Comments on: How did you hear about us?

By: David Hamill

David Hamill — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:11:43 +0000

Hi Barbara, the answer is in the blog post but firstly I’d be wary about considering that someone is converted just because they are in the checkout. They are converted when you have their money and not before. As mentioned in the post, the information you get back from the question is unreliable, so why ask it?

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:57:10 +0000

I’ve read all the above with interest as I’m wishing to determine which hard copy advertising is working best with a view to limiting all others quite dramatically. We would like to include a HDYHAU question but only on the contact details page of our website checkout. Thus it is the converted customer who is being asked the question. How did this fit do you think? I don’t want to do a major advertising “chop” just because our manual test and measure sywho actually come to us online without taking advantage of offers.

By: David Hamill

David Hamill — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:29:24 +0000

Hi Elizabeth. The results are likely to be highly inaccurate as many people just choose an option at random. So it actually misinforms you about the effectiveness of your campaigns.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:53:49 +0000

I 100% agree with keeping forms short and sweet, I myself will not fill a form in if it looks too time consuming.

However I think the point of measuring the success of marketing campaigns is missed from your article….it is essential to ask this question in order to understand the effectiveness of your campaigns.

By: Aaron Dwyer

Aaron Dwyer — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:50:43 +0000

Great post, well I ask this question on one of my software products trial signup form. I figure if they want the software they should answer the _optional_ question where did you hear of the software. I track each signup and tally the info. It’s surprisingly accurate, however there are some that refuse to give an answer. For which I want to recind their free trial.

However I totally agree with you in that it should not be used unless totally necessary, since it will only reduce response.

Aaron

By: Brian Davis

Brian Davis — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:06:03 +0000

nice article. browsing more of your blog posts now. PS i ‘heard about you’ by Google Searching “How did you hear about us” i was hoping to find a shorter phrase to put in front of the input text field. instead i found a compelling article that makes me want to remove it all together.

By: Wayne Ali

Wayne Ali — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:17:49 +0000

Well, what a great opinion altering post!!!!

I was going to have a small drop down on each of my inventory pages within my store asking this very question, “where did you hear about us?”. But, on concideration I shall give it a miss – on thinking about it, I already have Google Analytics set up in store so with a couple of mouse clicks I could find this information out without needing to bother my customers.

I would say though that if it was necessary to have a “Where did you……?”, keep it as a simple multiple choice drop down, I know myself that the less typing I can get away with when filling in a form, the better.

By: BowIT_Charlie

BowIT_Charlie — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:42:23 +0000

Very insightful, I agree with keeping the form slim (I am a self confessed first option chooser in these circumstances!) but sadly……I know my client just won’t get it:-(
Brief option list it is for me then….now back to the spec.

By: J

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:25:41 +0000

What a great article, I’ve just been speaking to a client about leaving out this field on a ‘contact us’ form.

I have sent him a link to this page.

Thanks

By: flatfeet

flatfeet — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:39:53 +0000

I find the question ‘how did you hear about us?’ as annoying as music on a website. If filling the form is not a matter of life and death, I simply abandon the form. If I really need to fill the form, I lie – what are they going to do me, deny me the service for which I have paid and deserve not be treated like or handled by a moron?