Last year, a friend of mine purchased a new car. She was excited, because not only did it have that new-car smell (what’s up with that?), but because it’s something she had wanted for years — and could finally get it.
But that new car excitement plummeted when she opened her mail the other day. She received a survey that “will be used to help create the next generation of products the automotive industry produces.” Really? They survey came from Maritz Research, is 9 pages long and optimistically claims it contains only 77 questions.
But in my opinion, that’s simply a lie. Because many of the questions on the survey are actually multi-part questions that require multiple answers. Not exactly a way to endear you to a potential survey taker — deception by your survey’s numbering scheme.
What do you get for filling out such a lengthy and arduous survey? In the ultimate insult to a consumer’s time, Maritz Research will give you exactly nothing for sharing your opinions with them. Instead, you will be entered into a sweepstakes that — by law — anyone can enter, regardless of whether you fill out the survey. (Sweepstake instructions are listed at the end of this entry.)
If you want to get the most biased and un-representative sample of new car owners possible, this is certainly one way of doing it.
One problem is that the survey — because of its crazy length — is only going to be filled out by people who have the time and inclination to do so. This is not most people I know where both people are working full-time, raising kids, living their lives, and trying to make ends meet in this economy. While there’s always a trade-off to be made between survey length and getting meaningful data from a survey, this survey, in my opinion, errs way too much on trying to pry data from a consumer’s head.
Another problem is that the researchers don’t tell you up-front how long the survey takes an average person to fill out:
Please take some time to tell the manufacturers how you use your current vehicle and what you like about it, so that they can make a vehicle better suited to you.
This is an insult to a person’s time. In the best-case scenario, this survey could take a person anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to fill out (if they filled it out with care and consideration of each actual question asked). But you wouldn’t know that unless you actually sat down and filled it out.
A third problem is pretending the survey is only 77 questions long (by its own numbering), when in fact it is more like over 200 questions. This is an insult to a person’s intelligence. ((Now, I’m sure Maritz Research will say it’s not their fault — the automakers tell them they have to make the survey this long. But if I were Maritz Research, I might say to them, “Hey, we’re the consumer research experts here. This survey’s length is ridiculous. Give us the money to compensate people fairly for filling this out, or else the data we’re going to get back is likely going to be biased and un-representative of the actual people who purchased your car.”))
Questions 33, 56 and 57 are some of the worst offenders. Question 33, for instance, has 33 sub-parts! Question 56 has 22 parts. And in question 57, they just gave up numbering each of the individual sub-parts (I guess out of recognition of how insane its length was). It has 74 components — nearly as many parts they expect you to answer as the entire survey itself!
If you wanted to design a worse consumer survey, in my opinion you’d be hard-pressed to do so.
If automotive makers really want this information, they should come up with a simple and direct financial incentive to have you fill it out. Ten dollars, twenty dollars — the exact amount of reimbursement for a person’s time and opinions doesn’t matter. But if your opinion was actually valued — like Maritz Research claims it is — it would be worth it to every single survey-taker. Not a chance to enter into some random Sweepstakes that’s open to anyone. ((No Purchase Necessary to Enter or Win. To enter the Sweepstakes without completing the survey, hand-print your complete name, address, daytime phone number and age on a 3″x5″ paper and mail it in a #10 envelope to: 2013 Maritz New Vehicle Customer Survey, Maritz Research, 1740 Indian Wood Circle, Maumee, OH 43537. Entry must be postmarked by 07/24/13. Limit one entry per household. Sweepstakes ends 07/24/13. Open only to legal residents of the continental U.S. who are 21 years or older. One (1) Grand Prize of $10,000, two (2) First prizes of $5,000 and five (5) second prizes of $1,000 are available to be won. There are 8 prizes out of 1,050,000 prize notices distributed. But odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries received. Taxes are responsibility of the winner. Sponsor: Maritz Research, 1740 Indian Wood Circle, Maumee OH 43537. Full rules are available at www.MaritzARG.com/US. Psych Central has no affiliation or connection with this Sweepstakes or Maritz Research. Psych Central does not endorse the Sweepstakes, nor is responsible for the Sweepstakes in any manner, way, shape or form. We’re simply reporting on it.))
36 comments
Hello, I see your friend didn’t win the contest and to loudly backlash against our company seems like quite a childish thing to do. If your friend has trouble with the survey just have her fill out only half of it and we will enter her name if you take down this negative review. She can pick any 100 questions of her choosing.
