In fact, according to a recent SurveyMonkey audience survey, 57% of users have quit using a product permanently after one unpleasant experience. This highlights the importance of collecting and analysing customer feedback to gain a better understanding of customer needs.
However, determining the most effective method of gathering customer feedback can prove difficult. The information you get from asking the correct consumer feedback questions can help you determine where you need to improve, analyze your competition, and even come up with new ideas.
You may be thinking, what are good feedback questions? What questions should you ask customers to gain a holistic and thorough understanding of your customer experience? How can you obtain actionable feedback? Fortunately for you, we’ve gathered 9 client feedback questions to provide you with high-quality, actionable data.
Why are customer satisfaction surveys important?
Customer satisfaction surveys are important for businesses as they:
- Strengthen successful strategies
- Pinpoint what needs improvement
- Generate new ideas
- Collect data
- Increase customer retention
Strengthen Successful Strategies
Customer satisfaction survey questions inquire about a variety of topics, including customer service, employee expertise and helpfulness, and your company’s policies and processes. Inquiring about a recent return could indicate that customers are satisfied with your return policy and are willing to purchase from you again because you stand behind your products.
As a result, you should promote your return policy on your website and in your advertisements. Furthermore, asking clients how they learned about your business can disclose whether or not your marketing methods are functioning as expected.
Pinpoint What Needs Improvement
Following a dip in sales volume, some business owners may turn to customer satisfaction survey questions. It may be too late to entice clients back once they have left, so do a customer survey while business is good. Find out how your prices stack up against those of your competitors. If you get a lot of complaints that your firm is too expensive, you will have to change your price or manufacturing strategy to stay competitive.
Feedback surveys reveal several areas that are undesirable, including unfriendly workers, late deliveries, and a difficult-to-navigate website. Making improvements before your reputation is ruined can help your organization avoid negative consequences by ceasing to perpetuate what is displeasing to customers.
Generate New Ideas
Get insight into your consumers’ future needs and the direction your firm should go with the products or services it offers. To find out what your clients want most from your firm, include a list of suggested things in your survey.
If you are thinking about adding new products or increasing the product features of an existing line, for example, give your customers a few options and ask which one they are most likely to buy. Offering new things that your study shows are in demand may be more successful than attempting to forecast your clientele’s requirements.
Collect Data
You may not be aware of your consumers’ dissatisfaction with your products or services until you read about it on review websites for businesses. A high number of returns may suggest poor quality, but if buyers don’t explain why they don’t want the items, you may not realize you are losing revenue as a result of negative information about your products circulating. The level of satisfaction with your product or services should be addressed in a section of your customer service survey.
Increase Customer Retention
You may have a high rate of return business if your clients sense you care enough to ask what they like and dislike about your firm. Paying attention to their opinions shows them that you value their opinion. If you receive credible complaints from known customers, contact them to apologize, provide restitution, and explain the improvements that have been implemented as a result.
When should you send a survey to your customers?
You should send a survey to your customers in 4 instances:
- Directly after an interaction with your business
- Before making a big change
- At the end of a marketing campaign
- When customers leave your business
1. Directly after an interaction with your business
As a marketer, one of the smartest things you can do is survey your clients immediately following their interaction with your business. Requesting feedback while it is still fresh, such as after a service has been delivered or a consumer has phoned customer service for assistance, are perfect examples of opportunities for feedback.
If your customers have a bad experience with your company, they may well decide to stop doing business without complaining and explaining why. Surveying customers after an interaction provides consumers with the opportunity to voice their dissatisfaction, while simultaneously providing businesses with a chance to adapt.
2. Before making a big change
We are always searching for new and exciting ways to improve our company and make it the best it can be. Change, on the other hand, is not always welcomed by loyal customers who are happy with your product as it is.
Sending out a survey before a major shift can help you in a number of ways. First and foremost, it informs your consumer that a change is on the way and provides them a sense of control over the transition. Asking them about their thoughts on the change will make them feel more connected, and inclined to accept the change.
Second, it gives you vital information on how the change will benefit your clients, as well as an opportunity for them to speak out if it causes them concerns. If you receive an overwhelming response demonstrating that this change will not make your clients happy, you will have time to reconsider your plan and possibly reverse the situation.
3. At the end of a marketing campaign
It is critical to track your marketing communications results. Failing to do so is a waste of time and energy. Tracking your customer satisfaction is one of the easiest ways to do this. Surveys are one of the most effective ways for a marketing team to identify whether or not a campaign was successful, and they should be used when marketing campaigns conclude.
Simply sending out a survey will provide a huge boost to your marketing team by allowing clients to provide good or negative comments that can throw light on how you are doing and where you are going wrong. Without surveys, you may find it difficult to understand your target audience and determine whether or not your material is effective.
4. When customers leave your business
Customers who have decided to stop using your service can be surveyed to learn about your company’s flaws and help prevent future customer loss. Although these exchanges can be heated at certain times, ex-customers are usually capable of articulating what they disliked calmly. This will enable you to comprehend why they left, as well as address your mistakes to prevent additional clients from leaving.
