Author Topic: iStock surveying buyers again... (Read 7032 times)

jamirae · « **on:** May 08, 2012, 16:01 »

anybody else get one of these invitations to complete a buyer survey? I haven't done the survey yet, but probably will later when I have 10-12 minutes to spare.

Seems a little bit of "too little, too late" if you ask me.

here's the text from the email:

Quote

We <3 you (that's a heart emoticon in case no one's ever sent you one) and what you do with images.

Now maybe you've been going somewhere other than iStock for images; could you take 10-12 minutes, tell us what you see in these other companies and give us the chance to fix things between us?

We just want you to be happy and if that means we have to change, by gum, that's what we'll do. So please, tell us how we compare to others and we swear, this one's dedicated to you!

unique link to survey removed

Thanks for your participation! Love,
The iStock Customer Research Team

gostwyck · « **Reply #1 on:** May 08, 2012, 16:14 »

Interesting. As if they have no idea what the issues are. They only have to read their own forums. They could make a good start by reinstating the original commission structure. Their most loyal buyers were often their own contributors __ and they tried to screw them both ways. That was a bad, bad business decision.

Karimala · « **Reply #2 on:** May 08, 2012, 16:35 »

Love, huh?

lisafx · « **Reply #3 on:** May 08, 2012, 16:36 »

Having a site that works consistently would be a good start. Not raising prices 3 times in 6th months would be another important issue. But they know this already.

click_click · « **Reply #4 on:** May 08, 2012, 16:48 »

A man goes to a bar, walks up to a woman and asks her: Please have sex with me right now.

I think I haven't seen a more desperate attempt of a company (to try) to find out why buyers are shopping elsewhere.

This is so sad.

Initially I thought this was a joke but I assume it's for real.

click_click · « **Reply #5 on:** May 08, 2012, 16:49 »

Oh... and the mature way of communicating with their customers just blows me away - unless their main customer base are third graders...

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #6 on:** May 08, 2012, 17:04 »

Sigh.

jsnover · « **Reply #7 on:** May 08, 2012, 17:12 »

So did you take the survey Jami? I didn't get the e-mail, but then I've only ever had promotional credits, vs. any purchased ones, in my account.

click_click · « **Reply #8 on:** May 08, 2012, 17:24 »

Quote from: lisafx on May 08, 2012, 16:36

Having a site that works consistently would be a good start. Not raising prices 3 times in 6th months would be another important issue. But they know this already.

Do they?

Karimala · « **Reply #9 on:** May 08, 2012, 17:30 »

Quote from: click_click on May 08, 2012, 16:48

A man goes to a bar, walks up to a woman and asks her: Please have sex with me right now.

I think I haven't seen a more desperate attempt of a company (to try) to find out why buyers are shopping elsewhere.

This is so sad.

Initially I thought this was a joke but I assume it's for real.

LOL It also reminds me a lot of an abusive relationship where the abuser returns to the abused begging them to take 'em back and promising to change. Yeh, right. They'll be good for a while and then, like clockwork, will go back to their old, abusive ways.

ShadySue · « **Reply #10 on:** May 08, 2012, 17:39 »

What do they expect:
1. Reduce prices
2. Clean up search.
Will they then revoke their recent price hike and trumpet how well they listen to their buyers?

KarenH · « **Reply #11 on:** May 08, 2012, 17:41 »

It will probably do about as much good as their contributor survey did.

kelby · « **Reply #12 on:** May 08, 2012, 17:42 »

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #13 on:** May 08, 2012, 18:05 »

That invitation must be for people who haven't made a purchase in a long time, surely? I got an email the other day saying something like 'come back to adwords, spend 10 pounds and we'll give you 100'. Now that's an idea for you istock.

Fran · « **Reply #14 on:** May 08, 2012, 18:24 »

Inspired marketing move.

