If you’re reading this, odds are you’re probably already collecting customer feedback on your website(s) and mobile app(s). You understand the value this feedback provides and you want to take it one step further and implement it into your email campaigns. The question is, how? Crafting effective email feedback surveys isn’t always as straightforward as it may seem. There are lots of different ways to collect feedback within your emails depending on your goal and of course, the purpose of the email. To simplify the survey creation process for you, we’ve outlined 5 customer feedback email templates that are not only popular but also effective.
But first let’s dive into why feedback for email is so critical to your success.
Why is email feedback so important?
Email feedback plays an important role in customer-centricity. By collecting feedback within your email campaigns, you are providing a platform for two-way communication with your customers where they can share their thoughts and perceptions of your email(s) and the information you’ve provided. In other words, you as a marketer gain insight into what your readers truly value.
From promo campaigns, confirmation emails and newsletters to post-purchase drip and re-engagement campaigns. It can be a challenge to meet your customers’ needs if you’re not in tune with them. Email Feedback enables your team to deliver powerful email campaigns that sit well with your audience.
Optimise your email campaigns with email feedback
Drive conversions, engage with your audience and create a meaningful customer experience by email.
5 Effective customer feedback email templates
Let’s take a look at these templates one-by-one:
- Customer Feedback Email Template 1: Newsletters
- Customer Feedback Email Template 2: Service Emails
- Customer Feedback Email Template 3: Post-purchase Emails
- Customer Feedback Email Template 4: Post-interaction Emails
- Customer Feedback Email Template 5: Email Survey Invites
Customer Feedback Email Template 1: Newsletters
Newsletters are a great medium for initiatives like boosting awareness, getting more business from existing customers, educating prospects, building up your contact list, driving traffic, adding value to your products and services and much more. But they won’t do any of these things if the content isn’t concise or engaging for your audience.
Email feedback can be a great way of testing your uncertainties about your newsletter(s). It gives your customers a chance to share their thoughts and perceptions of your email and the information included.
With newsletter feedback, a simple embedded survey with thumbs up / thumbs down is ideal. This is a quick and easy way for your audience to rank the email.
When writing the text for these surveys, be as brief as possible. Keep the question(s) short and to the point. Often the more questions you ask, the fewer responses you’ll receive. If you leave your readers with the option to submit open-ended feedback, however, you are more likely to receive a more detailed response.
This is a great example from the online beer shop, Beerwulf, of how a newsletter feedback template can look like:
A great way of collecting further insights in combination with a thumbs up/thumbs down or smiley survey, is to embed the question in the email. Upon clicking the smileys in Beerwulf’s newsletter, you’re redirected to their website where they ask the additional open question that investigates why the readers feel the way they do.
Unsure about how to embed a survey in our email? See our guide How to Embed a Survey in Email + Tips for a step-by-step guide.
Squla sets out to increase newsletter engagement with user feedback
Find out how Squla leverages user feedback to improve digital content within its newsletters.
Customer Feedback Email Template 2: Service Emails
Many organisations send out service emails, which can include details on anything from delivery information, account updates, changes to the website, ticket attachments, etc. These emails can also be used for cross-selling, upselling or introducing new products or service launches. Because these emails are relaying very important information to the audience, it is critical that they are concise and unambiguous.
In practice you could use the same format as the newsletter template above.
Here is an example of a product update email with a slightly different format (a button instead of thumbs):
However, if you want to make your email feedback survey more interactive and really understand your customers’ needs regarding the subject of your email, you can try what is called a conversational feedback survey.
Let’s take a look at an example survey:
And here’s how the conversational survey might look. Mind you, this one is already filled in. When your visitors use a conversational survey, the interaction will appear similar to that of a chatbot.
Customer Feedback Email Template 3: Post-Purchase Emails
Acquisition is good. Retention is better. And that is why the application of post-purchase (or after-sales) emails are so critical for many organisations. Particularly retail and ecommerce. A post-purchase campaign is frankly one of the easiest tactics for improving customer retention. These campaigns consist of a series of emails sent out following a purchase, such as a purchase confirmation, shipping confirmation, and a follow-up after delivery.
One particularly powerful metric to use in these surveys is Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS is a customer loyalty metric that enables organisations to understand how likely it is for a customer to recommend their products / services to a friend or family member.
This example from leading Dutch food produce store, Albert Heijn, is sent after an order has been delivere. In the email, Albert Heijn are asking how likely it is that the customer will recommend the service to a friend:
And here’s what it looks like upon selecting a score. The full survey is displayed on a separate landing page.
Are you getting ready to send out an NPS survey? Read our blog about NPS email best practices: 10 tips and tricks.
Customer Feedback Email Template 4: Post-Interaction Emails
And then of course, there are other industries in which post-interaction emails are of great importance. For example, organisations in the SaaS industry, whereby a follow up email after any sort of customer interaction such as a demo or trial proves beneficial.
Imagine giving a thirty minute demo to a large prospect only to never hear from them again. Your mind will start spinning… Did you forget to explain a certain aspect of your product or service? Was something unclear and therefore the prospect decided not to go with your service, purely out of misunderstanding? Or was your service simply not a good fit for the organisation? These are the questions you will start asking yourself and without feedback, you’ll be left in the dark.
The same goes for an interaction such as the end of a trial. Why didn’t the trial convert? What was missing for the user? Where can you improve or what can you do in order for them to convert?
That being said, you can simply add an email survey to your follow up email, asking the user to rate their experience. The template looks as follows:
And upon selecting a star rating, your visitor would be redirected to:
Customer Feedback Email Template 5: Email Survey Invites
Lastly, we have included a template for email survey invites. This type of email feedback is slightly different from the others in that it is primarily used for more in-depth surveying and/or research purposes. They are great for getting a lot of input from your audience without compromising the quality of an email with a lengthy survey at the end.
Let’s take a look at a template:
Build rapport with your audience through email feedback!
As you can see there are a variety of ways to gather email feedback from your audience; feedback that will not only help you better understand your readers, but also enable you to provide personalised and desirable email content that will be sure to boost survey response rates and engagement levels.
Want to recreate any of the email feedback templates listed above? Then try Mopinion for Email!
Mopinion for Email helps you gain insight into what your audience really values, giving you the means to bring positive change to your email campaigns and services. Understand how your readers perceive your emails and eliminate assumptions when it comes to your email content.
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.
