When is 20% not the same as 20%?

Ever wonder why political opinion polls can claim a margin of error of 3% when they survey only 1067 people out of an electorate of, say, 2 million?  1067 is a tiny percentage of 2 million – way less than 1% in fact.  So how is this possible?  For most people, such a low response [...]

Disenfranchising the Young

Recently, while travelling, I came across a customer satisfaction comment card for a hotel.  These cards were being left in guests’ rooms.  Besides questions about guests’ experiences, there were also some profiling questions.  One of these questions asked guests their age.  Such questions can be very useful.  For example, if a hotel is surprised that [...]

Delight or Satisfy

There has been a lot of talk recently about how it’s no longer enough to satisfy customers.  We’re told that we need to “delight” them.  If you are running an online survey to assess customer satisfaction you may well be looking to know how to delight your customers.  But be careful – you might be [...]