Listening to customers

Back when I was in Product Management I used surveys to gather feedback from beta testers. Given how valuable (and appreciated) the feedback could be, I now make a point to participate in surveys when asked. Unfortunately, even something as simple as a survey doesn't always go as planned. Here's what I was greeted with yesterday during an attempt to provide feedback:

Pretty awesome, huh?

I had better luck loading the page today. However, after spending a few minutes filling out a survey, guess which button didn't work?

I generally expect only a very small percentage of customers to fill-out surveys, so the reliability of the survey service is of utmost importance. In this case, I hope that web metrics can be used to track how many customers started the survey vs. how many completed the task. [NOTE: If you're designing surveys, tracking abandonment points during the survey process can also give you an idea whether your surveys are too long or asking the wrong questions.]