Asking your customers the right questions doesn’t need to be complicated but it is common for surveys to miss the mark. We’ve put together a summary of all the best guidelines to follow, and a list of 18 questions you can start with.
Customers respond differently depending on how you pose a question, and often people won’t respond at all if the survey is cumbersome or overwhelming. That’s why we recommend you follow these few tips for developing the best possible survey questions.
By following these few simple suggestions, you’ll encourage your customers to respond honestly and more fully than with an overly complicated questionnaire. Customer feedback is given voluntarily so be sure to minimise any inconvenience for them to endure. The easier it is to answer your survey, the more likely they are to actually respond.
The customer experience industry is constantly evolving and adapting to new trends and technologies. For decades, surveys consisted mostly of paper questionnaires sent by post. Since then the introduction of phones, social media, specialised feedback platforms and email businesses have had to modify their feedback processes to suit.
Refusing to update your feedback processes is a huge mistake because it means your customers are more likely to be put off from responding. Customers evolve with the latest trends and that means you should be too, which means keeping up to date with new channels and communication styles. It’s easier said than done, and it can take a lot of research to keep up with it all so that’s why it could be a good idea to partner with a specialised customer feedback platform. Tools like Review Tui are focused on customer satisfaction which means they’re always learning about how consumers function. As trends come and go, Review Tui can guide you to the best channel for your customer's preferences.
Another thing to remember is that the questions themselves are only as good as the strategy behind them. It’s worth spending some time deciding what you want to find out from your customers, and what kind of answers will be the most informative for you. We have a few suggestions for developing an effective strategy so that your surveys bring in the most valuable results possible.
Choose the right time to ask a question. This means working out when your customers are most receptive and most likely to offer something of value. It will vary depending on the question and the demographic of your customers but often the sooner the better to ensure they can remember their experience clearly.
Choose the right channel to communicate with your customers. This means doing some research into the preferences your customers have around different technologies, and which ones they don’t use. By optimising this you’ll increase your response rate and make the process easier for customers to share their thoughts.
Choose the right people to survey. Some customers are less likely to submit feedback, and that’s okay. It just means your time is better spent targeting customers who are likely to respond with the answers you need. You can either send out an automated survey to everyone at once or personally approach a select number of customers. This doesn’t mean you only ask customers who are guaranteed to give a good review, but rather that the responses you get will be of practical use to you.
You’ll need to remember that all feedback is worth receiving, even if it’s a complaint. Every response you get from customers allows you to improve and refine your processes. This is critical for a customer who has had a negative experience because it gives you a chance to resolve the issue before they post about it on a third-party review platform.
We have put together a list of some of the best questions to ask your customers, and when they’re most helpful. Read through the list to find a question that suits your current concerns.
Optimising your customer feedback processes will heavily rely on the questions you choose to ask. You’ll set the standard for the kind of responses you get, and what type of information you can extract from them. That’s why we have our guide to implementing a customer feedback strategy to make the process as straightforward as possible. Download the guide here to get started today.