Customer satisfaction is a driving force in sales. Research shows that a customer who is emotionally invested in your brand is three times more likely to make a repeat purchase or to recommend a product or service to their network. To guarantee that you are providing your customers with a product or service they truly enjoy, you first need to know what they think about your business. This is where a customer feedback survey enters the equation.
Customer feedback surveys allow you to ask questions that can fundamentally improve the customer experience. There is sometimes a misconception that user input is only important to marketers or cx (customer experience) specialists, but this isn’t true.
Customer or user feedback is most efficient when it permeates the entire organisation. When creating a customer feedback strategy, make sure that you implement these kinds of surveys at calculated points in your customer journey – from the first visit to your website to the delivery notification of a product.
This way you can identify your business’s strong points, development areas and urgent issues – all things needed to improve and maintain customer satisfaction.
In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know to get your customer feedback survey started – from best practices to question examples and templates. This is what we’ll cover:
- What is a customer feedback survey?
- What are the best practices for customer feedback surveys?
- What types of customer feedback surveys are there?
- What are good customer feedback survey questions?
- How do I create a customer feedback survey?
Ready? Let’s go.
What is a customer feedback survey?
A customer feedback survey is a questionnaire aiming to collect thoughts, feelings and input from your customers. Pretty easy, right?
Traditionally, the word ‘survey’ has been used to describe longer questionnaires either sent via email, conducted over the phone or in person. However, nowadays the word is being used interchangeably with any kind of questionnaire targeted to customers.
As mentioned, these surveys can be both digital and physical, but because our expertise lies in improving digital customer experiences, that’s what this article will focus on primarily.
An example of a customer feedback survey from Randstad.
What are the best practices for customer feedback surveys?
There are many different kinds of customer feedback surveys. This means that best practices can differ, depending on what you are trying to achieve with your particular questionnaire.
However, these are three guidelines that are always good keep in mind, no matter what kind of survey you are conducting:
- Define your goals: If you’ve read any of our previous blogs, chances are that you have seen this tip before – it’s fundamental to the success of your survey. Defining goals is important as it helps you determine what to ask and where. It also assists you in what actions to take after your survey has been completed..
- Choose the right channel: The ideal spot for your survey depends on your goals and what you are asking. If you are researching something about your website (like performance, bugs, overall content etc.), it’s best to conduct your customer feedback survey on your website. Other surveys, like satisfaction after a purchase, could for example be more suitable via email or in a potential app..
- Make your survey short and clear: Listen. No one wants to answer a survey that is 20 questions long. Make sure that your questionnaire is as short as possible and that your questions are clear and easy to answer. That way you are improving your chances for a good response rate.
What types of customer feedback surveys are there?
There are tons of customer feedback surveys. Some are more popular than others, but they all serve their purpose. The most common ones are:
- Customer Satisfaction surveys (CSAT)
- Net Promoter Score Surveys (NPS)
- Customer Effort Score Surveys (CES)
Let’s quickly go through what these surveys are and when to use them. We’ll even throw in some nice templates and examples for you.
Customer satisfaction survey
CSAT surveys measure a business’s general customer satisfaction. These kinds of surveys are beneficial to help you assess how well your product or service is resonating with your target audience.
A customer satisfaction survey is conducted by asking your customers to rate their experience. Typically, you would ask something like ‘How satisfied are you with our [products, services or experience]’. There are a number of different scales you can use for your survey, including Likert Scales, Stars or Smileys. It’s all up to your preference.
But where should I place my CSAT survey?
Glad you asked! There are various suitable moments. After a purchase or an interaction, like with a customer service agent, are common times to ask for this kind of feedback as your customers have an experience fresh in mind. It is also not uncommon to place a feedback button on your website with a CSAT survey available at all times.
A customer satisfaction survey from DHL.
NPS survey
A Net Promoter Score Survey (or NPS survey, as it’s more commonly known) measures customer loyalty. It’s a great way to learn who your promoters are, i.e. the people who will hype your business and spread the word to their network. However, NPS surveys also help you identify your detractors. These are customers who are deeply dissatisfied and would go out of their way to talk badly about your business.
Identifying both of these groups is beneficial in its own way. Promoters can help you spread word of mouth – one of the most important pillars in building brand trust. Increase your conversion by giving your Promoters an incentive to spread the word about your business or for repeat purchases (like a discount or voucher).
Equally important; reaching out to your detractors can turn a negative experience into a positive one. Oftentimes, all that is needed is someone who truly listens and cares to make things right.
Typically, NPS surveys are conducted by asking a question like ‘How likely are you to recommend our [product/service/business] to friends and family?’ followed by a scale from 0-10.
It’s important, however, to only send NPS surveys to customers who have already interacted with your brand. As it measures customer loyalty, it won’t be effective if answered by someone who is visiting your website for the first time. The ideal place for a survey like this is after a purchase or delivery.
An example of an NPS survey from Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn.
