have hundreds of thousands of customers in a month, you can generate super rich data through this process.

However, the industry as a whole has been coping with something they call "survey fatigue" which is reflected in a lot of the comments here. There has been a general backslide in survey response rates, though as of a few years ago, it had mostly stabilized around a new normal that was still plenty good for generating excellent data sets to understand the customer experience.

The customer that fills out a survey must be a very select group of customer. If the response rate is in the single digits of percent, what about the rest of the people? Setting company policy on just this small fraction of customers could be the path to failure.

correct, and that's why surveys need to be as scientific as possible in order to avoid various biases that skew the results. hence qualtrics and not surveymonkey for serious survey research.

How does Qualtrics get people who refuse to answer surveys to do so? Come to their door and offer big bucks and then weight those answers heavily?

I don't know, but the key is to properly account for the biases in responses of those who do answer. Substantial percentages of people do answer surveys. Don't make the mistake of thinking along the lines of "i would never answer one, therefore nobody would"

Surveys often offer compensation, like an Amazon gift card, or at least participation in a drawing for one.

Why do we produce free content for YCombinator? People like to pontificate.

Why do people tweet for free? One reason is, because people love sharing their opinions with other people. A survey is one way of sharing our opinions.

You should have asked: why do people post here?

I give feedback all the time in the hope that in influences the direction of the company or project. Was just asked today for feedback on my Apple Watch. Gave it. Also sent in feedback to SketchFab today.

If you want a product to be better how else do you expect it to happen if you don't give feedback? It's certainly better than just waiting and hoping some random improvements appear.

I don't do all surveys or even most but more than 0.

People who are dissatisfied with something certainly would. Especially a large purchase.

Not always for free. I did it for a bike sharing company. I received a two free rides in exchange.

why would anyone share their thoughts opinions on sites like HN for free? Simple. People want to be heard, and sometimes people like to think they can change things for the better.

To be heard.

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