The importance of customer satisfaction for any business cannot be overstated—happy customers mean a happy business. As such, you need to be proactive in gathering and analyzing customer feedback to ensure that you’re on the right track.
Surveys offer an efficient way to get inside the minds of your customers. By asking the right questions in customer satisfaction surveys, you can gain valuable insights into what your customers like and don’t like, which enables you to make informed decisions about how to improve your products and services.
But if you’ve never conducted a feedback survey before, you likely have some questions. You may even feel a bit apprehensive about opening yourself up to all that feedback—we get it. It’s a vulnerable position to put yourself in, but we can assure you that it’s well worth it.
In this article, we will dive into the benefits of conducting customer satisfaction surveys, share the best practices you need to know about, and go over examples of questions you can ask.
Let’s get started.
Why Are Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions Important?
We’ve all heard the phrase, “The customer is always right,” and that may be true, but sometimes getting the customer’s honest feedback is more easily said than done. This is where customer satisfaction survey questions come in handy.
Customer satisfaction survey questions help you understand your customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points. These survey questions can uncover critical information that you can use to improve your products, services, and customer experience. Since you can’t read minds, this is basically the next best thing.
One of the most significant benefits of using surveys to measure customer satisfaction is that they provide you with data-driven insights. By collecting data on specific aspects of your products or services, you can identify areas where you need to improve and adjust your strategies accordingly. For example, if customers consistently report issues with a specific product feature, the business can focus on addressing that issue to improve customer satisfaction. You can’t fix it if you don’t know it’s broken.
Another benefit of using surveys is that they give you deeper insight into your customers’ pain points. By asking specific questions, you can identify the areas in the customer journey where your customers struggle, which can help you develop solutions to address those issues. For example, if customers report difficulties with online ordering, you can focus on improving your online ordering process to remove barriers to purchase.
Customer surveys may even give you inspiration for a completely new product or service that you would have never considered offering otherwise.
Best Practices for Designing Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions
Now, let’s talk best practices. Whether you’ve conducted dozens of surveys before or you’re new to the game, there are a few best practices of which you should be aware. Keep the following tips in mind the next time you design a satisfaction survey.
- Keep clarity in mind. It’s essential to use clear, concise, and unbiased language in your survey questions. This ensures that the respondents understand the questions, and there are no biases that can influence their responses. Furthermore, avoid using technical jargon, complex sentences, and double negatives, as this can result in confused customers and inaccurate answers.
- Avoid leading questions. Leading questions are questions phrased in a way that influences the respondents’ answers, and they can significantly affect a survey’s validity. You want honest answers, even if they aren’t necessarily the answers you were hoping for. To avoid leading respondents, use questions that are neutral and objective, and stay away from extreme language like “always” or “never.”
- Consider using rating systems or scales. These scales can help quantify the responses and provide measurable feedback. Additionally, open-ended questions can yield valuable insights into the customers’ experiences and dissatisfaction.
- Be concise and stay relevant. Always keep your survey length reasonable. Nobody likes a forever-long survey—in fact, customers are much more likely to abandon ship halfway through the survey if they feel like their time is being wasted. Additionally, make sure your questions are relevant to the customer experience. Customers probably aren’t going to answer your questions if the questions don’t feel relevant to them in any way.
- Save time by using the right tools. Not sure how to send your surveys? Podium offers businesses an easy and efficient way to create and distribute surveys via text, a channel that boasts high open rates and is preferred by most customers. It’s easy, saves your team time, and is convenient for your customers.
→ Start sending surveys with Podium. Start a free trial today—it’s risk-free, no strings attached.
19 Examples of Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions to
Asking the right questions is the key to gathering feedback and keeping customers happy, but maybe you’re not sure what to ask. No worries—we did the work for you. Here are 19 examples of questions to ask customers in your next satisfaction survey.
1. Customer Effort Survey Questions
- How easy was it to find the information you were looking for on our website?
- How easy was it to make a purchase on our website?
- How quickly were you able to find a resolution to your issue or question?
- Did our customer service team make it easy for you to resolve your issue?
- How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend based on the effort you had to put in to get what you needed?
2. Product Feedback Survey Questions
- How satisfied are you with the quality of our product/service?
- How likely are you to purchase our product/service again?
- How would you rate your overall experience with our product/service?
- Is there anything we could have done to improve your experience with our product/service?
- How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend?
- How can we improve our products/services to better meet your needs?
3. Brand Experience Survey Questions
- How likely are you to continue using our product/service?
- How likely are you to refer our product/service to a friend/colleague?
- How do you feel about the price of our product/service compared to its value?
- How would you describe your overall experience with our brand?
- How well does our product/service meet your needs and expectations?
- Did our business provide you with a personalized and tailored experience?
- How satisfied were you with the speed and quality of our communication?
- Did our business help you solve your problems in a timely and satisfactory manner?
FAQs
Finally, let’s go over some frequently asked questions to make sure we’ve covered everything.
1. How often should I send out customer satisfaction surveys?
The frequency of your surveys largely depends on the nature of your business and how often your customers interact with your products or services. However, it’s advisable to send out a survey after every major interaction to ensure you capture all critical feedback. For instance, if you run a hair salon, you can send a survey to customers after every appointment. Be careful not to bombard your customers with too many surveys though, as this can be overwhelming and lead to survey fatigue.
2. How many questions should I include in my customer satisfaction survey?
The ideal number of questions for your survey really depends on what you’re trying to achieve. In most cases, it’s best to keep it short and concise, so as not to overwhelm your customers. A good rule of thumb is to limit the number of questions to between 5-10.
3. How do I promote my customer satisfaction survey to my customers?
To get the best participation rates, it’s important to promote your survey to your customers using a variety of channels. Take advantage of channels with high open rates, like text. You can also send an email blast to your customer list, include a survey link in your newsletter or social media posts, or display a QR code in your store.
4. How do I analyze the results of my customer satisfaction survey?
After collecting responses from your survey, analyze the results to identify trends and patterns. You can break down feedback by demographic to better understand how different customer segments are perceiving your business. Focus on the areas with the most negative feedback, and identify areas for improvement.
5. How can I take action on the feedback I receive from my customer satisfaction survey?
Your survey will have been for nothing if you don’t take action based on the responses. If customers are complaining about long wait times, for instance, you might consider hiring more staff to improve wait times. Also, be sure to thank your customers for their feedback and communicate the changes and improvements being made based on their feedback. This demonstrates to your customers that you value their thoughts and are committed to continuously improving their experience with your business.