Translation: How likely are you to recommend ah.nl to an friend or a colleague after the delivery of your last order.
CES survey
A Customer Effort Score measures how much effort it took a customer to complete a certain action related to your business. For example, how easy it is to find information on your website or to complete a purchase.
These surveys are conducted to assess how smooth certain parts of the customer experience are. They help you pinpoint improvement areas and create action plans that lead to elevated customer satisfaction in the long run.
A CES survey is conducted by asking something like ‘How easy was it for you to [insert action here]?’ followed by a scale.
An example of an CES survey from Allianz.
What are good customer feedback survey questions?
So you’ve read through this article and you are ready to create your first survey! But… what to ask? Well, that is the million-dollar question, is it not?
As we’ve discussed in this article, it depends on your goals which is why it’s so important to make a clear plan from the start. What to ask in an NPS survey is drastically different than what you would ask in a CES survey.
That being said, here is a short list of good questions to ask in a customer feedback survey. Just to give your inspiration a kick-start:
- How satisfied are you with our [product/service/brand]? (CSAT)
- How likely are you to recommend our [product/service/brand] to your friends and family? (NPS)
- How easy was it for you to [insert action here]? (CES)
- Did you manage to find what you were looking for today?
- How would you rate this blog/video?
- What is your main goal with visiting our website?
- Where did you first hear about us?
- How can we make our website better?
- Would you like to report a bug?
- How would you describe your experience with us?
- How easy was your checkout experience? (CES)
- How would you rate your experience with our customer service? (CSAT)
Feeling inspired? We hope so! And with this, we’ve come to the last point on this blog. The practical part – ready, set, go!
How do I create a customer feedback survey?
There are different ways to go about this, but the first thing you will need is a customer feedback tool or software. This will help you create surveys and analyse your findings. Of course, every software is unique and creating a survey differs from tool to tool. For the sake of this article, we will show you how you would create a customer feedback survey in Mopinion’s software.
Want to create your survey along with this guide? Start your 14-day free Mopinion trial today.
Step 1: Creating your survey
Once logged into the Mopinion platform, you go to the sidebar and click ‘Data Collection’ followed by ‘Feedback Forms’.
Then click ‘New Form’ and choose where you want to collect feedback – on your website, in your emails or in-app.
For website and app surveys, you can choose if you want to create a standard form or a conversational form. For the sake of this article, we will choose the more traditional, Standard form.
Step 2: Add your questions and logic
Next, you can choose a premade template or create your survey from scratch. Keep in mind that, if you choose a template, you can still edit it to your liking.
Grab and drop the questions you want in your survey and edit the text to suit your needs. This is also where you can add question logic to your form to ensure that certain questions are only visible after a customer has given a specific answer to the previous question.
For example, if you ask:
‘Were you able to find what you were looking for on our website?’
With question logic, you can set up a follow-up question if the customer answers ‘no’. This could say something like:
‘We’re sorry to hear that. What were you trying to find?’
Step 3: Design your survey
Once you’ve added your questions and logic, click the ‘Design’ tab. Here you can either choose one of our premade design themes or make a custom design. Add your company colours and choose how you want your survey to appear.
For example, where should a potential feedback button be placed and where on the screen should your feedback form appear?
Don’t forget to click ‘Save’ once done!
Step 4: Publish your forms!
In Mopinion, you publish your forms by going to ‘Data collection’ in the sidebar navigation and clicking ‘Deployments’. Here you choose how, when and where your forms are visible to your customers.
Either create a new deployment or choose one of your existing ones. Grouping certain forms in the same deployment (for example, by channel or campaign) can make the admin easier. It simply makes your forms easier to find and manage.
Drag the survey you just created to your deployment. When clicking it you can set triggers and conditions to your form. These decide, for example, if the survey should be available via a feedback button or be triggered after a certain condition has been met. Like when the customer indicates that they are about to leave your website (exit-intent) or after having spent a certain amount of time on a page. You can also steer on which URL the form should be visible on and much more.
Once you have completed your settings you’re ready to publish your deployment.
For your forms to show up on your website, you first need to add the deployment with either Google Tag Manager or a HTML snippet. Or with your deployment ID if you are creating an in-app survey. You can read more about how to install these here:
- Website: Google Tag Manager
- Website: HTML Snippet
- In-app: Deployment ID
All done! Your customer feedback survey is now live and ready.
Get started – Unlock new insights with customer feedback!
Mopinion is the #1 feedback software for web, app and email. We aim to help businesses and organisations improve their digital experience through customer feedback. At Mopinion you’ll find everything you need to complete the feedback loop – from creating highly customised feedback forms and gathering responses to effective analysis with features like Smart Recaps and Direct Insights.
Ready to see Mopinion in action?
Want to learn more about Mopinion’s all-in-1 user feedback platform? Don’t be shy and take our software for a spin! Do you prefer it a bit more personal? Just book a demo. One of our feedback pro’s will guide you through the software and answer any questions you may have.
