The Impact of Survey Participation on Subsequent Customer Behavior: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

Recent research studies have shown that, in the aggregate, survey participation is associated with increased purchase behaviors. Whereas selective customer response could be responsible for some of this correlation, we conclude that survey participation does cause changes in purchase behavior. On the basis of this conclusion, we investigate the possible differential impact of participating in a firm-sponsored satisfaction survey on (1) services purchases, (2) responsiveness to promotions, (3) interpurchase time, and (4) spending, across customers. We develop a joint model of these four customer behaviors and explicitly examine the role of customer characteristics and store-specific variables in moderating the effects of survey participation. We also study how these effects change over time. The data used for the analysis come from a longitudinal field study of customer satisfaction conducted by a U.S. automotive services firm. It contains two groups of customers. One group was administered a customer satisfaction survey and the other was not. Our results reveal a substantial positive relationship between satisfaction survey participation and all the customer behaviors studied. Assuming a causal relationship, we also find the effects of satisfaction survey participation to vary across customers and stores, and over time.