Have you ever wondered if your products or services meet your customers’ expectations? Or why customers might choose you over a competitor? More importantly, how you can improve their experience?
The key to business longevity is customer satisfaction. Happy customers not only return, but they also spread the good word about your brand. And the most direct way to understand them is to listen to their feedback.
That’s where customer satisfaction surveys come in. You can’t address an issue if you don’t know it exists. These surveys provide valuable insights that empower you, the business owner, to improve the customer experience. The end result of your adaptation should lead to a loyal customer base which is more motivated to recommend your products or services to others.
Read on to learn the basics about customer satisfaction surveys and how you can best craft one for your business.
What Is a Customer Satisfaction Survey?
A customer satisfaction survey is a designed set of questions aimed at gathering feedback on a company’s products, services, and experience they deliver. The goal of this survey is to gauge the satisfaction level of customers with a business. The insights gathered can guide product enhancements, policy shifts, or even brand revamping.
How to Create a Customer Satisfaction Survey
Know Your Survey’s Aim
Before you build a successful customer satisfaction survey, it is essential to define what you hope to achieve with the survey. For example, your goals could be to identify aspects of your business that need attention, such as product quality or customer service efficiency. This may sound rudimentary, but trust us – investing time in this initial stage will make it much easier to create more effective survey questions that are laser-focused on your goals.
Create the Questions
The key to receiving valuable feedback is to ask well-phrased questions. Make sure they are straightforward and unbiased. Incorporate a variety of question formats, such as open-ended, multiple choice, yes/no, and opinion scales, to accommodate different respondent preferences and make your survey engaging. Also, keep the list of questions concise (ideally, it can be finished by someone in under 10 minutes) to ensure a higher completion rate.
Pick Your Distribution Channel(s)
Surveys are typically presented to customers in three ways:
- Email: Email is the most popular distribution method for surveys. Platforms like Mailchimp and Constant Contact make it easy to automate and customize survey emails. The customizable nature of email can lead to higher engagement rates, but due to the oversaturation of the delivery method, many emails are ignored or deleted.
- Website: Surveys embedded on websites allow for immediate feedback from recent visitors. However, this seamless integration does not reach customers who interact with the brand off-site.
- Social Media: Social media can be used to reach a wider audience, including those who are not on an email list. Surveys presented on social media have the potential for increased organic reach if shared by a user. However, negative feedback can quickly become public on social media, and the survey itself can be buried in the relentless updates to a user’s feed.
Assess and Act
While businesses always hope for high response rates, the reality is that only a fraction of recipients typically engage with survey requests. A 5-10% response rate sets a realistic expectation, especially for a business casting a wide net for feedback.
Once a sufficient number of responses have been collected, the data can be organized and segmented by customer demographics, product/service usage, or other relevant variables to uncover insights about specific customer groups. After areas that need improvement have been identified, an action plan with clear objectives can be developed to address these issues. Progress should be tracked regularly, and a follow-up customer satisfaction survey should be conducted to ensure improvements are made over time.
Feedback Fuels Continuous Improvement
A well-designed customer satisfaction survey is a cornerstone of outstanding customer experience. It provides you with a window into your customers’ minds, allowing you to improve your services and products. However, the key is in the design – a poorly-made survey can be as uninformative as not having one at all. Aim for excellence, and your customers will respond accordingly.
If you’re looking to improve your survey skills or need expertise in executing impactful marketing strategies, contact the experienced professionals at Baer Performance Marketing. Let our expertise guide you in unlocking actionable insights and building lasting customer relationships. Contact us today to harness the full potential of customer feedback!
