Every day, it seems like another brand wants to know how I’m feeling. My inbox, text messages and apps are full of requests to “tell us how we did.”
After going to the cinema, buying a coffee or downloading an app, a request for feedback follows within minutes.
It’s relentless, and it’s not a conversation; it’s a data grab.
What makes it worse is the false promise of quickness. “Just 15 minutes to complete,” they say, as if that’s a reasonable exchange for a small transaction. 15 minutes!
That’s longer than it took to drink the coffee! In a world where time is precious, asking customers to sit through a quarter of an hour of questions feels tone-deaf.
And when was the last time a brand actually replied to your feedback? Exactly. Despite the polite “we value your opinion” line, there’s never a genuine follow-up. Have you ever received a “thank you,” a reaction event or any improvement you can see? I doubt it.
Let’s be honest. These surveys aren’t about listening. They’re about collecting data points, feeding dashboards and measuring Net Promoter Scores to impress the next board meeting.
The “no-reply” email address says it all. You’re not meant to reply because they’re not actually talking to you. It’s ironic that these messages always come from systems designed to avoid human contact. The digital equivalent of a closed door.
Then there’s the classic bait-and-switch. You start with a single rating — “How likely are you to recommend us?” — and before you know it, you’ve been lured into a 10-page multiple-choice marathon. Questions about your age, income, household size, and every conceivable demographic detail creep in. What started as a moment of goodwill turns into unpaid market research.
My time is valuable, and I’m no longer donating it.
From now on, I’ll happily provide feedback — subject to invoice. If a company truly wants my considered response, they can pay for the insight, the same way my clients pay me for training, consultancy and advice. I doubt I’ll hear back.
Even LinkedIn got in on the act this week with an email titled “Your expertise is requested.” Nice sentiment, but my expertise doesn’t come free. If you want to tap into professional insight, then value it. Reward it. Otherwise, it’s just another data request masquerading as engagement.
This feedback fatigue reflects something bigger about modern marketing and communication. We live in an age where every brand claims to be customer-centric, but very few act like it. They talk endlessly about engagement, but when it comes to genuine dialogue, they’re silent. It’s a one-way street paved with automated emails and form submissions. The hard truth is, it’s far easier to gather data than to build relationships.
Here’s where social media and AI could genuinely make a difference. Instead of hiding behind impersonal forms, brands can use social media platforms to listen to real conversations, spot trends and engage directly with customers in real time. AI can analyse sentiment across comments and posts, helping brands understand how people actually feel — not how they respond to a scripted question. It can highlight what matters most to audiences, identify recurring frustrations, and even suggest ways to respond empathetically. That’s feedback worth having.
Imagine if instead of sending another survey, a brand replied personally to a customer comment with a genuine solution. Imagine if AI tools helped summarise real social sentiment and turn it into meaningful action. That’s the difference between collecting opinions and earning loyalty.
If brands truly want to build relationships, they need to stop chasing survey completions, get back to basics and start having conversations. The best insights come not from forms, but from dialogue — from listening, responding and adapting. Feedback should be part of an ongoing exchange, not a one-sided transaction.
It’s time for brands to rethink what “listening” actually means. Show customers that their time matters. Respond when they share an idea. Close the loop when someone raises a problem. That’s how trust is built.
If you’d like to make your brand more conversational, genuinely responsive and human, get in touch to find out how social media and AI can help you listen, learn and respond in ways that actually mean something.