Sometimes, taking online surveys can feel like screaming into the void. All of the follow-up questionnaires, feature-length surveys, and we’d-love-to-hear-your-feedback can feel overwhelming, annoying, but mostly meaningless. You never actually know what happens to your responses, so do they even matter? The short answer, luckily, is yes. Your responses matter a whole lot more than you may realize, and here’s why.

Likes…

Above all else, companies want to make money, and you can’t make money without customers. Thus, it’s in every business’s best interest to make their clients happy, and the easiest way to know what your customers want is to ask them. Surveys are just that: companies asking their customers and clients what they like the most about their products and services. More importantly, collecting all this data about customer preferences allows them to make important decisions on products and services in the future, such as what items to discontinue and what projects to pursue.

Dislikes…

Just as companies want to give customers what they like, they want to take away what they hate. There’s no sense sinking money into a product that the population doesn’t like, and the sooner you can learn it’s unlikeable, the better. By asking customers their thoughts on products or services ahead of time, companies can quickly address any problems or issues that arise before it’s too late. Otherwise, they may not notice until they check engagement at the end of the month and see it’s dropped significantly, and they’re all scratching their heads wondering why.

…And Why

It’s definitely good to know why a customer enjoyed or disliked a product, but it’s even better to know why. When it comes to dislikes, it allows companies to quickly correct and release fixes or alternatives to whatever issues consumers are having. When it comes to customer satisfaction, it’s even more important to know why they like a product. If a company can pinpoint that customers like the branding a lot, they could change the branding on all their products to match, hopefully increasing their sales. It also helps to minimize mistakes. If you buy a new kitchen garbage can to replace your old one, you may be subject to an inordinate amount of garbage can ads in your future. However, if a survey asks you the likelihood of purchasing garbage cans again, how likely you would be to recommend this garbage can to a friend, and why you purchased a garbage can in the first place, odds are the advertisers will realize you’re a one-time purchaser and not a garbage can enthusiast.

Your Opinion Matters

This has basically become the tagline for ACOP at this point: Your Opinion Matters. And fortunately, it’s very, very true. From helping companies understand how to understand their consumers, telling them their customer base, and giving them a direction to head in for future projects, letting them know your thoughts and feelings through surveys is invaluable. So, the next time you hover over that “skip” button at the end of a purchase, think about how much a few seconds could change your life- and your shopping habits.