Today I found myself browsing the Quaker Oats Website. I’m adjusting my diet and wanted to look up some nutritional information. Being that I work in the interactive industry, I started browsing the site a bit more because I liked the design of it. The navigation was clear and intuitive, the photos and type were easy to read and visually pleasant. And then it happened…

BLAM!

The “invitation” to take a survey. Except it’s never really an invitation now is it? Now, I want to be fair—marketers have a job to do and surveys can provide valuable data that we need to help market the products and brands we represent. I totally get the business challenge.  But it is a business challenge. The average user doesn’t care about surveys, and brands don’t typically benefit from them because they can be seen as a nuisance.  Still, it’s commonplace and we see this all over the Web, not just the Quaker site.

The problem with surveys is that they create a “disturbance in the flow” not unlike a “disturbance in the force” to quote a bit of popular culture. So we’ve got a marketing, design and experience problem on our hands here. How do we include surveys without disrupting the entire experience. Especially when its’ a good one?  It’s like the equivilent of settling down with a good book or television show only to have someone slam the book shut or stand in front of your screen.

I have a few ideas—maybe a window that floats off to the side, or what if the site could detect mouse movement toward the browser bar and only serve it up to you then (that would indicate you were about to leave). But these are just some initial random thoughts and I know a few smart people read this blog. So what do you think? Is there a way to serve up surveys or polls without disrupting flow?

Written by David Armano