For anyone that has read any of my blogs you will notice that I am a curious person. People’s actions fascinate me. I am curious about why some folks do some things while others do not. I understand a lot of it is upbringing.
In a conversation, the other day a friend was telling me about some website that is getting over 1000 hits a day. He said they have a poll on the page and it is estimated that a very low percentage of folks will actually take the poll. I wondered why. He wondered why. The site wondered why.
I know when I am on sites that have surveys to get free products I avoid them like the plague but usually because there is a catch. Most of the time in the process of the survey they ‘tell’ you that you must accept one ‘offer’. Well I don’t want a timeshare, or a life insurance quote, or a host of other somewhat useless time wasting products and services. I was willing to take their very long survey in hopes of getting my prize. It rarely happens. Actually, I haven’t gotten anything free yet because I usually get so frustrated before I get to the end of the survey.
That is a lengthy survey not a short poll. The cool part about a poll is that you can usually view the statistics to see what others think at the time. It is somewhat interactive. Interestingly enough many people won’t take the few seconds it might take to click on their answer.
I like polls. They are usually quick, easy and painless. I have some on my blog pages. Some have 10 possible answers and others only have 2 or 3 but yet folks will not answer them. Is it because I am not offering them a prize? Or is it because they might have to actually think about which answer to choose? Do folks not know what they believe or why they believe it? Do polls hurt? Are they invasive? Do people not know that they are quite anonymous? I wonder if I did a poll about why folks don’t answer polls if I would get anyone to answer? Such a dilemma and my thoughts run amuck at the possibilities.
It is one thing for folks to do things differently but I am seeing that most people do not really know why they do or don’t do things. They either do it that way because that is the way it has always been done. Or that is the way their friends do it or what the media says is popular. Few folks really know why they do. They don’t know the answers to even the simple questions of life. They haven’t settled it within themselves to know what they believe and why.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. ~1 Peter 3:15
2 comments:
I was thinking I don't answer polls because there's no payoff for me...but after some thinking I'm not sure that's it. It may be that I don't want marketers to be any more accurate than they already are in targeting me so even single question polls put me off, even when they obviously are not marketing polls. Perhaps it is my assumption that the poll taker will benefit from the opinions of many but that I will not, and especially so if I find in the results that I am not where I expect to be on the bell curve.
I can understand being concerned about the bell curve. I guess that could be a real worry. I can even see about there not being a payoff or the poll taker getting 'something' from you. I suppose I didn't look at it like that. I'll give you some invisible bonus points worth absolutely nothing??? That's all I can offer you. Sorry. lol!
Post a Comment