Create a Customer Satisfaction Survey You Can be Proud of

You may do everything in your power, but still fall short and don’t know where the problem is. You are bringing improvements, and yet, the sales are dropping.

It’s time for a survey. A customer satisfaction survey will help you greatly in this regard.

Customer satisfaction surveys allow a peek into the clients’ thoughts. These surveys tell us what the clients feel about the products or services, and where to work. One can understand what excites users and what frustrates them.

What is a survey?

A survey is a process where someone investigates the opinions of a group of people. People can share their experiences through surveys. You can target a specific group of people related to your product or service and know about their experience. The collected data can be analyzed later to provide a better user experience.

A survey can have many parts –

• Sample and sample determination
• Questionnaire (or survey questions)
• Survey logic
• Survey methods

What is a questionnaire?

A questionnaire is a series of questions set to gather information from a specific group of users. A well-planned questionnaire can pave an efficient way of gathering organic feedback directly from the people. Questionnaires are an integral part of a survey, so it is vital to design a good questionnaire or survey questions.

Why is a customer satisfaction survey necessary?

With a customer satisfaction survey, you can understand your customers better. A survey will help businesses know what people feel about their products or services, and how they can make it better. This data can help a company to make informed decisions that will benefit them in the future.

A good customer satisfaction survey can help you in many ways.

• Who are your customers?
• What do they want?
• How much are they willing to pay for your product or service?
• Why are they leaving your website?

When you know the answers to these questions, you can bring strategic improvements and make good on delivery.

Why is designing an excellent customer satisfaction survey crucial?

Precise answers on surveys mean you can increase the standard of your work. So, it is pivotal to make a precise questionnaire that will generate valuable responses.

You might make a decision for your product, but your customers may not like it. And, ultimately, this decision can hamper the company. The correct data will let you know where to work.

A good customer satisfaction survey will ask specific questions. These questions induce exact answers that give you an insight into the customers’ minds – what they want, where they have problems. A well-thought-out questionnaire makes customers cooperate willingly. It will help you spot the real problem instead of wasting time and effort on trivial matters.

What does an excellent customer satisfaction survey NOT ask for?

Before you start designing a customer satisfaction survey, pause for a second and think. Note down all the information that might be required. And pay extra attention to questions that may come off as evasive. People are growing more and more conscious of what information they share. Customers may bounce if any question seems fishy.

So be sure only to include questions that are relevant to your market research. Avoid personal matters that may seem intimidating like the ones mentioned below. 

• Biometric data
• Genetic information
• Health details
• Personal life
• Philosophical beliefs
• Political opinions
• Religious beliefs
• Sexual orientation

If you need to collect data on these matters, there are other methods that can be undertaken.

Types of customer satisfaction surveys

When it comes to designing customer satisfaction surveys, there are many models that you can follow. Some of the most used customer satisfaction survey types are given below.

Customer satisfaction score

These surveys ask simple questions like “Do you use our product or service?”. Or things such as “Are you satisfied with our product?”. The response can be a simple yes/no, or you can also provide text fields.

These surveys are straightforward, and their results don’t vary much. If you observe a peak in the negative results, you know you have work to do.

Customer effort survey 

These surveys are designed to understand the problems users face. Customer Effort Surveys measure how easy or difficult it is for users to use your product or service. It is mostly used to get feedback on customer support.

You can either give users a range from 0-10 to rate their experience. Or you can also provide a simple single line or text area field for users to express their feelings. A prevalent customer effort survey is the five-star system customers often face after online order delivery or a shared ride.

Milestone survey

Users do not face a milestone survey readily. Rather, they are given some time to experience and use the product or service and then asked to share their experience. They can be sent after a certain period, say 30 days after purchase. Or you can send out the survey when the user reaches a particular step of the journey. Like asking if they had any difficulties ordering a product while they wait for delivery.

Post-purchase survey

As the name suggests, post-purchase surveys are sent after a customer has purchased a product. You can deploy an online form to get feedback from the customers. These surveys aim at finding out the issues that need to be fixed. So be sure to include exact questions that will direct you to areas you need to work on.

Net promoter score

With these surveys, a company can ask the customers if they are willing to recommend a product or service to their friends or family. Typically a scale of 0-10 is given. You can use a net promoter score to judge your brand’s value based on these results. If the number of detractors is more than the number of promoters, the problem should be promptly located and fixed.

You can also go one step further and ask your customers to recommend a friend or family. This is very easy to do using online forms.

How to create a customer satisfaction survey

We know why customer satisfaction surveys are essential. We also understand why one should make an effort to design a good survey, but a question remains. “How do I create a customer satisfaction survey?”

Creating a survey can be a devious feat. But it’s nothing you can’t manage, especially if you keep in mind the following suggestions.

Be fair

A surefire way of getting honest answers from the users is by being honest. Ask direct questions without trying to manipulate your users. It will help you gain confidence and convince users to cooperate with your market research more.

Simple language 

A guaranteed way of being fair is a simple language. If a survey consists of simple words, the users will get a clear picture of what is asked of them. It will reduce the bounce rates and help you get clear answers.

Do not exaggerate

Do not obsess over your survey. The customer satisfaction survey is there so you can get genuine feedback from your customers. If too many adjectives are used, the question may get misleading. Some users might even find that manipulative.

The survey questions should be easy to answer

You are honest in your survey, and even used simple words. But the answers to your questions don’t come readily to the users. Is it helpful? No. Surveys are boring things that, honestly, nobody wants to spend time on. So naturally, a user will leave a survey if they have to put any effort behind it.

Stick to the issue

You should prioritize your issues before creating a customer satisfaction survey. Spend time planning the questionnaire, so that users don’t face redundant questions. The desire for more information will be there. Control it. Too many inquiries in a single survey will bore the users out.

Arrange the questionnaire smartly

Depending on your needs, the survey questions will vary. Consequently, the answers will be different, as well. In some instances, a simple yes/no answer is enough, while in other cases, the users will have to be more graphic. 

Based on the use, questions can be of various types.

• Closed-ended questions
• Demographic questions
• Likert scale questions
• Multiple-choice questions
• Open-ended questions
• Picture choice questions
• Rating questions
• ‘Yes’ or ‘no’ questions

Take help of form builder plugins

You must be a little alarmed after reading all the dos and don’ts. Well, don’t be. Creating a customer satisfaction survey is nothing to worry about. Several form builder plugins can help you in this regard. Smart form builders like Fluent Forms come with handy prebuilt survey form templates. You can directly use these form templates. Or even customize and add fields. Fluent Forms has an intelligent Net Promoter Score that you can easily drag and drop to your online form.

Final remarks

The benefits of using a customer satisfaction survey are manifold. A well-executed customer satisfaction survey will let you dive into the users’ psyche.

• Are your customers satisfied
• Where can you improve
• What else can you introduce
• Is the price reasonable

Remember to be honest with your client base. If you are straightforward with them, they will be eager to help you too. A business cannot thrive if the customers aren’t happy.

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