Customer feedback ... was: Re: Launching a new browser window

From: Brandi Jasmine <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com>
Date: Tue 20 Mar 2001 08:16:08 -0600

ALEX CHUDNOVSKY <alexc_at_jungle.com> WROTE:

> makes you think that the same proportion
>of people gave positive comments as well as negative?
>I am pretty sure its different, ie 5% of those who
>liked this feature gave positive comment but 1% of
>those who hated it actually bothered to tell you that.

In my experience dealing with Usenet, mailing list
moderation and ISP customer service I assure you people
online are much more inclined to bitch than to send
compliments. I remember on several occasions where we
announced new free services or beneficial changes or
upgrades to our ISP services and the only feedback was
"Oh YEAH! Well I got a busy signal last night, so you
still suck!" <g> (you gotta have a killer sense of
humour to work in ISP customer service, or yer doomed).
The better the news or offer, the more bitter the
complaints seemed to get. I came to look on it as a
form of catharsis for people who could not afford primal
scream therapy (and got myself out of customer service
before it drove me mad).

If you get any positive feedback _at all_ it should be
given significantly_greater_ weight than the negative
feedback if you want to project realistically.

One other thing - feedback is less important than
observing what people actually do. When we did a survey
at the ISP portal, people told us that the most important
content section they wanted was "technology news" ...
very few indicated they wanted horoscopes. In real
practice however, horoscopes turned out to be in the
top three sections of the web site traffic and tech
news was way, waaaay down the list. Below Entertainment
and Lifestyle News! I don't think people actually lied
about what was more important to them - the way we asked
the question might mave impacted the results. The truth
is people don't always consciously know what's most
important to them. Don't rely on verbal feedback alone
for anything.

Kind regards,

Brandi Jasmine
Writer, Digital Photographer, Illustrator
        www.brandijasmine.com
www.astrology.ca - www.twostar.com
      brandi_at_brandijasmine.com



Received on Tue Mar 20 2001 - 08:16:08 CST