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Apple surveys Apple Watch customers to see if try-on appointments lead to sales

Apple is taking a different approach to pre-orders and sales for Apple Watch, which has a lot to do with the product being Apple’s first fashion accessory. For that reason, many customers will actually want to try the Apple Watch on in person before making the purchase. To get a feel for the new try-on experience — Apple started letting customers schedule appointments to try-on the device in-stores on April 10 — the company is surveying customers afterwards to get feedback and see if they plan on purchasing the device.

The seven question survey gauges how likely customers are to recommend the try-on experience to friends or family, and asks for feedback on the overall experience. It also asks if customers are interested in purchasing a Watch after their try-on appointment, what iPhone they own, as well as their gender and age.

Estimates claimed Apple could have received as many as 1 million Apple Watch pre-orders on the first day of online orders in the US, but Apple has not yet disclosed any official numbers.

Customers can schedule try-on appointments now ahead of the Apple Watch’s April 24th launch, but sales of the device will be limited to online orders for now and ship times for many models are stretching into June.

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Comments

  1. Leif Paul Ashley - 9 years ago

    Actually my sale led to a try on appointment lol

    • drhalftone - 9 years ago

      I thinking having watches available for purchase, and not on backorder, would lead people to purchase a watch. Not having watches available of purchase is going to skew these results substantially.

  2. Josh Koterba - 9 years ago

    I would be willing to bet that most try ons are the other way around, the sale led to a try on.

    • bellevueboy - 9 years ago

      I would agree, that’s at least what I did. I wont be surprised if the scale of try ons dwindle over time. I was already firm on buying. I don’t really see people having an aha moment at the try on unless there is an amazon like dash button which could lead to impulse buying(and returns later).

  3. Joe Dowdell - 9 years ago

    I had already ordered so I could get one before June, but wanted to go try them out to see which size to cancel and see which bands I want to add on. Unfortunately, the try-on process wasn’t very pleasant for me. The guy had a couple random watches for me to pick from, none of them were really the combination I wanted to try, and it seemed like he was unable to grab any other. “This is what I have.” And I couldn’t swap the bands either. He told me they were fixed. I doubt they were. Plus he was pretty clueless about them in general. I asked a question about a concern I had on one band and he just goes, “Oh I’m sure they engineer them and test them pretty well.” That doesn’t really answer my question. Anyway, I tried a couple random ones, not the one I ordered because he didn’t have it, and then I realize there’s a demo area where you can play with a working demo, or be shown it? The sales guy didn’t even mention they had a demo. Was he supposed to show it to me? Do I wait in a separate line? I ended up just crowding around some other group, but it didn’t seem very well planned at all.

    • vandy75 - 9 years ago

      It was not the “Cartier” experience! Somebody get Angela on the phone…tell her…the supercilious approach is NOT the Apple customer! We enjoy being customers instead of clients. LOL

      • bellevueboy - 9 years ago

        Agree. Let those geniuses pretend to be geniuses and speak the techno talk and not wipe watch screens. Apple products sell themselves, I don’t need someone to tell me the straps that look good on me…because I already know it. Please let us not convert Apple stores to high end clothing stores.

  4. vandy75 - 9 years ago

    This process was ignorance personified. Try on my rear. There wasn’t the opportunity to combine straps and watches as you might wish. There wasn’t a dedicated array to see only what you may have had in your favorites. The information imparted was ofttimes inaccurate. In short, this felt like a Burberry person’s process in an Apple environment. It sucked.

  5. darkenv2 - 9 years ago

    I’d already preordered mine before I did the try-on appointment. But it definitely got me more pumped to get my watch lol

    • bellevueboy - 9 years ago

      Exactly, unfortunately more for the strap than the watch itself for me. The watches were not operational but what I loved was ability to try on sizes. I eventually ordered something completely different from what I had planned …version, size and belt.

  6. chasem13 - 9 years ago

    Experiences seem to vary by store. At my try on the employee I was with seemed knowledgeable enough. He was also willing to change bands and even size the steel band to fit my wrist (at his suggestion – I didn’t ask, having read they wouldn’t allow it).

    Overall it was a very good experience.

    • bellevueboy - 9 years ago

      Yeah mine was flexible too.

    • vandy75 - 9 years ago

      You should have played the lotto that day. I do t know of and haven’t read of anyone with an experience like that. I think it’s great only wish it were common. You should send up a compliment on that particular employee

  7. jackdtomlinson - 9 years ago

    I was very disapointed with my try on appointment. The employee had no eagerness to sell me the product, had no enthusiasm about what she was doing and lacked any sort of product knowledge. I was very disheartening as an Apple Fan and It has seriously made me doubt whether pre-ordering the Apple Watch the right thing to do. I can only wonder what she was doing during the training sessions.

    • Harald Gaerttner - 9 years ago

      Seems we had the same employee or she has a twin ;-)
      But had a second appointment which was great, infomative and fun (just no band change)

      So your milage varies a lot.

      Still trying to figure out if the milanese loop goes well with the space grey sport (design wise).
      Was unimpressed by the leather loop (my first accessory choice) but fell in love with the milanese loop.

      • jackdtomlinson - 9 years ago

        Sounds like we did, I think I shall book another appointment to improve my perceptions.

        I think that sounds like a great combination, I went for the black sport band, but will be looking to possibly add the link bracelet in the future, as I just love the clasp mechanism on watches.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.