- Some Walmart managers are trying to get as many customers as possible to take surveys at checkout.
- The study has caused confusion from customers and employees.
- What the survey measures is not always clear to employees or customers.
When you check out at Walmart, a survey pops up on your screen asking you to rate your satisfaction with your visit on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.
It’s a source of confusion and annoyance for Walmart customers and employees.
Some customers took to social media platforms to complain that it was unclear what the survey was meant to measure, especially when asked to rate their satisfaction after the self-checkout experience. ing.
“Do you want me to value my experience?” Chad Pettit said in a video posted to TikTok in May. “Let me know how well you think I did.” Pettit said in her post that she used self-checkout.
Another user, @dexterbear97, said in a video posted in March that a Walmart employee filled out a survey on his behalf.
“When the survey screen comes up, I immediately hit five stars,” he said in the video.
Customers have also complained about the Reddit survey.
“There’s a woman working the self-checkout and as soon as the star appears on the screen she starts breathing down my neck and pounces on me,” the post reads. “She literally held her hand over my shoulder while my receipt was being printed to pick your own 5 stars.”
Two Walmart employees told Insider that the pressure to have each customer fill out a survey came from store managers.
Two employees told Insider that the store will aim for an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. Store managers will receive annual bonuses based on their evaluations.
One employee at a Walmart store in the Southwest told Insider that store managers reminded employees daily to ask customers to fill out surveys.
“If a customer leaves without asking for anything, it means we get five stars anyway,” the employee said.
On Reddit, posters identifying themselves as Walmart employees discuss the pressure to earn five stars, with managers asking them to fill out surveys and stand with customers at the register. It states that
Managers trying to get as many responses to the survey as possible appear to be going against Walmart’s guidelines.
One photo from Walmart’s internal portal for employees. Posted on Reddit Insider confirmed with a current employee that “we don’t need to ask customers to fill out surveys because we get a high volume of responses.”
“Stores may not post custom survey signage, offer incentives, or require customers to complete surveys,” the guidance adds.
Walmart is “always seeking feedback from our customers,” and “5 Stars is one way we do that,” a company spokesperson told Insider. “This is a survey we have conducted over the last few years as a way to gather information about what our customers think about their in-store experience,” the spokesperson added. “This is a simple his one question survey with no follow up.”
A spokesperson said: “Instances where employees are encouraged or feel pressured to respond to surveys are the exception, not the rule. There are many ways you can report.”
Still, some executives are publicly trying to increase survey responses. One Walmart in Georgia allowed the employee with the most completed surveys to throw a pie in the manager’s face.
Caption “Hannah won 39 5-star surveys!” Facebook video Show piing readings. “As expected of you, Hannah!”
Walmart Texas Facebook Video shows an enthusiastic employee standing with co-workers managing a self-checkout kiosk in a store. Before explaining the 5-star survey, the employee gave the self-checkout clerk a high-five and encouraged viewers to fill out the survey.
“So go ahead and give him five stars and give him the push he deserves,” the employee tells viewers.
It’s unclear exactly how customers will react when they complete a 5-star survey. Associates told Insider that because customers don’t have the opportunity to elaborate on their ratings, they can’t tell what needs to be improved.
“That person can’t even say why they’re giving a bad review,” a Southwest employee told Insider. “It makes no sense.”
Do you work at Walmart or Spark and have a story idea you’d like to share? Contact this reporter at abitter@insider.com.