Anyone else get this?
Dear Gmail user,
This is Pamela Huggins from Hagen/Sinclair Research Recruiting, contacting you on behalf of Google.
Google is curious to know what Gmail users have to say about their experiences with Gmail. Therefore, we are sending you this one-time email invitation to participate in a paying market research discussion about Gmail.
We invite qualified Gmail users to attend a 90-minute focus group scheduled in St. Louis on Wednesday, July 13. Participants will receive a cash honorarium at the conclusion of the group to thank them for their time and input.
Because Google respects your privacy and wants to maintain a low marketing profile with its users, this invitation will not be repeated. Also, no sales contacts will result from participation in the research.
If you would like to take part in a discussion, please reply to this email, answering the questions below. We will only contact you a second time if you reply to this email indicating your interest, and are qualified to participate in the focus group.
Update: I did the questionaire…still haven’t heard anything.
Update: It’s ligit…I emailed Gmail abuse and got the following:
Hello,
Thank you for your message.
The message you refer to was sent by Google, we encourage you to inform us
about how we are doing.We hope you enjoy Google’s approach to email.
Sincerely,
The Gmail Team
June 24, 2005 at 9:23 am
I didn’t get that message…. maybe it’s one of those marketing things where they only ask a random bunch of people to participate. monetary compensation sounds good. i wish i would get those kind of deals!
June 27, 2005 at 7:20 am
Hi. I got this email over the weekend, too. I googled “Pamela…Recruiting” and got your blog, so I’m sorry if intruding.
I can’t really find any other information on the meeting, and, due to excessive bouts of paranoia, I’m a little skeptical about sending my information to a research group. I guess your post helps legitimize the event a little more, though.
June 27, 2005 at 9:48 am
I also got the exact same message. The fact that this is a “recruiting” group makes me a bit skeptical that their only motive is to run a survey about google. I’m wondering if they used google to find St. Louis people and then invited them to a seminar where they’ll pitch something or another.
I’m still undecided if I want to reply or not.
June 27, 2005 at 11:16 am
I also got the message. I live no where near St. Lewis. Perhaps because I’m sleep deprived, I didn’t think twice about taking the survey, until after I sent it and really looked at who it was from. This is the only website that I found, quoting it. I’ll let you know If I hear anything.
June 27, 2005 at 2:07 pm
Just got it myself. Also too paranoid to respond.
I feel if Google were really sponsoring this research, there’d be a link to a page on their site verifying the validity of the request.
June 29, 2005 at 10:16 am
I just want to know how much the honorarium is…
July 14, 2005 at 4:39 pm
i got it too and i live in ny. it said i get 100 bucks to go to a focus group in NYC. i think its bullshit. the website looks very unprofessional. also i dont think google would do this sort of thing. it probably a scam….dont trust them