Why do websites always want you to take a survey or give them feedback?

To get your email address.

They are seeking feedback for their products and services. I don’t do them often myself but it is an effective way for them to get customer feedback and to make improvements. Amazon and netflix are the only ones I rate.

They have attracted you there and they want to know what they have to do to get you to come back and buy from them. And just in case you don’t plan to ever return, they want contact info so they can send you mail to try to tempt you.

Some of them it is so they can sell you things. If they ask you for your cellphone number for example, it is a (edit:giveaway). But some of them are genuinley trying to improve their services I think. I guess they are looking for people who have enough time to spare, but they could let you know how many questions there are at the outset at least.

If I were doing it, I’d really want your feedback about how good my website is and whether you can find what you’re looking for. I’d also want to know what you think of my product so I can improve it. Unfortunately, I think most companies are trying to get an address out of you so they can constantly bombard you with come-ons.

They’re trying to make their sites better. They’re not psychic, so they’re trying to figure out what their customers (or potential customers think). When you’re designing a site, or an app, or something else designed for others to use, it’s really easy to think that everyone will obviously understand your design. It turns out that people often don’t see things as the designers think they will, and so seeing how the end-users experience their products is very valuable to them.

If I were running a survey, I would at least offer a significant discount coupon to thank people who took the time to answer.

…And as for the no compensation, I think they are targeting people who are looking to be heard, and who would complain/suggest about the product anyway.

They want to know everything they can about the people who shop on their site. Once they know your age, gender, and income bracket, they look in the Big Book of What People Want to Hear, and re-write their advertising to make their product appeal to YOU.

Brainwashing 101. Also works in political campaigns.

Almost all internet sites get revenue from thorough-way traffic. The more people visiting the site the more income they receive, and also those surveys are pop-ups. Regardless of the reason they have it there, pop-ups get the site more clicks and this generates more income. Some sites have surveys to see where in the marketing process needs adjustments, while some have them because their parent companies want the additional traffic. It’s best to avoid them because they record you IP address.

For their marketing, so they know the demographic they’re marketing to.

There are different kinds of surveys here, and people are conflating them.

Type 1: Actual surveys where your ratings matter. When you rate products on places like Amazon, it’s a metric that other people use to decide whether or not to buy the product.

Type 2. Pop-up surveys that show up when you go to a website that don’t seem to come from the owner of that website. These are basically pop-up ads designed to get your information.

It would make sense to compensate people taking surveys who actually suggest features or improvements which end up being implemented.

Thanks everyone. About 99% of the emails I receive are from companies I agreed to receive email from. I don’t have a problem with companies having my email address because I opt-out if their emails start to annoy me.

I would like to see companies compensate for feedback, though. I know it’s unlikely and not practical, but it would be nice.