National Family Opinion

From: Mark J. Welch [Adbility] <MarkWelch_at_adbility.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 18:27:14 -0600 (CST)

Over the past several months, the folks at "National Family
Opinion" (the Reader's Digest subsidiary that sends out
surveys and product samples to consumers on behalf of
national-brand clients) have been trying to move into the
online world. And they have, in my opinion, done a quite
hideous job of doing so.

A couple of years ago, I decided to participate in the NFO
"panel" just to see what they were doing. They send out
spiffy little surveys asking what products I buy and use,
and then narrower surveys (like the "Yellow Pages Usage
Diary") to determine actual consumer usage patterns.
Sometimes they drop a dollar bill or two into an envelope
as an incentive to respond.

Recently, NFO has been trying (quite unsuccessfully) to
move online, and I have provided my email address and
other information several times. Finally, in November,
NFO tried its first survey of online consumer buying
patterns: I was asked to keep a diary of all online spending
and, it turns out, this was a big month for my online
buying (I bought several software packages, books,
videos, music, and more). At the end of the survey
period, NFO sent me the URL of a form to fill in with
all this data.

Regrettably, the online form did not work. I sent an
email pointing out that the online form was not working
properly -- clearly a scripting or programming error --
and of course I got no reply. Today, I received a post
card in the mail advising that NFO did not have a current
valid email address for me, and asking me to provide it.

When I called the company today, they admitted that
the postcard was sent out based on data from October
(yes, this was a first-class postcard mailed in January)
and they really had no idea there was anything wrong
with their online survey in November.

In other words, these folks are utterly and completely
clueless.

I am posting this in the hopes, quite honestly, that anyone
who is buying any data or reports from NFO will realize
that these folks are NOT competent and any data they
might have gathered on online sales in November is
probably based on a tiny sample size (with the majority
of consumers unable to complete their online form).


-- Mark J. Welch, Web Site Banner Advertising [Adbility]
-- http://www.markwelch.com/bannerad/
-- Ad rates: http://www.markwelch.com/bannerad/baf_spon.htm
-- (925) 462-8483 voice - Pleasanton, California


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Received on Fri Jan 22 1999 - 21:47:35 CST