Silversea Survey - Be Forewarned

[Unibok]

Just wondering if the intent was to share aggregated results with other interested parties (perhaps for a fee). One big omnibus survey.

 

That's how I read it.

[TLCOhio]

Hi, yes we started and owned a research company that assisted clients better "harvest" high-value reationship customers through enhanced satisfaction and better information about their "needs". You might recall, Silversea have been clients. Where does one start? This survey is an absolute dogs dinner and does not appear to have been designed by someone with rudimentary survey design knowledge or skills. It appears to have been designed by a large committee of assertive people all intent on including their own rather random questions overseen by an agency who was unable to control and advise and without the courage to manage and resist that volume of question demands.

 

YES, I was appropriately warned and agree with Jeff's very accurate analysis as to the many, many failures of design with this so-called "survey" by Silversea marketing. Here are my follow-up notes and reactions:

 

1. False advertising is bad. Claiming this survey can completed in just 15 minutes is total fiction!! Not even close!! I have worked over the many years with very experienced and top media, political and academic experts for such survey research and know how to go through these "tools" fairly quickly. BUT, it took me 34 minutes to complete. No way it can be done in just 15 minutes, especially by an average or typical participant.

 

2. Clearly this survey needed some "adult supervision" to edit down and focus just on the most important questions and data desired. Remember, "less is more"? This was too long with a large number of "insider" questions. Many of the response options or lists were not just l-o-n-g, but extremely excessive in the huge number of potentials offered. Too much to digest in certain sections of this survey. That really slowed and confused participants.

 

3. With ALL of the many questions and response options listed, never once did they make any reference to or offer an option of CruiseCritic. Sure, not everyone does these CC boards, but my guess is that this website's total viewership and number of users would be as big or bigger than so many of the options they listed for social media, information sources, etc. What does Silversea have against Cruise Critic? That was a major goof!! CC needed to be listed as option on a large number of these questions. How do you know if you do not ask?

 

Some of the many questions were interesting and different. BUT, overall, if your survey design is not carefully focused and designed, your participation rate falls off dramatically. Some amateurs and less experienced researchers never "get it". You need to connect and be relevant to the audience. Or, they will give up and quit too soon. Then your data gets even more out-of-balance and irrelevant.

 

It is good to reach out to customers, but do it in a smart, professional and effective manner!! Who's in charge? Is anybody home at SS marketing?

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

SE Asia/Mekong River, Etc.! Completed a Jan. 21-Feb. 20, 2018, first adventure through Southeast Asia with stops in Hong Kong and Bangkok, before traveling all over Vietnam and Cambodia. This includes seven days sailing on the Mekong River. Now at 36,607 views. Lots of fun, interesting pictures!! See more at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2591474

[HappyCamper777]

Just wanted to say thank you to all for the comments. It's been interesting to read through the professional perspectives of UKCruiseJeff and TLCOhio too.

 

Don't take it personally. (And I can't believe you posted the entire survey.)

Thank you. I don't take it personally. And, if by posting the entire survey it helps someone else, I'm glad.

 

OP was the survey via a personal email? The link quite probably contained a unique URL which identifies who sent it. If it didn't, then yes, very naughty

 

I'm amazed you took the trouble to post the entire survey. Now that really must have taken you ages to do. Thanks for doing so though....

Yes, it was sent via email. And, you are welcome!

[Conte Di Savoia]

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Forums mobile app

Edited October 4, 2018 by Conte Di Savoia
Didn't mean to post a reply

[markham]

I have to admit that I did start to complete the survey, and I expected to have lots to answer on the back of 1000+ days at sea mainly on Seabourn and Cunard. On the 4th or 5th page the question about household income arose, something I don’t care to discuss, and when I answered what I chose to answer I was summarily thrown out “as not being of interest” to the survey.

 

So the upside is I did not waste my time. The downside though is for Silversea. How thoughtless and foolish are they? We have about 50 days with them this year and next and are in our 60s. “Not of interest”?

 

As TLCOhio asked above, who is in charge at Silversea? Anybody?

