PrepTest 148, Section 3, Question 11
Businesses frequently use customer surveys in an attempt(62 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(30 more words not shown)
- AWhen one business(11 more words not shown)
- BSome businesses routinely(3 more words not shown)
- CMost businesses of(18 more words not shown)
- DCustomers who complete(13 more words not shown)
- ESome of the(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why would asking customers what they want make profits fall?
We know survey use went along with declining profits. That doesn't establish that the surveys caused the decline. Perhaps they had nothing to do with it. Still, I can imagine a way following customer feedback might hurt profits: customers might ask for free products or much lower prices. Giving customers everything they want isn't necessarily good for the business.
What we’re looking for
That's one possibility to investigate on this explanation question. We need to account for the different profit patterns, not simply assume that an attempt to improve sales must succeed.
Working the answers
- A
Competition could explain why one business's gains accompany another's losses. But which businesses used surveys, and why would that put them on the losing side? A doesn't connect competition to the particular difference we're trying to explain.
- B
Routine survey use tells us that surveys aren't unusual for some businesses. It doesn't explain why most survey users in the study lost profits while most nonusers didn't. Frequency of use isn't the missing connection to the outcome.
- CCorrect
Customer complaints help explain why these businesses were using surveys. The surveys may be a response to an existing problem that also hurts profits, rather than the cause of that problem. A business whose customers are unhappy has a reason to seek feedback and may also be losing sales. This gives us a difference between the groups that the study's initial description leaves out. It doesn't show surveys are useless or that every complaint reflects a bad product; it explains why survey users could already be in worse circumstances.
- D
Inaccurate answers might make a survey less useful, but we would need more to explain declining profits. Did the companies act on those answers? Did the resulting decisions hurt them? Merely knowing that responses aren't always accurate doesn't establish that chain or explain why the nonsurvey businesses fared better.
- E
Ignoring the results could explain why a survey failed to improve a business. But failing to gain a benefit isn't the same as suffering a decline. The answer also concerns only some survey users. It doesn't tell us why profits fell at most businesses using surveys while most nonusers avoided that decline.
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