You may have noticed that we have an unconventional approach to most everything. We cruise the streets in orange jumpsuits. We often travel with rubber chickens in our luggage. And we don’t subscribe to the standard rating scale of 1 to 10. You know the one, it might go something like this: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most positive, how would you rate your overall experience at The Door to Hell?
Instead of the conventional 1 to 10, we created a superior ranking system of 1 to 6 for four reasons:
Disassociates Percentages
The 1 to 10 system triggers preconceived associations with the traditional grading used by schools. Unless your teacher graded on curve, Americans usually associate a 9 or 10 (which translates in our minds to 90 to 100 percent) with an “A.”
Thus, as we move down the scale, an 8 (80 percent) is a “B,” a 7 (70 percent) is a “C,” a 6 (60 percent) is a “D” and 5 (50 percent) is a failing grade. Because of these easy-to-calculate percentages and how we associate those five numbers with grades, the 1 to 10 rating system gets skewed toward the top numbers. What’s the point of using the numbers below five if 50 percent already seems like failure? (Unless, of course, you’re rating United Airlines.)
Minimizes Gray
There’s a lot of gray area in the standard scale of 1 to 10. Is there really much difference between a 5 or a 6? A shorter scale gives each number real weight, pinpointing accuracy and diminishing the ambiguity of broad-scale fuzziness.
Greener
From the Olympics to “Dancing with the Stars,” judging panels use the traditional 1 to 10 scale. But if everyone adopted The Go Game scale, there would be 40 percent fewer placards and paddles printed for every judging panel. That’s a significant savings in resources.
Un-Boring
It’s tough to make surveys exciting, but changing up the routine will help the people you survey to think differently about their answers, and perhaps their responses will be less rote.
What do you need to survey next? Employee engagement? Professional development? Customer satisfaction? Company culture? This is our little gift to you.