If you have the money to buy a new car you have time to answer 250 questions because after all time is money. I answer this survey every year when I have to replace my Corvette and not because I need a new one but because after being kicked out of my wife’s house I have nowhere to live on account my money goes towards all the Corvettes I own. They get smelly quite fast I can tell you.
Now your post is mostly true and I applaud you for speaking out. Now as I did for you, Maritz Research would love to know on how helpful I was in answering your post and if you can quickly answer a couple hundred questions your name will be placed in a raffle to win 20$ or a free ride in one of my Corvette’s of your choice. Thank you for your time
-CEO of Maritz research
I recently got one of these surveys too. The response here by the “CEO of Maritz” with its vague threats is interesting.
I believe the entire survey is bogus, and is just a fishing expedition for demographic data. Read their privacy disclaimer – they keep your data private, but can send it to third parties and affiliates if they want to.
What is the point of the 100+ questions? Well, I think it is a filtering mechanism. If you are dumb enough to fill out all those questions, then you are prime meat for telemarketers and junk-mail promotions.
One of the questions in the Demographics section was telling: “Do you donate to charity?”
What on Earth does that have to do with “customer satisfaction” with a new car.
This comment by the Maritz CEO makes no sense at all:
“If you have the money to buy a new car you have time to answer 250 questions because after all time is money.”
Yes, time is money, and why should I give my time to Maritz?
Something very odd here, and the grooming posts from Maritz confirm this.
Read the last paragraph – it’s clearly a joke
What a shock, even for Maritz, to try to wheel and deal like this. OMG, a shameless company. I just received a 10-page survey with hundreds of questions, would take hours to complete, for which YOU get paid, and have the nerve to put into the intro this manipulative dishonest statement: “Because we appreciate and respect the time you have spent in returning your survey, you will be entered into the MarizCS New Vehicle Customer Study Sweepstakes…” A survey being submitted by thousands of people with 8 winners, that if no respect, and by pretending respect, it is disrespectful! At least you could also note –as other surveys do– the entrant class, such as: all people who receive this offer during ____ time period for… etc.
I once mystery shopped for this company, and when I emailed the scheduler with a concern (your shops then had poorly produced evals as well as procedures) my concern was met with being removed from the system without notification. This current survey and intro letter show me that many years later this company is unchanged.
Is the contest legit? I have received a priority letter with an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability Release form. I’m concerned about filling it out because it asks for my SS# as this will be used to have a 1099 sent to me in January for tax purposes.
I just want to make sure this is not some sort of scam and an identity theft thing.
Fascinating. Maybe that is how it works – they tell you that you’ve “won” and then harvest that all important SS number.
I would no way provide any personal information. Given you will not get ANYTHING in return for completing this crazy long survey (well maybe you’ll get a headache) I would recycle it. Avoid the scam
I received a Maritz survey today 3 months or so after purchasing a new Audi. I completely Dr Grohol’s comments and I will not be spending any of my time completing this ridiculous questionnaire. Moreover if the reply titled Maritz CEO is genuine I have even less reason to complete the form since it is crass in the extreme. I will be forwarding my empty survey to the President of Audi with a copy of this blog plus additional comments. The survey is a very negative marketing strategy it seems to me.
Its completely optional. You never have to do a survey. If you don’t want to do it, don’t. I don’t see the big deal.
Survey=useless. It is my opinion that nothing positive to the car owner will result from it being returned (unless you are a lucky prize winner). Send it back blank (make them pay for the postage) and ask them to remove you from their mailing list. They may listen…but don’t bet on it.
Thank you for your feedback. I can appreciate any experience, good or bad. Our clients value our services as we investigate a better understanding of their customers’ needs and frustrations. Maritz Research leads the industry when it comes to all facets of customer experience research including actionable insights, the latest best practices, emerging technologies, and more.
