New Amtrak survey email yesterday

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Feb 2, 2005
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Did anyone else get it? Same template but miles different than the last one I received 2-3 years ago that had to questions like, “would you be willing to ride a bus for part of your trip?

The gist of this survey was:

Do you like to be treated special?
Do you like first class service?
Are some companies memorable to you?
Is AGR a good deal?

Someone actually put enough thought into the survey that one of the questions was, “mark this question disagree.” I guess to see if people were reading to questions.

I paraphrased the questions above but here’s a couple screen shots of actual questions.
 

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I got it twice, but only took it once. I saw the "trick question". It's to make sure you're paying attention and makes sure you're not speeding through the survey. Many survey companies do that. I'm not sure why they felt that was necessary in this particular one as there is no reimbursement involved.
 
I received one too. In the box for narrative and suggestions, I suggested that it might be nice to give AGR members a TQP bonus for sleeper travel. The faster I get Select Plus, the better. Access to the lounges is really one of the big perks for Select Plus, especially because most of my riding is on the NEC, and it's nice to avoid the hard benches and cattle lines in the big stations. I always have access to the Met Lounge in Chicago because I travel sleeper, but that's not the case when I roam the NEC.
 
I got mine and answered it yesterday. Then I got another one today. Maybe they're checking to verify 'consistency' to make sure I've responded how I really feel. I trashed todays' without responding.
 
From a marketing standpoint, this seems like a very odd survey to send out. Out of 9 questions 2 were directly about Amtrak and 1 was the "are you even reading this" question. They don't ask anything specific of I'm guessing someone with a frequent rider status or someone who could get it.
 
I looked at, then deleted it. It’s too general—any response can be twisted to fit whatever their agenda is.

Plus they lump things together that don’t necessarily go together. For example, I would never use an app, but I love and would frequent the lounge. But they put both in the same question—in your answer, you would have to either like both or like neither.

I thought it was insulting—it doesn’t address any of the many specific issues and complaints that Amtrak frequent travelers have. It looks like the first mind dump/draft instead of a finished product.

As an editor (which I was for more than 30 years), I would tell the writers to be more specific.

if I were an English teacher, I would give it a C-.
 
I didn't get it, at least in the inbox that I get all of my other Amtrak stuff. I guess Amtrak doesn't want me to be treated more special than other passengers. 😮
I didnt get it either, and I took a RT on the Eagle @ the end of March.

Perhaps only those that haven't traveled in the Past Year are getting them???
 
Perhaps only those that haven't traveled in the Past Year are getting them?
I got two invites, and I have not traveled in the past year.
I paraphrased the questions above but here’s a couple screen shots of actual questions.
Thanks for the screen shots.
I looked at, then deleted it. It’s too general—any response can be twisted to fit whatever their agenda is.

Plus they lump things together that don’t necessarily go together. For example, I would never use an app, but I love and would frequent the lounge. [...]
Thank you for the critical analysis. Your comments describe my reaction when I looked at Amtrakfflyer's screen shots, but in words rather than feelings.
 
...
I thought it was insulting—it doesn’t address any of the many specific issues and complaints that Amtrak frequent travelers have. It looks like the first mind dump/draft instead of a finished product.

As an editor (which I was for more than 30 years), I would tell the writers to be more specific.

if I were an English teacher, I would give it a C-.

As someone who has done extensive marketing research for 15 years using both in person and survey methodologies, with and without agency engagements, this survey is reasonable in it’s structure and approach. This is not a survey looking for specifics of do you prefer A or B, or other multi variant choices. What this is looking to determine are sentiments of the group(s) being surveyed. As a result, the lines of questioning are a bit more vague and structured around a more emotional reaction or feeling about a particular attribute - such as being treated differently (special). No, this isn’t a first draft (caveat - this insn’t my survey nor do I work for AMTK), you are simply applying your expectation that a survey must be precise in options, A or B, which this did not present to you.

For those wondering, the questions that ask you to answer a certain way are inserted randomly to enable filtering out responses either completed by a bot, or, where the user simply decided to answer one score for the entire survey in order to “just get through it”. Failing to answer the check questions gets your response thrown out.

Comments are always good - but, almost certainly they are not read specifically by a human. They will be scanned by AI to establish themes, categories and correlations to particular responses to a given question. For example, a question asking about App, lounge and sleeper cars in the same question may be paired with AI analysis of the comments to find associated comments and themes within those comments.

Overall, and I didn’t get the survey so I can only opine on what has been posted, this appears to me to be a survey looking to get the sentiment of the surveyed pool around the loyalty program and the pools attachment to it, and where the users find value or a lack of value. It also may identify thematic areas for further investigation that will be explored more deeply, typically with a more narrowly cast survey that gets a bit more specific around choosing between A, B or C, but ideally in a multivariant setting to build associations. That then goes to focus group(s) when solutions/changes/additions/deletions are in proposed form.
 
As one who has been involved in designing surveys and particpated in a great many over the years, I am disappointed I did not get this one. I do believe for the most part these kind of surveys, if well executed, provide valuable information; whether this insight is put to good use is often another matter. Because I did not get this one I obviously cannot make an opinon on whether it cuts the mustard.
 
Most surveys I have been invited to, are more about the website itself, than the product or service....
 
Sometimes I don't want to answer specific questions and if I start going through a survey and don't answer a question and the survey refuses to let me continue, I don't. I simply immediately exit the survey and clear the cookies.

I don't even try to answer surveys that promise me a "chance" to win something. It's a scam as too few people win and too many suckers get nothing. Only if I am given something that is of value to me will I even try to answer it (even a few Amtrak points are sufficient). But Rule #1 always overrides everything.

Needless to say, there are few surveys I ever complete.
 
In general, it is a good thing when companies send out surveys. To me, their goal with this survey was to figure out how important programs like AGR are to me. It was NOT an all encompassing survey, a general customer satisfaction survey, or a request for a critique/rating of a particular trip.

For what it was, it was fine.
 
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