I flew on Delta Airlines recently. The flights were on time, the service was fine, and I appreciated the mini-pretzels as an option to peanuts. All in all, as air travel goes, a pleasant experience.
Delta, however, will never know I’m a satisfied customer. While they did follow-up via email asking me to participate in an online survey, the link took me to questions asking for feedback on the ‘condition/functionality of the (airplane’s) cabin.’ (Actual question: “How would you rate the condition of the SIDEWALLS?”).
Missing: Motivation
Regardless of the survey content, Delta, like many businesses that should know better, didn’t provide any incentive to encourage the recipient to participate. They want my time, attention, and perspective for their own purposes, but never answered the ‘what’s in it for me?’ question every audience being asked to do something wonders.
Are we in this together?
In your business interactions, think less about what you want/need and more on what will inspire your target audience to act. Delta knows I’m in its SkyMiles frequent flyer program, so why not offer some token amount of miles in exchange for my survey answers? That wouldn’t guarantee a 100% response, but it would certainly generate more clicks on the link than Delta’s one-sided request for free, market research.
By the way, the sidewalls kept the outside air from entering the cabin as we flew, so I give them an enthusiastic thumbs up.
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