The Agitator » Blog Archive » Looking for Feedback?

Looking for Feedback?

Wednesday, November 13th, 2002

I get letters asking for feedback all the time. The company I bought my car from, my alma mater, etc. I feel obligated to fill them out and send them back, because when things go wrong, I’m usually the first one to raise hell (see post below). But I just got a survey letter that I thought employed a rather brilliant strategy to encourage participation: they sent me a dollar. Some business marketing firm wanted to get a pool of “decision makers” in the D.C. area to fill out a short survey (I’m pretty sure they got my address by fluke). So they sent everyone a dollar.

So as one of the recipients of the mailing, what are my options? I can’t keep the dollar and not fill out the questinaire. I’d feel dirty. Yeah, only one-dollar-dirty. But dirty nonetheless. I could throw the dollar and the survey away. But who wants to throw away a dollar? I could send the dollar back. But that would require about as much effort as filling out the survey and sending it back.

So I’m going to fill out the survey and buy myself some liccorice.

Everybody wins.

Digg it | reddit | del.icio.us | Fark

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 13th, 2002 at 1:55 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

34 Responses to “Looking for Feedback?”

#1 | julian | November 13th, 2002 at 2:50 pm
This is one of those things where they try to take advantage of our hardwired reciprocity circuitry to milk from us something that’s worth more than a dollar to them, and probably costs us more than a dollar in opportunity costs. (Would you have agreed to stop and fill out the thing & send it in for a dollar?) I actually got one like that with 2 bucks some months ago, when I lived in NYC. When I didn’t reply, they called a month or so later and mentioned the questionaire and the money. I said “ah, yes, I recall that. Thanks,” and hung up the phone. Never felt an instant of guilt.

+0
#2 | Terry Brills | November 13th, 2002 at 2:53 pm
That’s pretty clever. Never heard of that before.

+0
#3 | B Kieffer | November 13th, 2002 at 3:41 pm
If you normally make about $20/hour and spend 3 minutes opening and reading their letter…

….pitch the survey and consider yourself paid in full.

+0
#4 | tony | November 13th, 2002 at 4:33 pm
maybe you’ll get a few more surveys so you can save enough to pay a plumber and get your water turned back on lol

+0
#5 | Mike Krempasky | November 13th, 2002 at 4:53 pm
A good old tried-and-true gimmick. It’s been around for years. The newer version is actually a check you receive, put your answers right on the check and just cash it - they get their “answer form” back from the bank.

No postage, no mail. And from a mailing standpoint, you don’t pay for people who pocket your dough.

+0
#6 | Frank | November 13th, 2002 at 4:54 pm
Welcome to Marketing 101 kids!

What’s cheaper?

You need to have 11 survey completed in a mail campaign. If it costs a dollar to mail a survey and you get a 5% return or it costs you 2 dollars per piece and you get an 11% return?

+0
#7 | Hipp | November 13th, 2002 at 5:08 pm
If you want to make some real cash, figure out a way for the Nielson Ratings people to put you on their list. They gave me $5 to monitor my tv-watching for a week. That’s some serious cash.

+0
#8 | Stephen S. | November 13th, 2002 at 5:28 pm
In college (way back in 1995) I was also sent a Neilsen questionnaire with only $2 (reading the above I now feel gypped). I pocketed the money and never filled out the form. I did entertain thoughts of jotting down awful, unwatched, and/or non-existent shows. Or perhaps writing “Different Stokes” in every time slot listed. Instead, I went to McDonald’s for lunch on Nielsen’s dime. And, like Julian, felt nary a tinge of guilt.

