Through my personal experiences working in the retail industry, I have found that surveys are a popular and effective way of measuring the opinions and thoughts consumers may have. Surveys are often anonymous and as a result, let the customer express their true feelings without having any inhibitions. In fact, just the other day I was shopping at Urban Outfitters in New Haven. It was a particularily busy Saturday, and I found myself waiting in a long line of parents, students and shoppers at the register. While waiting at the cash wrap, I noticed that most people were filling out a survey about the store from Yale Properties, who rent the space to the corporation.
I took the minute to fill out the survey as well, which asked only a few basic questions. My age, which nearby university I attend, how often I shop in New Haven, my opinion of the store, etc. I was most interested by the survey because I immediately knew who was behind it- my best friend, Alex Forman, who is an intern at Yale Properties. For this blog post, I decided to interview him informally and find out why he likes using surveys in the field and how they are helpful to his company.
First I asked Alex why he chose to use survey as opposed to any other method. He concluded that through trial and error, survey was most successful. It was brief and anonymous, which made participants more willing to take the time to fill them out. Furthermore, he was able to reach a large amount of people in a relatively short amount of time- he recieved many more responses than he would have with holding a focus group or observation. Additionally, he was able to put copies of the survey in every store that Yale Properties oversees, which gained him even more feedback. Alex then went on to explain why surveys were his most preferred method of research- the ability to quickly calculate and evaluate the data. He described this process, which simply involved collecting the completed surveys and recording the data in a spreadsheet, which the company then looks at to determine what is effectively working for them or what needs to be changed.
I thought that this example was a great depiction of how, when used properly, surveys can be a very successful tool in research. When conducting a survey in a busy setting such as a retail store, it is obvious that one that is short and succinct will be the most successful!
Looking forward to reading all of your blogs and seeing what everyone else's thoughts on surveys are like! Good luck with classes this week!
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