Can You Send a Survey to Enraged Customers?

Companies everywhere need to allow customers with complaints a place that they can vent. It's not that the customer is always right – by now it should be clear that the customer is wrong often – it's that the customer's experience, no matter how irrationally or oddly they handled it, does tell you something about your business, and within the angry rants you can often find information that may benefit your company in the future. Surveys, of course, are the best way to collect data. So this brings up an interesting question – is it a good idea to send a survey to angry customers about their experience.

Data – Hard data is always useful, and certainly more useful than subjective data. Collecting information on angry customers gives you an interesting convenience sample (angry customers that vent to you) from which to draw information and analyze. Outreach – You never want any customers to be angry, even if you know they will never come back to your business.

Surveys can help show these customers that their feedback is still appreciated, and may reduce some of the rage the customers feel. Potential Useful Feedback – As mentioned, there is often something hidden within the anger that can help you discover a change for your company. Even if the individual is completely in the wrong, they may share something about their experience that helps you run your business.

Response Rate – It's possible that the response rate for these types of surveys will be very high, provided you find a way to make sure the customer knows their feedback will be read and appreciated.

They Don't Like You – Surveys may not provide them with an effective enough space to give a useful opinion, and if that's the case you may receive a response that isn't at all helpful, with straight negatives across the board and no useable feedback. Convenience Sample – All convenience samples have their problems. Even if the goal of your research was "Research angry, belligerent customers that call us" you may be missing out on the angry customers that would have called had they been able to find your number.

Cold – Surveys are less friendly than a person, so if you send your survey to an angry customer, there is always a chance they take it as a cold, mechanical response from your company. It's hard to say with certainty whether researching angry customers is a good idea, but it may be something you want to try. If these customers truly are never going to return to your company, you may not have anything to lose.