{"id":507,"date":"2010-03-04T10:39:26","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T14:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.emailcritic.com\/?p=507"},"modified":"2010-03-04T10:39:26","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T14:39:26","slug":"orbitz-survey-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.emailcritic.com\/orbitz-survey-email\/","title":{"rendered":"Sending Survey Emails? Learn From Orbitz' Example"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orbitz has been my online travel site of choice for years – I’ve strayed occasionally, but they always seem to be where I end up booking.<\/p>\n

Most recently, I booked a hotel room in Philadelphia through them for New Year’s Eve. The day I checked out, this email arrived in my inbox:
\n\"Orbitz<\/a><\/p>\n

Triggered survey emails like this are a nice touchpoint that can help a brand learn more about its customers and create a better experience for them in the future.<\/p>\n

The challenge, of course, is getting people to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Actually take the survey; and<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Provide useful information.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Sure, you can offer a reward to people for completing the survey (this takes care of #1), but you’re likely to get people flying through the survey just to get the reward (which causes a problem with #2). So how do you get quality survey data from a high proportion of your subscribers?<\/p>\n

    I think this email does a great job at achieving both aims. Here’s why:<\/p>\n

    It’s Timely<\/h3>\n

    This email showed up while the stay was fresh in my mind – Orbitz sent it the day my reservation ended.<\/p>\n

    Had they waited (either intentionally or due to an inability to generate and send the email promptly), the experience I had at the hotel might have faded from memory – meaning I wouldn’t have felt comfortable sharing my thoughts about it, or simply wouldn’t have cared enough anymore to bother doing so.<\/p>\n

    It’s Easy To Use<\/h3>\n

    This is a beautifully simple email. It tries to do one thing – get me to click to the survey form – and it focuses solely on that. Yes, there are some navigation links at the top but they don’t distract from the point of the email.<\/p>\n

    And Orbitz was smart about the call-to-action: they realized that I might try clicking any of three places to get to the survey form…<\/p>\n