Do Grocery Store Surveys Make a Difference?

Nearly every big grocery chain now prints a survey invitation on the receipt. It's fair to wonder whether anyone reads the answers. Here's what two real examples show, and when a survey is the wrong tool.

Two surveys, side by side

• Kroger family stores (Kroger, Ralphs, King Soopers, Fred Meyer and others): the address on your receipt, like kroger.com/feedback or ralphs.com/feedback, leads to one Customer Satisfaction Survey. You enter the Entry ID or your visit date and time. The reward is a 50 Point bonus, limited to one per 7 days. There are separate grocery and pharmacy versions.
• Harris Teeter: its own survey, at harristeeter.com/feedback. You enter the Entry ID exactly as printed on the receipt, and you have to be 18 or older to be eligible for the sweepstakes.

What the design tells you

Both surveys start from a code on your receipt or a visit date and time. That ties the answers to one store on one day, which is what makes the results useful for a specific location. The one-bonus-per-week limit also stops people from filling out surveys just for the reward.

What the reward is actually worth

Kroger says 100 Points takes $1 off groceries, or 10 cents off each gallon of fuel. So the 50 Point bonus is worth:

• 50 cents off groceries, or
• 5 cents a gallon, which comes to $1.75 on a 35 gallon fill-up.

Points expire on the last day of the month after you earn them, so use them soon.

Do surveys make a difference?

For one shopper's problem, usually not much. A survey is built to measure many visits together. It won't fix your bad checkout experience the way a manager or the customer care line can. Where surveys help is in the pattern: if a lot of people mention the same problem at one store, that's hard to ignore.

Neither Kroger nor Harris Teeter publishes a list of changes that came from survey results, so we can't point to specific examples. The honest answer is that they probably help most when comments are specific and recent.

When to skip the survey

• You need a refund, a charge fixed or a coupon honored. Use chat or phone instead.
• You have a safety concern. Tell the store manager right away.
• It's a pharmacy problem. Use the pharmacy survey or call the pharmacy.

When it's worth five minutes

If your visit went well or badly in a way you can describe, and you'd like the Points bonus, the survey is a fine use of a few minutes. Give the store, the day and the department. For details on entering, see our Kroger feedback survey guide, and for what happens next, see how Kroger uses feedback.

Sources: Kroger's Customer Satisfaction Survey page and survey form, Kroger's Points Program FAQ, and Harris Teeter's survey page. Kroger Fan is an independent site and is not affiliated with Kroger. Rules, prices and offers change and can vary by store, so check Kroger.com or the app for the latest.