Phone Interview Limitations

I had to bring in my car to get fixed recently at a large auto-mechanic. Everything was fine. The experience itself was unremarkable.

I was shuffled through. The price was a little bit more than I was expecting but also less than the quote I got when I arrived. The manager was nice, but he was that type of nice that’s obviously faked to make the client feel at ease.

I appreciated it, of course, and I’d gladly go back should my car need more repairs, but nothing about the experience was “remarkable.” It was essentially exactly what I thought this type of experience would be. I get home, everything works fine. Two weeks later my phone rings from an unknown 1-800 number.

I pick it up, and on the other end is a lady with a slight accent. She worked with the auto mechanic company, and wanted to survey me about the extent of my experiences.

She asked me the standard questions, starting with the most common – how satisfied was I with the experience? My answer was “very satisfied.” Why? Because it was what I expected it to be, everything went fine, and that was the end of it.

But was I really “very satisfied?” I’d say I was not. I think I was “satisfied” with my experience, possibly even “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.” The experience was the definition of “fine.” So why did I answer “very satisfied?” Probably because there was an actual person on the phone talking to me – someone employed by the same company that was presumably hoping to spot any problems and ensure the service is as excellent as it can be. Why would I say anything other than “very satisfied” when I’m talking to a person and may be asked to explain my reasoning? The situation makes me wonder if phone interviews may be a bad way to do customer satisfaction – or at least, a method that isn’t as effective as the company hopes it would be.

For most people there is a big difference between “satisfied’ and “very satisfied,” but it seems likely that people are more likely to say they are very satisfied when they may be asked to justify that reason to an actual person. Customer satisfaction surveys aren’t political polls or general research, where an honest answer feels like it makes sense. With customer satisfaction, you are talking about a company you will likely visit again, and real people that you have met in person.

It seems unlikely that people are going to be very honest about their experiences, particularly when talking to a person and possibly in a rush. Online surveys – where the surveys are clearly anonymous and no one feels responsible for their answer – seem like they would be much more reliable.