Although till receipt surveys (TRS) began as a highly attractive engagement tool for retailers, a recent blog on research-live.com revealed that the practice yields few results — less than one percent of shoppers participate.
According to the post, the cons outweigh the pros:
An inherent problem with the TRS is that only purchasers are invited to comment, so missing the swathes of potential customers who decide not to purchase, but whose views may hold just as valuable an insight. Arguably, non-purchasers provide greater insight because they will highlight important issues such as barriers to purchase and customer service failures.
Participants are therefore not a representative sample of the retailer's shopper base, and responses tend to be extreme in terms of level of satisfaction. This has led retailers to share their concerns that they are not gaining a full understanding of the true customer experience after all.
So what is the alternative? The author suggests the following, albeit imperfect, suggestion:
Email and SMS surveys offer a lower cost and potentially more effective approach, but both rely on the validity of the initial contact data. The nature of SMS messaging places a limit to the number of questions that can be asked and email surveys may elicit fear of fraud, as well as lack of control over who responds, and when.
Read more about consumer behavior.
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