Eireann · « **Reply #15 on:** May 08, 2012, 18:46 »

Aww, they're so cute.
I wonder who writes this stuff for IS? The Pink Fairy?
And I wonder, will they be sending this email to Caspixel?
Perhaps together with an apology for the way they treated her?
In any case, I haven't used IStock in ages, but this is what I want:
- back to 20% commission minimum for independents
- 0.30 cent/sale ThinkStock
- do away with RC system, be fair and keep your canister promises
- do away with complicated CV searches
- stop clogging searches with expensive but mediocre files
- diversify the collection. It's getting thinner and thinner ...
XOXO IStock.
Forever hearts.

jamirae · « **Reply #16 on:** May 08, 2012, 18:53 »

haven't taken the survey yet.. been busy trying to hack some javascript code and learning everythign I never wanted to know about javascript and HTML forms along the way.. lol!

I may take it tonite, we'll see.

when I do, though, I'll take notes on the questions and let you all know the kinds of things they are asking. And maybe I did get it becuase I have a seller account and a contributor account. I haven't bought anything from the seller account in ages and don't intend to, either. I'm one of those that was loyal to them when they were loyal to me. obviously that is no longer the case.

gostwyck · « **Reply #17 on:** May 08, 2012, 19:21 »

Quote from: jamirae on May 08, 2012, 18:53

I'm one of those that was loyal to them when they were loyal to me. obviously that is no longer the case.

That's all the information they need to absorb __ if it weren't obvious enough.

Istock couldn't have done a worse job over the last 20 months or so if they were hell-bent on sabotaging their own own business. It was the easiest business in the world to run. My cat could have done a better job as COO __ literally __ even though he died a couple of years back. That's how little needed to be actually done to ensure it's continued success. Despite all that they really did manage to break it. Amazing.

Mantis · « **Reply #18 on:** May 08, 2012, 19:32 »

Quote from: click_click on May 08, 2012, 16:49

Oh... and the mature way of communicating with their customers just blows me away - unless their main customer base are third graders...

I was think the same thing. How about a seriously toned email? All this does in my opinion is make it laughable with no intention to use the data other than celebrate the 1% of good feedback they might get from it.

helix7 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 08, 2012, 19:57 »

Guess they didn't like the results of the previous survey, so they're doing another one hoping the outcome might be different.

cclapper · « **Reply #20 on:** May 08, 2012, 21:34 »

by gum, what on earth possessed them to use that saying in a business email? yikes.

Elenathewise · « **Reply #21 on:** May 08, 2012, 22:19 »

This can't be real. Why are they talking to customers like they are five year olds? I guess their idea of fixing things is to insult people's intelligence...

helix7 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 08, 2012, 22:49 »

Quote from: Elenathewise on May 08, 2012, 22:19

This can't be real. Why are they talking to customers like they are five year olds?...

I think it's an attempt to sound young and hip and quirky. Which istock was, at one time. Today, they're far from it. You can't pretend to be this small, hip, quirky company while you're owned by a behemoth and act like one, squeezing ever additional dollar out of your customers that you can.

Funny related story:

I was on the phone with a client today and we got to talking about stock. He asks if I still sell at istock, and I tell him I do, but far less than I used to and don't upload there anymore. He says, "Well Getty is taking over, right?" I ask what he means. He says, "There's all of these Getty images on there now, $100 images. That's Getty stuff, right? Getty owns istock. They're moving their stuff over to istock."

How's that for buyer perception of the company today. istock is trying to remain istock and still act like that quirky little company, but to buyers, istock is becoming high-priced Getty.

lagereek · « **Reply #23 on:** May 08, 2012, 23:41 »

Jeez! a bit late in the day, isnt it? maybe two years back. Having a site, search, CV, and not a million collections, would ofcourse be a good start. Oh yes, nearly forgot, looking after your life-support, namely the contributors wouldnt be a bad idea.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #24 on:** May 09, 2012, 00:29 »

I'd think it was a spoof if I hadn't seen the cr@p they spout at people. The funniest bit is that after the uber-hip intro they then use "by gum", which hasn't been hips since before hips evolved.

But, by Jove, I think it's spiffing of them to inquire of the hoi polloi, what? Presuming, that is, that this isn't some cad's merry jape. What bricks they are!