Have you ever come across a customer experience survey on a website in or in your inbox after purchasing a product or using a service? These types of online surveys are becoming increasingly common as companies strive to improve their customer experience and gain a competitive edge in the market. In fact, according to SuperOffice, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. So, what exactly are customer experience surveys and why do organisations need them now more than ever?
In this post, we’ll dive into the world of customer experience surveys and explore their purpose and different metrics used to measure CX. We’ll also discuss the benefits of conducting these surveys. But first, let’s define why the customer experience is important and what we mean by customer experience surveys, or CX surveys.
Why is the customer experience so important?
The customer experience (CX) is an important business driver for delivering value and long-term relationships with customers. By offering a smooth and seamless customer experience, your customers are more likely to become repeat customers and advocate for your brand. It is therefore critical that organisations find ways to prioritise and continuously improve their CX. One way to do this is by gathering insights from customers using customer experience surveys.
What is a CX survey?
As Forbes puts it, a customer experience survey is “a tool for measuring customer satisfaction, collecting customer feedback, and understanding customer needs.” These surveys come in many different forms, from simple rating scales to open-ended questions, and can be conducted both passively and actively on digital channels such as websites, mobile apps and within email campaigns.
The goal of these surveys is to gain insight into the customer’s experience with the company (i.e. feelings about brand, products and services) and identify areas for improvement. In turn this will enable your organisation to provide a better, more optimised customer experience.
Why use customer experience surveys?
The purpose of conducting a customer experience survey is to gather customer experience feedback from customers about their experiences with your business online via website, app or email. The survey allows companies to understand what their customers like and dislike about their products, services, and overall interaction with the company.
The survey helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the customer experience and areas of improvement. This information can then be used to make changes and improvements to the customer experience, ultimately leading to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.
CX surveys also allow companies to measure customer sentiment and behaviour and track changes over time. In fact, by regularly conducting CX surveys, companies can monitor the effectiveness of their efforts and ultimately improve the customer experience by adjusting their digital strategies accordingly.
Additionally, CX surveys can help companies to identify trends and patterns in customer behaviour (i.e. drop offs in the checkout funnel), preferences (a gravitation towards using the mobile app rather than website), and needs (i.e. more payment options). This information can be used to inform product and service development and improve customer service.
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Benefits of customer experience surveys
There are several benefits to conducting a customer experience survey, including:
- Identifying customer needs and preferences: CX surveys allow companies to understand what their customers value most and what they need and want from the company’s products and services.
- Improving customer satisfaction: CX surveys can help companies to identify pain points in the customer experience and make changes to address these issues, ultimately leading to greater customer satisfaction.
- Increasing customer loyalty: By improving the customer experience, companies can increase customer loyalty and reduce customer churn.
- Enhancing brand reputation: By demonstrating a commitment to improving the customer experience, companies can enhance their brand reputation and differentiate themselves from competitors.
- Informing product and service development: CX surveys can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and needs, which can be used to inform product and service development.
- Identifying areas for cost savings: CX surveys can also help companies to identify areas where they can reduce costs by streamlining processes and improving efficiency.
Customer experience survey questions
There are several different types of surveys that can be deployed when gathering feedback on the customer experience. Let’s take a look at some of the top survey types (or customer feedback metrics, in this case) that most organisations use.
1. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
With so many competitors in the market, it’s important to retain your customers and avoid churn. By knowing what your customers want and meeting these needs, you can increase their loyalty towards your brand and attract many new customers in the same way.
Employing a CSAT survey is one way to ensure you achieve this goal.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) surveys are a great way of measuring how well your website meets the expectations of your customers. CSAT can be measured based on a particular page of your website or alternatively, at an aggregated level (e.g. how satisfied are they with the entire website). Often companies measure CSAT using a number scale ranging from 1 to 10.
2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a popular CX metric and a great way of gauging online customer loyalty. Note: this metric should never be used as a generic metric as it is only really effective when geared towards current and/or long time customers who are familiar with your brand. That being said, it’s better to collect NPS scores from actual customers rather than anonymous visitors who have yet to build up any sort of relationship with your brand.
NPS is measured in one of two ways: via Relationship or Transactional surveys. With relationship NPS surveys, you can collect general insights on how the business is perceived by a customer (based on overall experience and the brand itself). And with transactional surveys, you can collect insights based on a transaction the customer has made with your business.
3. Customer Effort Score (CES)
Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric used to understand how much effort it took your customer to achieve his/her goal. This is a very critical metric because more often than not, high effort results in lower customer loyalty.
The most effective way to collect CES is at the end of the funnel (e.g. once the customer has made a purchase). Why the end of the funnel? Because although the customer has already made their purchase, there is otherwise no way of knowing how easy or difficult the process was. CES is also a good feedback form metric to use for improving online sales funnels.
4. Goal Completion Rate (GCR)
Another great metric used in customer experience surveys is Goal Completion Rate (GCR). GCR measures the number of visitors who have completed a specific goal on your website or mobile app. This metric is typically found in places where a customer is trying to make a purchase, using either a passive feedback method (user-initiated) or as exit feedback (a feedback form triggered based on exit intent). GCR should not be used on the homepage or landing page as this is just the beginning of the funnel and the goal cannot be completed at that point.
When a customer fails to reach their goal on your website, you can ask why they did not reach their goal as well as ask them to leave their contact information behind, which turns them into a lead. These details provide you with the opportunity to rectify any issues in the funnel and help the customer convert. This is, therefore, a great feedback form question to use if you are looking to improve online sales funnels.
Give your customer experience the attention it deserves
Customer experience surveys – as you can see – can do a lot for your business. Whether it’s brand reputation you’re after, a customer loyalty boost or a way to inform your product development strategy, there is always a CX survey that can be deployed to create positive change.
Already aligned your objectives and come up with a plan of action for your CX surveys? Then you’re ready to select a customer experience feedback software. There are a wide variety of software on the market, all of which cater to different goals. Be sure to check out this list of customer feedback tools for some inspiration.
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.
