Survey overload: Companies are inundating customers with endless surveys—and getting worse insights

One week last autumn, I hit my customer feedback limit.

I had seen my doctor and done some online shopping. Then I went on a vacation to Europe that involved three airlines and three hotel stays. At every turn, I was bombarded with dozens of requests for feedback, often multiple times from the same company, for two or more aspects of the same interaction.

“How did we do?” “How was registration?” “Rate your doctor!” “Tell us about your flight!” “What did you think of our meal...