 

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[UKCruiseJeff]

I have to admit that I did start to complete the survey, and I expected to have lots to answer on the back of 1000+ days at sea mainly on Seabourn and Cunard. On the 4th or 5th page the question about household income arose, something I don’t care to discuss, and when I answered what I chose to answer I was summarily thrown out “as not being of interest” to the survey.

 

So the upside is I did not waste my time. The downside though is for Silversea. How thoughtless and foolish are they? We have about 50 days with them this year and next and are in our 60s. “Not of interest”?

 

As TLCOhio asked above, who is in charge at Silversea? Anybody?

 

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

An extrmeley important design criteria for surveys where the sponsor is identified AND is a supplier to the invited participant, is not to damage or risk damaging the reputation of the company and/or the relationship with the customer. Additionally, in many well managed organisations senior execs insist on reviewing and approving ie "signing off" broadcast material before it is released.

 

Not doing so imho is symptomatic of a much more significant management problem.

[markham]

I just received an apology email from Barbara Muckerman that the survey vendor has been terminated and I was not meant to receive it.

 

Good!

[les37b]

I just received an apology email from Barbara Muckerman that the survey vendor has been terminated and I was not meant to receive it.

 

Good!

 

 

Was the survey sent by her or the third party marketing company?

 

2 trains of thought from that and it’s not good whichever it is.

[pf778c]

I received the following this morning:

 

Dear XXXXXXXXXX,

Last week we invited you to participate in a survey about travel.

The research vendor had made the regrettable mistake of sending you the link to a longer survey. Not the one that was designed for our loyal guests.

We want to express our sincere apologies for this deplorable event. We want to reassure you that we have ceased working with this vendor.

The research project has been closed. We want to thank all our guests who had completed the survey, giving us precious insights that will inform our future marketing initiatives. The gift card prize draw will take place among all respondents within the next few weeks and the winners will be immediately notified.

We are deeply grateful of your preference towards our products and our company and we are honored of being able to serve you.

Please accept our deepest apologies for any discomfort this error may have caused you. Nothing could have been more distant from our intentions.

 

With my best regards,

 

Barbara Muckermann

Chief Marketing Officer

Silversea Cruises

[Unibok]

Ditto. I received the apology as well. The whole thing certainly seemed like a mistake, and I’m glad to know that it was rectified quickly.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[UKCruiseJeff]

How has it been rectified? A properly managed and well-organised organisation takes prudent steps to avoid obvious serious mistakes rather than apologising for them once they have been made,

 

Most of the people that would have participated do so within a day or so of the request so most of the data to be collected has already been collected I notice that they have made no promises to ensure that the vendor who they have fired who now has all this detailed personal information that they now say was wrongly collected - will have the data destroyed. Quite the reverse. So the data is with an incompetent third party organisation with no guarantee of it's future use.

 

I also note that Barbera states in her apology that "winners" will be notified but in the original competition it was clearly stated to be a single winner. If I noticed it straight away, then why don't they? Do they actually read and check anything they send?

[TLCOhio]

Ditto. I received the apology as well. The whole thing certainly seemed like a mistake, and I’m glad to know that it was rectified quickly.

 

Received that apology e-mail this morning at 7:18 am. WOW!! Would like to know who specifically allowed the use of the Silversea e-mail list of customers and who was supposed to guard against such stupidity/abuse? Don't think Barbara Muckermann will get fired over this incident. Isn't her husband the Silversea CEO, Roberto Martinoli? See:

https://www.luxurytraveladvisor.com/cruises/exclusive-interview-and-update-from-silversea-s-manfredi-lefebvre-roberto-martinoli-mark

for more details on this power couple who are in charge.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 231,278 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[mysty]

I received the following this morning:

 

Dear XXXXXXXXXX,

Last week we invited you to participate in a survey about travel.

The research vendor had made the regrettable mistake of sending you the link to a longer survey. Not the one that was designed for our loyal guests.

We want to express our sincere apologies for this deplorable event. We want to reassure you that we have ceased working with this vendor.

The research project has been closed. We want to thank all our guests who had completed the survey, giving us precious insights that will inform our future marketing initiatives. The gift card prize draw will take place among all respondents within the next few weeks and the winners will be immediately notified.

