In turn, they’re rewarded with some of the most loyal and vocal supporters who not only bring in business themselves, but convert their friends and family as well. There are plenty of tactics you can take to boost customer satisfaction. We want to highlight one of them in particular—customer satisfaction surveys. A relatively simple tactic, but one that is very easy to do wrong. If you’ve ever launched a survey and practically heard crickets through the screen, you know it’s not always as easy as it seems. To help ensure you receive helpful and plentiful feedback with the next survey you launch, we’ll overview some best practices for customer satisfaction as well as share some examples that you can go on to replicate in your business.
What are Customer Satisfaction Surveys?
It’s best to begin with the basics, which includes a working definition for customer satisfaction surveys. At SimpleTexting, we define customer satisfaction surveys as a series of questions that help your organization analyze what your customers like and dislike about your product/services. The answers to these questions can inform business decisions, marketing plans, customer support practices, and more.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Best Practices
Here at SimpleTexting we are actively collecting customer feedback at all times. Not only has it given us direction for how to improve our product, it’s helped us identify opportunities for new features. The reality is, nobody is better at telling you what you’re good at (and what might need some help) like your customers. Years of experience has also shown us which methods of customer satisfaction solicitation work the best, and we want to share it with you!
Customer Satisfaction Survey Do’s
Keep your survey short. Sometimes even just one question will do! Especially if you want to know if a customer is happy about one things (the service they received, their recent purchase, etc.) In general, surveys should attempt not to exceed 10 questions, but generally aim for below five. Ex: Did you find what you were looking for today? Yes, No, Other Set a goal and stick with it. Just like in a scientific experiment, if you measure too many variables things can get a little muddy. When measuring customer satisfaction, you want to make sure you stay focused. It’s fine to ask your customers if they like you, but you’ll get more useful feedback if you get a little more specific. Ex: Our return policy is convenient: Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree Watch your language to avoid unintentional bias. It’s easy when you’re writing your questions to inadvertently direct respondents to the answers you want to hear. However, that won’t help you grow. As a rule of thumb, keep your survey language simple and avoid leading questions. Instead of saying “Are you satisfied with our product, yes or no” try…. “this product meets my needs”: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Don’ts
Avoid restricting answers. If you opt to set up your survey with yes or no questions, always include an “other” option with a space for respondents to write in a few lines of text. Otherwise you risk missing out on useful feedback from people who might have a little extra to say. Don’t ask double barreled questions. A double barreled question is what happens when you ask two (or more) questions within “one” question. For example: “The checkout process was easy and efficient- strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree.” A respondent might feel like the checkout process wasn’t easy, but it was efficient, however they’re forced to answer for both within the same question. Instead, you would want to split that into two different questions. Be judicious with the required questions. If a customer abandons a survey before it’s completed, the data set is incomplete and sometimes can’t be use. You don’t want to discourage customers from finishing your questionnaire, and one way to do this is by requiring all questions to be answered. It doesn’t benefit you as a business to make all questions required either— after all, I’m sure you’d much rather get honest feedback vs. randomly selected answers just for the sake of finishing the survey.
Examples of Good Questions For a Customer Satisfaction Survey
Examples of “Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, Other” Questions: Demographic questions you might want to ask: Examples of “Very Satisfied, Somewhat Satisfied, Neither Satisfied or Dissatisfied, Somewhat dissatisfied, Dissatisfied” Questions: Examples of open response questions:
How to Send Customer Satisfaction Surveys Through SMS
Writing the right questions that your customers want to answer is a good start when it comes to setting your survey up for success. However, another way to stack the odds in your favor is picking a medium that gives your customers an easy and convenient way to share their feedback. With a 98% open rate and a response rate 8 times that of email, SMS is the perfect tool for soliciting customer feedback. Additionally, there are measures you can take that will automate the survey process making it more efficient on your end. To learn more about setting up SMS surveys, check out this piece on using texting for ratings and reviews from customers. And, as always, don’t be shy. Give text marketing a try with a 14-day free trial!