These surveys that we conduct are optional. Many consumers enjoy giving their feedback whether their experience is positive or negative. As a consumer, I prefer to give feedback or participate in surveys for products or services that I enjoy so that the companies may recognize what is or isn’t working. Using these surveys helps with customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Maritz has been a top finalist on St. Louis Business Journal’s “Best Places To Work” list and has also been awarded the following…
2010 RCGA St. Louis Green Business Challenge “Circle of Excellence” Award
2009 American Red Cross Ready Rating Program Member
Two Maritz public relations campaigns receive top 25 rankings at 2009 LACP awards
Forbes’ America’s Largest Private Companies 2008
Forbes’ America’s Largest Private Companies 2007
Forbes’ America’s Largest Private Companies 2006
2009 InformationWeek Top Innovators 250 Award, 10th consecutive year on list
2008 InformationWeek Top Innovators 250 Award, No. 26
2007 InformationWeek 500 List of Masters of Technology
2007 InformationWeek Top Innovators 250 Award, No. 136
2006 InformationWeek Top Innovators 250 Award, No. 93
Top 50 finalist in the 2006 and 2007 St. Louis Business Journal’s “Best Places to Workâ€
2006 and 2007 Platinum Partner Award for an Outstanding Incentive Provider by Incentive magazine
Greater St. Louis Top 50 Company by RCGA & Deloitte in 2006 and 2007
2007 American Business Awards – Stevie Finalist, Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program
2006 American Business Awards – Stevie Finalist, Best Communications Organization
August 2006 Gold Certified Partner Status in Microsoft Partner Program
ISO 20252:2006 Market, Opinion, and Social Research Standard
PCI Certification, Maritz Loyalty Marketing
SAS70 Certification, Maritz Travel Company
Maritz Travel Company named to Third Annual “CMI 25” List by Corporate Meetings & Incentives Manager 2009
2009 American Heart Association Gold Start! Fit-Friendly Company
I’m sorry, but other than stating the obvious (that some small minority of the population enjoys taking a survey consisting of dozens upon dozens of questions), and bragging about all the awards your company has won (which has exactly what kind of relevance in a discussion about good survey construction??) — what does your comment add to this conversation??
Really, if you’re a spokesperson for Maritz, this comment is pure gold, demonstrating the wonderful marketing double-speak that passes for some companies’ ideas of customer engagement. Thank you for that!
Thank you. I have passion for my job and the company I work for. I apologize if our survey was lengthy and required too much of your time but it seems as though you do have some extra time on your hands seeing as you have dedicated a page blogging about your experience. Everyone has a right to their opinion or whether or not they take a survey. I suggest if our company or any other company asks for you to take part in a survey in the future, you politely decline. It’s as easy as that. Thank you for your feedback. 🙂
So you come here and don’t bother familiarizing yourself with what this blog is about…?! Lol… FYI, we’re a blog that analyzes and picks apart psychological and marketing research. Like yours.
I also wanted to alert other consumers to the ridiculous length of your survey, and encourage them to throw it out. It’s a horrible survey that doesn’t respect the customer who just spent oodles of their hard-earned dollars on a vehicle. It is an insult to any customer.
And I hope automakers also see this entry, to understand why hiring companies like yours that make such ridiculously long survey instruments is a bad idea.
You are being trolled and groomed, my friend.
The Maritz people are posting here, trying to BAIT you and get you to react.
If they can’t get you to “take down” your posting (which is now on the first page of Google if you search “Maritz Survey – you’ve scared them!) as they have “asked” you to do, the next best thing is to BAIT you and get you to react, and thus make you look the lunatic.
Don’t fall for it.
I found this company because an elderly relative who doesn’t use a computer asked me to do a search on it, they have been calling repeatedly and the company name was visible on the caller ID.
Well, at least one good thing that came out of the episode was that it led me to this very interesting site.
It’s harder to reach people at home because of all the technology and call screening – I think it’s made all these telemarketing firms more desperate and persistent in their tactics.
I actually remember when doing the phone surveys was sort of fun – but that was before the “search and destroy” technology was added to their arsenal.
When caller ID was invented, I felt for sure it would put the telemarketers out of business – but I guess I was wrong!
Thanks for calling this company out. Nice that they notice it. I received the survey and considered filling it out to help the car manufacturer improve the product.
I agree that this is more about my personal habits and personal information. What a great way to start a file on my habits, income etc.
Thanks but no thanks Maritz. I especially like your post beating your chest and getting defensive.
Thanks you Dr. John Grohol for taking the time to help expose this bogus survey.
Thanks for this informative post. My email handler placed the Maritz New Car survey in my Spam mailbox. I regularly respond to online surveys from Harris Poll and YouGov, so I might have been willing to respond to the Maritz survey after checking whether it was legitimate.
After reading your post, I decided not to take the Maritz survey. Unlike Maritz, Harris Polls and YouGov award points to survey respondents. So far, I’ve redeemed points for over $100 worth of gift cards. That has made even the most irritating surveys seem worth my time and effort.
This is absolutely the worst survey I have ever filled out. Had I known the length of the questionnaire, the redundancy and absurd questions, I would have never started completing the survey. I should have just quit, but it’s not my nature not to finish things I start – so I endured……very time consuming, and things could be so simplified with just 10 to 12 questions, with no subparts to the questions. When I purchase another new car, I will not even bother to look at the questionnaire. Total waste of time and I have no idea what the company or car companies will gain from this.