We are deeply grateful of your preference towards our products and our company and we are honored of being able to serve you.

Please accept our deepest apologies for any discomfort this error may have caused you. Nothing could have been more distant from our intentions.

 

With my best regards,

 

Barbara Muckermann

Chief Marketing Officer

Silversea Cruises

 

This missive seems to suggest that SS had a contract with the vendor to survey some of its customers on travel. They would have provided customer contact info to the vendor for that purpose. The vendor made the error of sending the entire survey instead of sending only the portion of the omnibus survey specifically designed for SS. It is surprising that SS did not notice this error until after the survey had been sent out. Surely someone from SS should have been testing the survey link being sent to their customers.

Edited October 4, 2018 by mysty

[UKCruiseJeff]

I didn't know that - but doesn't it say it all.

 

Manfredi is a childhood friend and holiday companion of Roberto Martinoli and appoints him as CEO. Roberto then appoints his wife Barbera Murkermann as head of marketing who is reporting to him.

 

What could possibly go wrong.

[Randyk47]

Not excusing the mistake but having gone through several mergers, buyouts, and reorganizations I’m really not surprised. After I retired from the government I went to work for a company that had worked for me for 15+ years. After a couple of years they sold the company and part of the sale included closing the local office literally overnight. Came in Thursday morning and the outgoing vice president called us and said Friday was our last day. We were to pack up our computers, etc., and ship them to the home office. Not a happy time but we did it. A week later I got a call from the company’s director of operations who had been held over from the old company. He wanted to know why I hadn’t filed our weekly progress report, weren’t answering the office phone, and had not answered any of his emails. Huh?

[HappyCamper777]

I also note that Barbera states in her apology that "winners" will be notified but in the original competition it was clearly stated to be a single winner.

You are correct UKCruiseJeff, there was to be one winner.

 

If Silversea wanted to engender some loyalty for this marketing research fiasco, I suggest they give everyone a $250 OBC for their time in completing the survey. :D

[UKCruiseJeff]

You are correct UKCruiseJeff, there was to be one winner.

 

If Silversea wanted to engender some loyalty for this marketing research fiasco, I suggest they give everyone a $250 OBC for their time in completing the survey. :D

 

:)

 

It is an imprecise art.

 

We favoured a contribution to a charity from a short tick list for each participant to choose from, but I suspect that for SS customers a more productive option might be a contribution to a fairly distributed crew fund.

 

The revenue our programmes created for the named charitable contributions considerably exceeded our consultancy revenue and financed some amazing projects including a school. I chose the list of charities and they were smaller charities that used virtually all their funds for the good causes rather than inflated salaries and shiny marketing programmes. The also had to have clearly defined projects for these funds and report back regularly on their progress. These reports became a part of the incentive for people to complete future surveys. I derived as much satisfaction out of that side of our business as I did dealing with research and clients.

[tgh]

A Mea Culpa email from SS is on it's way, good luck to those who have already participated ( we didn't…)

[turtlemichael]

Even the apology reeks of a lack of professionalism . After saying we should not have received the survey, that it was a mistake, they say:

 

The research project hasbeen closed. We want to thank all our guests who had completed the survey,giving us precious insights that will inform our future marketing initiatives.The gift card prize draw will take place among all respondents within the nextfew weeks and the winners will be immediately notified.

 

So we didn't seek your information but we are going to use it and we'll draw the prize sometime. Dear me!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Market Research is the major tool by which organisations decide their destination, calibrate factually senior-managements' inuition and judgement and should suggest the best route to get to it. Poor research is much worst than no research at all because it often takes the company in the absolutely wrong direction, and encourages organisations to spend money and resources unwisely and foolishly whilst ignoring investments that are more profitable because they are more attuned to customers actual stated wants and needs. A symptom of that is when a company appears to be out of touch, untuned and disinterested in listening to customers. Market Research, like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.

 

That is why poor, cheap, badly used research is potentially enormously expensive for a brand and reputation and can eventually lead to running out of cash for wise investment. You have probably gathered .... I am passionate about good reserch ..... :)

Edited October 5, 2018 by UKCruiseJeff

[Daveywavey70]

There are several points that spring to mind about this. Firstly the survey itself was completely incoherent and looked like it was written by a work placement student, not a professional company fit to be trusted with guests personal information. Did Silversea vet the company at all?

