A Great Customer Survey!

I just got back from a two-week trip to Europe and, naturally, my email inbox is full of customer satisfaction survey requests from airlines, hotels, the rental car company, etc.

It seems every company wants to know how likely it is (1-10) that I will recommend their services to others. This will allow them to compute their Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS is a fine tool but using it by itself is as silly as judging a baseball player based on OPS or a football player based on QBR. Our experiences are not one-dimensional.

Airbnb stood out among my inbox solicitors. They asked about a few dimensions that are key to all customers (e.g. bed comfort). Any response below 5 stars opened up an optional comment box so the owner could get suggestions on how to improve. After the core survey, I was given the option to send private suggestions to the owner and then to answer a few more questions about the accommodations. I gladly did both.

Great job airbnb. They collect meaningful improvement data without abusing their customers’ time.

–Paul King