Alaska Customer Survey
Dec 13, 2011, 4:29 pm
#1
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVP Gold
Posts: 2,732
Alaska Customer Survey
Received an email invitation to complete a survey from Alaska Airlines today. The survey is administered by a company called Ipsos, supposedly a "leader" in online surveys. As far as I can tell, they are a leader in running slow survey sites from western Elbonia. The email indicates the survey will take approximately 10 minutes. Do not believe this lie. The site has got to be the slowest, most unresponsive site I have ever had to endure. It might take you 10 minutes to read and answer all their questions, but it will take you an additional 20 minutes to wait.... forever.... for......... each............. page.................. to........................ load............................... If Alaska is paying this company to conduct their surveys, they should get their money back. It's infuriating waiting for every page that has only one question on it. I only stuck it out because I want Alaska to have my honest feedback. I fear that due to the way the survey is administered, AS will only ever get feedback from those who have the patience of a saint.
That said, the survey was mildly interesting, and gives an insight into what AS thinks about. Topics covered:
- what competing airlines you fly, and why
- what experiences you had on competing airlines, and how their service compared
- what partners you THINK Alaska has
- what benefits you THINK you get on partners (clearly an attempt to measure perception of their AA/DL partnership)
- what benefits are valuable to you on partners
- how to improve partnerships
- most interesting: what additional uses of MP miles you would like to see: use miles for intl upgrades, pay more miles for access to more award availability on partners, or none
The survey site is slow slow slooooooooow, it really did make me want to give up. It doesn't help that their "progress meter" starts at 25% complete and then hovers right at 99% for the last several questions.
That said, the survey was mildly interesting, and gives an insight into what AS thinks about. Topics covered:
- what competing airlines you fly, and why
- what experiences you had on competing airlines, and how their service compared
- what partners you THINK Alaska has
- what benefits you THINK you get on partners (clearly an attempt to measure perception of their AA/DL partnership)
- what benefits are valuable to you on partners
- how to improve partnerships
- most interesting: what additional uses of MP miles you would like to see: use miles for intl upgrades, pay more miles for access to more award availability on partners, or none
The survey site is slow slow slooooooooow, it really did make me want to give up. It doesn't help that their "progress meter" starts at 25% complete and then hovers right at 99% for the last several questions.
Dec 13, 2011, 5:08 pm
#3
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
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Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.261 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
Got the email this morning too but was concerned about the time to complete so will do it later.
Got the email this morning too but was concerned about the time to complete so will do it later.
Dec 13, 2011, 5:16 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: AS MVPG, Hyatt Discoverist, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,399
I got the survey today and completed it. I've completed a number of these in the past and they usually take less time than indicated. However, today's survey was slow. Took a long time for pages to load.
Dec 13, 2011, 8:10 pm
#6
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: SEA
Programs: Alaska Gold 75K
Posts: 81
I had the same experience as the OP - I wanted to shoot myself in the head as I waited for each page to load and I too contemplated aborting the survey a could of times and only stuck it out because of the topic.
That said, I am pretty familiar with Ipsos and the survey platform they use - as I used to work in marketing research and I know a number of people that are still at the company. They are a reputable organization based in Canada with an office here in Seattle. The horrific survey experience that we seem to be having is not the norm. I have to believe that there is something wrong with the site when the survey was first deployed and hopefully they will get it fixed quickly.
That said, I am pretty familiar with Ipsos and the survey platform they use - as I used to work in marketing research and I know a number of people that are still at the company. They are a reputable organization based in Canada with an office here in Seattle. The horrific survey experience that we seem to be having is not the norm. I have to believe that there is something wrong with the site when the survey was first deployed and hopefully they will get it fixed quickly.
Dec 14, 2011, 6:39 am
#8
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: SEA
Programs: DL Plat, AS MVPG, Bonvoy Plat/LT Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,263
I received a similar survey, though on Horizon. Speed of the website was fine but one of the two links they sent was non-functional. The survey was pretty extensive, probably took 10 minutes as promised.
Dec 15, 2011, 7:46 am
#10
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: GEG
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Lifetime SkyClub, AS MVP
Posts: 2,410
We apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. We would like to let you know that we may experience technical problems with our server, resulting in slow downloading of pages or internal errors, due to the fact that many respondents access the survey at the same time. While we are trying to fix this problem as soon as possible when this happens, we would appreciate it if you try and re-access the survey again at a later time.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Kind regards,
*******
Ipsos Online Support Team
Apparently it never occurred to them that there might be a lot of people responding at the same time to a survey sent out to a lot of people.
Dec 15, 2011, 9:53 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
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Posts: 19,719
This is a standard problem with Ipsos surveys. The next page can take 30-60 seconds to come up. Terrible execution.
As for the AS survey... I completed one a couple of weeks ago that was totally focused on the AS/DL partnership and what the two airlines could do to increase perceived value.
As for the AS survey... I completed one a couple of weeks ago that was totally focused on the AS/DL partnership and what the two airlines could do to increase perceived value.
Dec 15, 2011, 9:56 am
#12
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,990
Received an email invitation to complete a survey from Alaska Airlines today. The survey is administered by a company called Ipsos, supposedly a "leader" in online surveys. As far as I can tell, they are a leader in running slow survey sites from western Elbonia. The email indicates the survey will take approximately 10 minutes. Do not believe this lie. The site has got to be the slowest, most unresponsive site I have ever had to endure. It might take you 10 minutes to read and answer all their questions, but it will take you an additional 20 minutes to wait.... forever.... for......... each............. page.................. to........................ load............................... If Alaska is paying this company to conduct their surveys, they should get their money back. It's infuriating waiting for every page that has only one question on it. I only stuck it out because I want Alaska to have my honest feedback. I fear that due to the way the survey is administered, AS will only ever get feedback from those who have the patience of a saint.