 

One look at the survey itself would make me run a mile from this company and I certainly wouldn’t trust my valued guests personal information with them.

 

I Also wonder if the survey was distributed by the third party or by Silversea. If it was distributed by the third party before SS had signed off on it, at what point had SS handed over the guests information and what measures were taken to ensure it would be kept safe? If it was distributed by SS then why on earth did they allow this to happen?

 

The honourable thing for SS to have done would have been to reassure the guests that completed the survey that the sensitive information which they hadn’t intended to ask had been destroyed, not tell you that they are intending to use that incorrectly gathered information. It also makes me wonder if they “own” the information gathered and can guarantee that it will not be sold on (either by SS or the third party) to anybody else. Selling information like this on is common practise and can be very lucrative.

 

The apology email just demonstrates how badly SS reacts when they get things wrong. To send that email out without even checking it and introducing the confusion about winner or winners shows a total lack of both attention to detail and sincerity in the apology. It looks like something cobbled together on an iPhone from the back of a limo.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Dave,

 

Re your data point, as you will be aware from your own business, GDPR came into force throughout the whole of Europe on 25th May this year.

 

Use and sharing of personal data WITHOUT the express and fully informed individual consent for the specific use AFTER that date, is in breach of this regulation which carries a fine of up to 20 million euros or 4% of WORLDWIDE revenue, whichever is higher. There are currently several hefty fines for breaches in the pipeline.

 

The amateurish catchall statement with the survey does not comply with the “informed consent” regulation.

[Daveywavey70]

That’s what was on my mind Jeff. I was thinking what a very large can of worms they’re playing with. The third party certainly doesn’t look like a trustworthy partner.

[HappyCamper777]

One year later and a new survey is ready for your consumption.  Prize value remains the same.  Anyone here know what the definition is of an "Accredited Responder"?  Wonder why a consumer has to be accredited and who does the accrediting?  🙂  Also, I wonder who won last year's survey prize? 

"Dear HappyCamper777,

 

We highly value your opinion and have selected you to be part of a study to better understand how we can further improve the experience and satisfaction of our Guests.
 
The study will be based on an online survey, which will take approximately 20 minutes to complete and which can only be accessed through a PC, laptop or tablet (no mobile phone due to screen size limits).
 
By completing this survey, you will help us enhance our products and services for all Guests. Please be assured that all your responses will remain strictly confidential and anonymous. All the responses will be used in aggregate.
 
As a thank you for your valuable time and insight, we are offering a chance to win a $ 250 gift card*.
 

Thank you in advance for your time and feedback.
 
Best regards,
 
Barbara Muckermann
Chief Marketing Officer
Silversea Cruises

*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

ACCREDITED RESPONDERS 18 YEARS AND OLDER. To enter, complete one survey at the survey link provided to you. Limit one entry per person. Any information provided in the survey will become the sole property of Silversea Cruises Ltd. (“Silversea”) and may be used by Silversea for any purpose in its discretion. Silversea will randomly select two winners from all valid entrants. Winners will receive one Amazon gift card valued at $250. Winners are responsible for any applicable taxes. Void where prohibited."

Edited September 12, 2019 by HappyCamper777

[Stumblefoot]

11 minutes ago, HappyCamper777 said:

Anyone here know what the definition is of an "Accredited Responder"?  Wonder why a consumer has to be accredited and who does the accrediting?
ACCREDITED RESPONDERS 18 YEARS AND OLDER. 

 

That's hilarious!  And, I have no idea why any consumer who received the survey has to be accredited or what even makes someone accredited.  Too funny. 

I do know in the world of investments in the U.S. the word "accredited" means someone who meets certain recognized standards such as net worth of at least $1MM or has annual compensation greater than $200K as an individual or $300K jointly for the last two years with expectation of earning the same or higher income in the current year.  Could that be what SS is implying in their use of the term "Accredited Responder"?  Who knows.  And, why does SS have to be so esoteric?