I get this survey every time I purchase a new car and have in the past filled it out. This year I stopped filling it out after hearing how this company – Maritz Research – treats its employees. After an extensive investigation, I found this company represents the worst of corporate greed. They convince you to complete this lengthy survey in the hopes of winning $10,000 only to then sell the info you provide for millions of dollars. Thanks for selling my name too! The company appears to firmly support the offshoring of American jobs and low pay. Their website speaks of the importance of people (their employees) but the company appears to lay people off frequently and when doing so they immediately terminate any health care coverage. Imagine the poor chap who has a job at Maritz this morning who supports a family of five… Here is your lay off notice and by the way you no longer have health care coverage as of this moment. Who does this? Read about this company online. I choose not to support such corporate greed and just recycle this way too long and boring survey.
You have a degree in Psych? Predictable that even within that you would find it necessary to bash, you are human after all are you not?
Perhaps maybe your degree only justifies your learned behavior of making wrong of others that disagree with you. Waste of money in my Opinion-waste of brain neither wrong nor right!!!
Think about it-your freedom in this country gives you the right to decline or participate. As well as if you do have such a degree then you would understand. I think perhaps maybe your degree you earned 20+ plus years ago did not include the perspective of information technology nor did it instruct you in a strong foundation of change and comradery for the well being of our world.
Yes, information collection has been beneficial to you.
I also understand that you may be suffering from cognitive dissonance especially if your degree was earned some time ago. If I am incorrect in my “judgment and assessment†of your degree origination era, I understand. But, still yet, my opinion I am entitled to and I think it was still a waste. Due to the fact, that it is not serving the world, keeping us separate in the form of which you Choose to share. This behavior continues to hinder and it will do so due to ignorance.
That change will come hopefully; otherwise we shall destroy our species. Keep this in mind; we already are destroying our species from religion and cultural difference/ignorance, without presenting both sides of the coin all that can occur is bias opinion and more space in time to continue to separate all human beings globally.
Now for my humanity: I bet you ONLY watch network news too!!! You cannot fight change only embrace it and grow from it, right?
Have a great day on behalf of the human race; I would like to thank you for your time and your opinions. They are important to the majority of the human race.
BdC-Current Maritz Employee- loving my job-all right’s reserved –LOL 😀
Golden reply and a perfect example of an ad hominem attack — if you can’t argue with the topic of the post, argue about with the credentials of the author.
So there you have it. Maritz believes that if you don’t fill out their million-question surveys, “we shall destroy our species.” 🙂
Dude (Current Maritz Employee 1:44 pm on October 25th, 2014) you have got to stop drinking the kool-aid, and please, learn the true definition of “cognitive dissonance”.
I received a survey in the mail from Maritz Research in regard to a 2015 Chevrolet Volt that I purchased (my second Volt BTW). And as I got online, fully intending to help them with the survey (I love this car) after a few minutes I determined the name of the firm should be “Moron Research.”
The questions were so bizarre (I mean this is an electric car) and some of the questions asked if I like or disliked the transmission and how many gears it had, or if I planned on taking it “camping” or hauling trailers. The darned survey was entirely too long (way TOO LONG) and I’m going to remove my name and address and send the multi-page survey back to them.
If these people really wanted to know how I liked or dislike my car, make the survey short and sweet, and don’t ask me if it has a “9 speed transmission” or if i plan on taking a Chevrolet Volt hunting or fishing.
I agree with the majority of posts .. what a lousy survey. Way too long and complex and I see little value in it. I started with it and finally gave up at the “Background Information”.
I was particularly disappointed at the lack of any information being requested about the purchasing experience from the dealer.
The offer of a sweepstakes entry is ludicrous for the effort involved in wrestling with this nightmarish questionnaire. Equally bizarre are the defensive responses from Maritz employees.
I just received this survey. Worst survey ever. I did some research on the company that sent the survey – MaritzCX. It appears the company is not doing well from the vibe on the web. No surprise given the looks of this survey. Must be MartizCX’s way of collecting your personal information as well as your feedback and selling it back to the auto manufacturers. The results of this survey have to be worthless. If the response rate was much above 5% I would be shocked. Waste of my time.
What kind of research have you done on Maritz? The company is growing tremendously! The questions Maritz asks are much based on what our Clients have asked for. There is a reason why Maritz works with 30 of the top 50 fortune 500 companies. The questions may be conducted by Maritz but they were implemented by whomever the client was. So, whatever company you bought your car from found that the survey was necessary and useful. I could care less if “Dr” takes down the post. It seems ridiculous to complain about taking a survey…just don’t take it. It’s that simple. No need to bash a company for delivering results that the client has asked for.