+0
#9 | James Landrith | November 13th, 2002 at 5:42 pm
I get an email survey every couple months at my work email address. The first 50 respondents get a $50.00 check. The surveys usually take about 7 minutes. I’ve been paid 3 times so far. A sweet deal, though I have no clue how my work email address got on their list. I ain’t complaining though…

+0
#10 | Andy | November 14th, 2002 at 11:09 am
I used to work at a VERY LARGE demographics company (that oddly enough, merged with one of the largest credit-reporting companies in the world, too…but that’s another story). Anyway, they said that it cost them nearly $9 per survey (back in 1995) to design, ship, receive, score & process. So, sending an extra buck or two to get more responses (and it works well, by the way) is peanuts. And, what is more interesting is that by sending the cash, they get more honest answers, because most people (except for our NYC thief honest enough to take the cash and send back the survey are going to honestly fill it out.

+0
#11 | partypoker.com | August 3rd, 2005 at 3:32 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#12 | partypoker.com | August 3rd, 2005 at 3:32 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#13 | online poker | August 3rd, 2005 at 4:57 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#14 | online poker | August 3rd, 2005 at 5:00 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#15 | party poker | August 3rd, 2005 at 6:51 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#16 | partypoker | August 3rd, 2005 at 9:33 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#17 | holdem poker | August 4th, 2005 at 6:17 am
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#18 | play poker online | August 8th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#19 | poker room | August 9th, 2005 at 6:06 am
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#20 | poker game | August 9th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#21 | poker game | August 20th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
pacific poker pacific poker
online blackjack online blackjack
online poker online poker
poker games poker games
poker rooms poker rooms
poker room poker room
party poker party poker
poker game poker game
blackjack blackjack
party poker party poker

+0
#22 | poker room | August 20th, 2005 at 7:51 pm
online poker online poker
pacific poker pacific poker
poker room poker room
party poker party poker
online blackjack online blackjack
party poker party poker
poker games poker games
blackjack blackjack
poker game poker game
poker rooms poker rooms

+0
#23 | poker room | August 20th, 2005 at 7:51 pm
online poker online poker
pacific poker pacific poker
poker room poker room
party poker party poker
online blackjack online blackjack
party poker party poker
poker games poker games
blackjack blackjack
poker game poker game
poker rooms poker rooms

+0
#24 | party poker | August 22nd, 2005 at 12:17 pm
poker games poker games
blackjack blackjack
online blackjack online blackjack
poker rooms poker rooms
party poker party poker
party poker party poker
poker room poker room
pacific poker pacific poker
online poker online poker
poker game poker game

+0
#25 | poker rooms | August 22nd, 2005 at 10:50 pm
online blackjack online blackjack
poker room poker room
poker games poker games
poker rooms poker rooms
blackjack blackjack
online poker online poker
party poker party poker
pacific poker pacific poker
party poker party poker
poker game poker game

+0
#26 | poker rooms | August 22nd, 2005 at 10:50 pm
online blackjack online blackjack
poker room poker room
poker games poker games
poker rooms poker rooms
blackjack blackjack
online poker online poker
party poker party poker
pacific poker pacific poker
party poker party poker
poker game poker game

+0
#27 | poker games | August 23rd, 2005 at 5:23 pm
blackjack blackjack
poker game poker game
online poker online poker
pacific poker pacific poker
poker room poker room
poker games poker games
party poker party poker
party poker party poker
online blackjack online blackjack
poker rooms poker rooms

+0
#28 | poker online | August 25th, 2005 at 9:33 am
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#29 | poker game | August 25th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#30 | poker game | August 25th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#31 | texas holdem poker | August 26th, 2005 at 10:43 am
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#32 | texas holdem poker | August 26th, 2005 at 10:43 am
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#33 | online texas holdem | August 27th, 2005 at 7:44 am
poker
party poker
partypoker
partypoker.com
pacific poker
online poker
holdem
holdem poker
texas holdem poker
texas hold em poker
internet poker
online texas holdem
online texas hold em
poker game
poker games
play poker
play poker online
poker online
poker room
poker rooms

+0
#34 | blackjack | August 29th, 2005 at 7:01 am
poker game poker game
blackjack blackjack
party poker party poker
party poker party poker
poker games poker games
online blackjack online blackjack
poker rooms poker rooms
poker room poker room
online poker online poker
pacific poker pacific poker

+0