Exit Surveys And Conversion Rates

December 13, 2005

I write about exit surveys a lot because surveys are a great way to find out what visitors are really thinking (instead of playing guess-and-check all the time, the way that we web analysts do.) This time, I get to write something nice about a survey. (I know, you think I can only critize…)

My HP printer jammed up, so I finally got on the HP website for guidance. At some point, the site served up this message, “We’d like to ask you about your experience on our website. May we send you email in the next 24 hours?” The message asked for my email address and told me that my address would always be kept private. It was easy to answer “yes” because they didn’t insist that I drop everything to do their survey at that instant, and because they gave me privacy assurances at just the right moment.

When the email came, I had the opportunity to let it sit in my inbox until I was ready. I didn’t particularly love the survey — why can’t companies ask five good questions instead of 25 questions that all seem hard to understand? — but this time, they approached me in the right way.