I have always purchased used cars. I was finally able to purchase a new car in May and get what I wanted within my price range. Now in Oct. I receive a survey from Maritz. I glanced through the survey pages and decided to find out who Maritz is before filling it out. After Googling the name I found this site. The comments are interesting. Doctor Grohol’s take is that the survey is too long – too many questions – redundancy. I understand the reason for redundancy. I started filling out the survey on paper, rather than online. Many questions I couldn’t definitively answer even after driving the car for 4 months. “How many miles do you intend to drive this vehicle? each day __, each year ___, hwy miles per year __” I HAVE NO IDEA! I HAVE NO INTENTIONS! IT IS WHAT IT IS! I just retired so I no longer drive to work every day. Someone calls me up and I’m off to ________? other times I don’t drive for a week, not even to the store. “At what price per gallon in the future would you do the following:?†and then there are empty blocks for you to fill in prices of gasoline. I HAVE NO IDEA! I DON’T KNOW HOW THE PRICE OF GASOLINE WILL AFFECT ME IN THE FUTURE BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH INCOME I WILL HAVE BASED ON THE STOCK MARKET WHERE MY 401K IS! I would much rather be using a renewable energy than gasoline. I’d rather be able to buy a Tesla, but they don’t sell them in my region, and is electric better than gasoline if carbon fuel is used to make it? Also, I don’t see how if someone just puts down an answer that they are not sure about, how that helps the research – wouldn’t that skew it? There are only a couple of places to give an explanation or just say you’re not sure.
But what ultimately made me decide not to complete the survey is all the really personal information that is asked: “Your vehicle financing . . .” and “Background Information . . .” Very invasive. I just feel those are off limits and should not be included in a survey about cars. I feel there is an ulterior, possibly sinister motive behind that. “Which of the following best describes you? heterosexual/straight; lesbian/gay; other; decline to answer. “ “How do you classify yourself? What is the primary language spoken in your home?” It’s too “1984†for me.
This is not an anonymous survey. A person’s name, address and new car information is on the form. And though it is written on the form that your name and address will be strictly confidential, how can they assure you of that in light of all the hacking that takes place. Oh, sure, I could have left sections blank, but I’m distressed that the questions were even asked. Car manufacturers are going to base how they make cars on whether someone is gay or straight, or what primary language is spoken in household?
All in all this survey just upset me. Soooo, as suggested, I don’t have to complete the survey and I am not. Maybe if the survey is ever revised to allow people to say “I don’t know†for any question and maybe if the survey is ever revised to remove the invasive, personal and financial questions, I’ll reconsider. But Maritz has been doing this at least for a few years so there are apparently enough people responding to this particular survey to keep it going. You don’t need me. I’m opting out.
Here Here
I just received my MaritzCX survey, and after reading the employees, and CEO’s responses to an honest blog about them….well i will not be wasting my time on this survey paperwork.
Got one of these in the mail the other day. Great article.
FIRST survey from MaritzCX that I know of.It looked like spam,without ANY reference to whom commissioned it.FIRST,it’s 2016,and spam laws exist,requiring PERMISSION to email me.I never gave my car manufacturer,Audi, permission to sell my data.It isn’t inferred either,no CLEAR opt in provided.Given the identifiable information involved when you purchase a vehicle,this is an issue.Namely,HOW you purchased the vehicle indicates income range. Consumers should complain to the FTC from a privacy standpoint alone.
With all the data breaches,it is irresponsible to wantonly give a customer’s data to a third party such as Maritz.ESPECIALLY when said customer has NO CLUE HOW MUCH of their PERSONAL,IDENTIFIABLE information was provided from the car manufacturer from the transaction.
Dr.Grohol’s opinion is academic given his profession uses PLENTY of psychological assessments to help determine psychological/mental health.This includes human resource use of psychological assessments to predict an applicant’s fit with a corporate culture.
The surveys are the product of the client, not Maritz. They may/can only suggest and argue, but the final decision is always made by the client so I wish the auto manufacturers would read this article one day and realise how much customers dislike this way of interviewing.
Thank you for your article because I was on the verge of completing the survey (I frequently give feedback when I think it will help someone). I found the CEO’s response to your article to be revealing.
Wake up Dead Thread! Got a MORITZ Survey. Same tactics, trolling for data. Last page of the ten is a hoot. Yeeeahhh. Data will be stored and sold to ‘extended warranty’ solicitors in the windows of factory warranty expiration. Can’t wait. But yes, too long, repetitive invasive questions.
Thank you for this article!