I deleted and continue to delete ! If I have a problem I call !
That said, the survey was mildly interesting, and gives an insight into what AS thinks about. Topics covered:
- what competing airlines you fly, and why
- what experiences you had on competing airlines, and how their service compared
- what partners you THINK Alaska has
- what benefits you THINK you get on partners (clearly an attempt to measure perception of their AA/DL partnership)
- what benefits are valuable to you on partners
- how to improve partnerships
- most interesting: what additional uses of MP miles you would like to see: use miles for intl upgrades, pay more miles for access to more award availability on partners, or none
The survey site is slow slow slooooooooow, it really did make me want to give up. It doesn't help that their "progress meter" starts at 25% complete and then hovers right at 99% for the last several questions.
I deleted and continue to delete ! If I have a problem I call !
That said, the survey was mildly interesting, and gives an insight into what AS thinks about. Topics covered:
- what competing airlines you fly, and why
- what experiences you had on competing airlines, and how their service compared
- what partners you THINK Alaska has
- what benefits you THINK you get on partners (clearly an attempt to measure perception of their AA/DL partnership)
- what benefits are valuable to you on partners
- how to improve partnerships
- most interesting: what additional uses of MP miles you would like to see: use miles for intl upgrades, pay more miles for access to more award availability on partners, or none
The survey site is slow slow slooooooooow, it really did make me want to give up. It doesn't help that their "progress meter" starts at 25% complete and then hovers right at 99% for the last several questions.
Mar 20, 2012, 3:29 pm
#13
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 334
I went through the same thing today. My thoughts:
1. Alaska Airlines cares so little about their frequent flyers that they want us to waste 10 minutes for free on this. Guess what Alaska, I work damn hard to make the money that goes into your tickets. Should I send you an invoice for what my time costs?
2. Most of the questions are specific to one flight. Unless they're getting a statistically valid sample, the answers to that specific one flight (ie was the toilet clean) are useless
3. The stupidity of the survey is that the only people who will respond are those who have so little to do that they'll give up 10 minutes for anything. It's a slanted sample
4. The questions were so specific that frequent flyers won't really be able to give valid answers. Travel becomes a blur
5. There were so many questions that after a while, people just start clicking through
6. The survey came out a long time after my flight
7. Why do you need ~100 questions on my one 90 minute flight. Do you really think you're getting valid data there?
8. There's no opportunity to give free form answers
9. The website is as horribly designed as the survey
They should give a survey about the the survey. It sucks. To boot, the next travel I book will be on United now due to this foolishness. Alaska is typically well run. What genius is responsible for this garbage and does anyone have his/her extension?
To summarize, the study is disrespectful of people's time and the data it gathers is absolutely useless.
1. Alaska Airlines cares so little about their frequent flyers that they want us to waste 10 minutes for free on this. Guess what Alaska, I work damn hard to make the money that goes into your tickets. Should I send you an invoice for what my time costs?
2. Most of the questions are specific to one flight. Unless they're getting a statistically valid sample, the answers to that specific one flight (ie was the toilet clean) are useless
3. The stupidity of the survey is that the only people who will respond are those who have so little to do that they'll give up 10 minutes for anything. It's a slanted sample
4. The questions were so specific that frequent flyers won't really be able to give valid answers. Travel becomes a blur
5. There were so many questions that after a while, people just start clicking through
6. The survey came out a long time after my flight
7. Why do you need ~100 questions on my one 90 minute flight. Do you really think you're getting valid data there?
8. There's no opportunity to give free form answers
9. The website is as horribly designed as the survey
They should give a survey about the the survey. It sucks. To boot, the next travel I book will be on United now due to this foolishness. Alaska is typically well run. What genius is responsible for this garbage and does anyone have his/her extension?
To summarize, the study is disrespectful of people's time and the data it gathers is absolutely useless.
Mar 20, 2012, 9:28 pm
#14
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: AS MVPG, CO, NW(now DL), Flying Blue
Posts: 6,554
I disagree IF its that much of a hassle to your precious time then dont complete it. It probably took longer to write that post than it does to complete their survey. I actually enjoy giving them feedback when I am emailed these. I work with a company that does sends out surveys to see what customers think and they actually DO pay close attention to the results
Mar 21, 2012, 11:57 am
#15
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 334
I disagree IF its that much of a hassle to your precious time then dont complete it. It probably took longer to write that post than it does to complete their survey. I actually enjoy giving them feedback when I am emailed these. I work with a company that does sends out surveys to see what customers think and they actually DO pay close attention to the results
That only a certain subset of people with a lot of time on their hands are the only ones completing a survey, it makes the survey skewed and worthless. Bad sample = bad survey.
To boot, when there are that many discrete questions, it makes the survey worthless as most people aren't really giving objective answers. Too long a survey and people click through it. Bad design = bad survey
When you send a survey more than a week after a flight, the answers aren't going to be accurate. Bad recollection = bad survey
While they DO pay close attention to the results, the DESIGN of the survey is WORTHLESS. You're giving feedback, but by design, it's useless. Paying attention to useless feedback is useless.
I've most definitely spent more time here than on the survey. I'd like to see it changed and building consensus is the best way to make that happen.
All of that ignores that Alaska doesn't care about your time and has created a survey that is pointless long and poorly setup.
Last edited by jackal; Mar 28, 2012 at 12:01 pm Reason: Violation of http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#q88