Monday, July 7, 2008
Survey Says: The Wren’s Nest is Completely Awesome
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Big Money No Whammies, Good Questions, Nonprofit Management // 1:34 pm
Several months ago, in an effort to enact “legitimate” and “professional” nonprofit practices, we began asking our visitors to fill out a brief survey at the end of their tour.
Basic stuff to be sure, but we hoped that it would allow us to improve our visitors’ experiences and then totally benefit us when we’re asking for money. You know who loves assessment? Foundations, that’s who.
So a great idea, right?
Well, kinda.
Plenty of people have filled out our survey… and so far we have received zero negative comments. Not only has no one said anything negative, but NO ONE has chosen anything other than the most positive options.
For example, here are a few direct quotes in response to the question, “Is there any way we could have improved your visit to The Wren’s Nest?”:
- “It was delightful just as it was!”
- “It was perfect!”
- “Don’t change a thing!”
In fact, the closest thing we’ve received to a criticism is a request that we put in more lighting. You know, to a historically preserved home. Nothing like a few renovations to make the place more modern!
Anyhow, this puts us in an odd position. We have an assessment tool, but it is producing nothing but reasons to pat ourselves on the back.
All survey evidence to the contrary, we know we’re not perfect. But how can we know what to fix if everyone who visits is delighted?! Man, it is SO hard to be us.
Wren’s Nest Visitor Survey (.pdf)
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You might have a sampling problem. I believe that it’s accepted in the field of marketing research that, if left to their own choice of whether to answer questions or not, it’s the people who are satisfied who tend to decide to answer. The unsatisfied ones tend not to answer. Extra efforts are usually needed to insure that a survey gets answers not only from those who are happy to respond but also from those may feel uncomfortable because they have something a little negative to say.
Still, the Wren’s Nest is awesome.
We’re perfect! Really - the survey is a good one. It would be helpful to know how they learned about the Wren’s Nest - could help up target our huge marketing budget -
Okay! Here’s my criticism:
Lack of authentic period clothing.
Lain, you should dress up as your ancestor (mustache, hat, one of those padded stomach pillows, high-waisted pants- they’re in vogue, so don’t worry) and Amy, you, Miss Nannie and Jeri can wear those oh-so-flattering high-necked Victorian dresses popular in the day. What do you say? Layers in July? Yea! Lain, don’t even try to get away with seersucker, I bet JCH wore respectable wool.
I so totally agree with Lauren.
hmmm, maybe the visitor that threw up was trying to express his/her un-satisfaction without realizing we are more civilized and provide a survey for such matters….
I am curious though- what % of the visitors are filling out the survey? This might be an important statistic that the grant people evaluate.
I would have written in “Free snacks” for all the questions if you’d asked me.
Bryan- you made a great point about our deliriously happy sample. In an effort to lure people on both ends of the satisfaction spectrum, I’m going to display a folder for completed surveys, so that folks don’t have to hand it back to the person they just evaluated. It’s a small step, but I have high hopes. Any other suggestions are welcome.
And did someone say free snacks?!
Pros: Informative
Cons: Lack of olde timey clothing and accents.
Opportunity for improvement: creation of period re-enactments including but not limited to the following: a civil war re-enactment in which the south wins, a re-enactment of the burning of Atlanta, a re-enactment of the Harris’ family dinners, a re-enactment of Lain sleeping in his old crib (only Lain will be full-sized).
Thank you, and have a nice day.
The idea of a folder is good, but I would suggest a box that looks like it might only be emptied once a week. Just last week I took what I considered to be a very poor historic house tour and was asked to fill out a survey. I did so (with uncompromising honesty), but was ultimately unable to deliver the crushing blow as the forms were collected by the outstretched hand of my friendly, smiling, and extremely uninformed guide. The form remained in my pocket for the rest of the weekend.
Of course, the house in question was not the Wren’s Nest, where I had a great tour back in April.
Ooh, I like your style, Gib. I’m sure we could scrounge up a box or even a (replica) WREN’S NEST! Ta da!
One of the attorneys in my office accompanied her daughter’s preschool class to the WN earlier this week for a tour and storytelling. She has raved about the experience - everyone loved it. Not sure any of them filled out a survey -since they were all chasing 4 year olds - but yall got fab reviews
a suggestion about the wording of some questions on the survey. you want people to give you things to improve, so ask them directly. Instead of “is there any way we could have improved your visit,” say, “Tell us one thing that would have improved your visit.” Or instead of “how informative was your tour of the wren’s nest” say, “what would have made your tour of the wren’s nest more informative?” maybe the survey says, “we know we’re not perfect. think real hard to come up with something to help us improve cuz we rely on you to give us ideas. maybe if we end up doing something you suggest, we’ll name a wren after you!”