The gripe against surveys from both survey recipients and survey developers is that length is the joy-killer. No one likes answering 50 questions, and companies don’t like making them either. So well-known is the problem, that online surveys regularly include an “anticipated length of time for completion.” This can be used to intentionally skew results in your favor (by ensuring only hardcore fans endure the survey), or may have the opposite effect of only attracting dissatisfied customers who have an ax to grind.
There’s no perfect solution, but one simple one comes to mind: keep it short.
In that light, ISO could run a simple, one-question survey right now that would help give it focus on what the hell is actually wrong with ISO 9001, and why so many companies — the overwhelming, massive majority — have rejected their flagship product.
Now I could be a real pain and offer only to reveal my super-secret, super-simple method for $99.99 to anyone suckery enough to buy it, but in keeping with this horrendously unprofitable habit of mine of giving stuff away for free, here it is. The simple, one-question survey that ISO needs to be running right now, to ensure it’s own survival.
ISO’s MOST IMPORTANT SURVEY EVER.
Anticipated completion time: 10 seconds.
QUESTION: What do you think of ISO 9001?
ANSWERS (pick one):
- It’s good, we are certified to it.
- It’s good, we are compliant (but not certified).
- Never heard of it.
- It’s bad because it offers no tangible benefits.
- It’s bad because it’s expensive.
- It’s bad because it’s a scam.
- It’s bad because I don’t want anyone telling me how to run my business.
- It’s bad because of some other reason I can’t think of right now, but am nevertheless pretty confident about.
If the “it’s bad” options appear more numerous, that’s by design. We need to figure out why companies are avoiding ISO 9001, or dropping it. And in order to get those who either hate or have never heard of your product, you have to keep the survey short.
The keys to gaining any meaningful data from such surveys are sample size and response rate. ISO should push for near-universal sampling and send it to every company on the planet (well… try to) by using its clout with member nations, and then let the short survey length ensure the high response rate.
No charge for this one, ISO. It’s on the house.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
