Yup. This all boils down to NPS.
NPS is that 1-10 star system they use. No matter what you think it means, like 5 being average or 8 being good, it doesn't matter. NPS and companies use it as:
- 1-6 - "Detractor" - the employee was absolute shit and should be reprimanded
- 7-8 - "Passive" - the employee did not go above and beyond
- 9-10 - "Promoter" - the employee did okay
Raises are usually 3-5% only if your NPS average is above 9.
That is it, it does not mean what you think it means, that is how corporate views it. 10/10 does not mean they went above and beyond and I had the best experience, because to corporate 10/10 "iS HoW EvErY cUsToMeR ShOuLd fEeL" even though we all know that's impossible. If it's not 10/10 then they did a shit job.
Also note NPS does NOT mean if your issue was solved or how the company is doing. It is purely how you rate that specific human being. Anything against the company the managers will put directly on that person's head. Literal conversation with my manager went "but they're just mad that they didn't get free product", "well you should have turned that around to make it a 10/10 experience"
For example, if you call Comcast because they added a new fee to your account and you get "Terry" on the phone, she'll probably tell you there is nothing she can do (because they give her zero power to do anything about it) and that she's sorry for the experience. This is probably her job, to talk to angry customers, her job is to soothe you over, not to give away money. So you get the survey after the fact and you give them all 1/10 stars because you're mad at Comcast, and rightfully so. Except you weren't rating Comcast, you were rating Terry, and that will come up on her review that she didn't perform her job well enough because you were still angry. Terry won't be getting a raise this year, and you'll still have your fees.
Example 2, you go into Best Buy and you are just looking for a simple cable, say a phone charger or something. "Paul" comes over and you're like "Oh I just need a USB-C charger" and he's like sure thing, right here, and you're like great! He helps you check out even. Best Buy sends a survey and you're like eh what the hell, 7/10, it was a pretty good experience. Wrong, Paul is talked to by his manager in his review on "Why didn't this customer leave feeling like a 10/10?", "Paul, we need to talk to you about why you aren't meeting our customer satisfaction targets."
Oh and the comments? No one who can do anything will read them. They'll only be used come review time, and positive ones will be skimmed while negative ones will be picked apart.
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk and reading this far. tldr - those surveys are more nefarious than you think, and corporate big wigs think they have all of us summed up in a 10 star system.