Why Is Feedback So Hard to Get?
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Recently, I sent out messages to just about everyone I know, asking for feedback on the newest Squidoo lens I'd created. Whereas I got many visitors to my lens, I got zilch in the feedback department. I don't understand.
There is no reason to be shy, especially if one is asked to give feedback. Even negative feedback is more desirable than none at all.
The purpose of asking for feedback, in my case anyway, is so that I can fine tune the pages I create so that they are desirable to others. Honestly, if I didn't care, I wouldn't ask. I'm sure the same goes for anyone who asks for feedback. I get email all the time from different people, asking me to take a survey related to a web site, and I go... I take the surveys, and leave my feedback, because I was asked for it.
The reason I don't send out survey invitations is pretty simple... I want to hear what people think, in their own words, not some pre-set responses I dream up. I don't care much for multiple choice responses.
So why is it that people don't want to speak their minds when given the chance? Is it because it's easier to tick radio buttons on a survey page than to type a response? Perhaps. I find radio button choices to be too impersonal, and they seldom reflect my true opinions.
The thing that really gets to me is that people have no problem spending time, searching for, or creating glittery graphics to post to my social networking profiles, but they don't seem to be able to take the time to write to me with their opinion when I ask for it.
If you don't have anything nice to say, then let's hear it! When I ask for feedback, and I'll bet this goes for others as well, I want to hear it all.. Good, Bad and Ugly. (Good is definitely nicer to read...) You can't fix it if you don't know it's broken, right? Even when I asked readers of my book for feedback, I only got two responses. How can I improve as a writer/poet, if I don't know what others think? How do I improve my web sites if I don't know what others think? I'm a writer, not a mind reader.
So why so shy? It's a mystery to me. I have people crawlin' out of the fiber optics, hitting on me, spamming me, and leaving graphics on all of my profile pages, but I can't get anyone to give me an honest answer to a simple question. "What do you think of my newest Squidoo lens?" Folks seem to enjoy giving their opinion about everything, when it's not been asked for. So what's the deal? Asking for feedback takes nothing from you, but gives something back to you, in the form of better service.
Have they ever considered that responding and putting their link in the signature line may get me to visit their site? Probably not. Or how about the positive comment that gets posted on all my pages as a testimonial, with a link to their web site?
Are people really so wrapped up in gurus and their garbage [affiliate programs] that they can't even spot an opportunity for genuinely free advertising?
Tell me what you think... I dare ya!
Copyright © 2008
The Trii-Zine Ezine
http://www.ezines1.com/triizine
About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-6151-6405-2
Co-Owner: Internet Marketing Mavens
http://internetmarketing-mavens.com
