To get a compliment, would make my day!

We have now asked our panel members in the Nordics and Ireland whether or not they give compliments to strangers and how they would feel if a stranger gave them a compliment. Read the article to find out more!

Not surprisingly, the majority of Userneeds' panel members enjoy getting a compliment. From 40 percent in Finland to 76 percent in Sweden, the panel members have chosen "It would make my day", when asked how they would feel if a stranger gave them a compliment. Only in Finland have more people, i.e. 45 percent, chosen the answer "I would feel embarrassed".

Some of our Irish panel members are also not completely comfortable with receiving compliments from strangers and thus 13 percent say they would feel embarrassed. In Denmark and Norway respectively 4 and 7 percent have chosen this option, whereas only 1 percent of our Swedish panel members claim they would feel embarrassed if a stranger walked up to them and gave them a compliment.

Instead of feeling embarrassed, however, 10 percent in Sweden would feel uncomfortable. The same goes for 16 percent in Ireland, whereas neither the Danes, Finns or Norwegians seem to be uncomfortable with receiving compliments (3-6 percent). 

The interesting part here is that while the majority in all the countries, except for Finland, say that it would make their day to receive a compliment, very few actually compliment strangers themselves. The results from a previous quick poll asking whether or not people give compliments to strangers show, that on average less than two percent give compliments all the time and just about 5 percent of all the panel members who participated, give compliments to strangers very often.