How to ask for customer feedback: Best practices
The best practices to ask for customer feedback include:
- Customer surveys
- Email and customer contact forms
- Social media
- Website activity
Customer surveys
It may be more difficult than you think to create a good customer survey. Customers can be asked a variety of questions. The good news is that you may select between brief slider surveys that appear on your website (which help you target certain concerns) and lengthy, traditional surveys.
If you want your clients to complete a survey, make sure you follow a few easy standards:
- Only ask questions that help you meet your goals
- Write thoughtful open-ended questions
- Create consistent rating scales
- Avoid leading or loaded questions
Email and customer contact forms
One of the simplest ways to obtain honest customer feedback is via email. Because most organizations utilize it as a customer support channel, you can use each interaction to gather feedback. Do the following three steps to increase your chances of receiving a response from a customer:
- Set clear expectations: Customers may fail to provide critical feedback because they believe no one is interested. Many consumers would be willing to provide feedback if they knew they would get a response.
- Organize email feedback: One option is to utilize Trello to establish boards that your entire staff can access and contribute to. It is a well-defined procedure that ensures no useful information is overlooked.
- Send personalized responses: Simply asking for a genuine reaction from a consumer is the greatest approach to get one. You can ask for more personal input than in a survey because email allows you to convey a one-to-one interaction. The key is to ensure that your team follows a specific procedure for responding to these emails.
Social media
Social listening can provide you with access to a hitherto untapped pool of genuine customer feedback. Direct comments or mentions on social media aren’t the only options for your company to get customer input, many networks have polling capabilities built-in.
Website activity
What customers don’t know about how they utilize your product is revealed via analytics. You benefit from using analytics to understand how users interact with your firm, especially if you sell a digital product or service. For example, if you provide self-service content as a type of customer service, you may track how many individuals have viewed each piece.
Best customer feedback questions
To improve customer service
- Why did you initially choose us and why do you continue to stay with us?
This question is excellent for considering how your consumers’ opinions and priorities have changed over time, as well as how your product or service has evolved. Perhaps a consumer chose your gym facility because the yoga seemed appealing. However, once they signed up, they learned that the class is always full, or that the timetable changed and they can no longer attend.
Perhaps a favorite personal trainer is now keeping them from leaving. If your findings suggest that it is your trainers that keep your members coming back, you might want to concentrate your efforts there or create a personal training session promotion campaign.
- What’s one thing you wish we could do?
Some of the ideas that can come from this one will astound you! Your customers are in the best position to know where your product or service is lacking, and how it may be improved because they use it regularly. Just a few intriguing ideas could offer your company the competitive edge it requires.
To improve your products or services
- What part of our service/product makes you happy?
Inquiring about what you do or offer that makes clients happy differs slightly from inquiring about the major benefit you provide. Customers may consider your primary benefit to be your location. However, something else may make them happy. Maybe it is because the staff knows their names and greets them with a smile. Often features considered as trivial are what is important to clients.
- Can you provide an example of a time when you were wowed by a product or service you’ve used and why?
This question allows you to get ideas from other people. Even if the industry isn’t the same as yours, the examples your clients present might be thought-provoking. This may give you some ideas about how you may do something similar. Considering the emotions behind their responses and why that particular example was a positive experience is a good exercise for your business.
- What would you like to see us keep (and/or stop) doing?
Brand loyalty is a fickle beast. It is possible that what sways a loyal customer or converts a new one has nothing to do with your service or product. Your business may have taken a stand on a significant subject and it had an effect.
For example, let’s say you are a fashion label dedicated to making fair-trade, environmentally friendly clothing and helping environmental causes. For some clients, your stance on the issue could be the difference between shopping with you and shopping with your competitors. It is critical to ask these questions to your customers so that you can comprehend all of the variables at play.
To solve issues
- What are your main problems with our product/service?
Your consumers may have a variety of complaints, and you must pay attention to them. Don’t pass up the chance to get customer input on areas where you are failing to perform and which are crucial to potential customers. It is generally a good idea to provide them with a few options from which to choose from. Perhaps your weak point is price, or you don’t respond to inquiries quickly enough.
- If you could pick one thing you think we could do better, what would it be?
This question encourages your clients to look at things in a positive light, concentrating on areas of improvement. You will learn what is most essential to them if you ask them to narrow things down and prioritize just one thing you could do to improve.
To better understand customer needs
- What is the main benefit you receive from our product/service?
To focus your efforts and resources, ask your clients to explain the major benefit you provide them. It is invaluable to figure out which of your selling elements is most significant to your clients. Companies often become blind to their own success, therefore it is useful to be made aware of those comparative advantages that are hidden.
- How often do you consider switching to our competition and why?
This question helps you to look deeper into the statistics surrounding your loyal consumers. You can discover how many of these ostensibly satisfied consumers ponder switching on a regular basis. By figuring out why, you will be able to address any gaps in service and persuade them to stay or ensure that you continue to focus on areas where you excel.
How to use customer feedback to the fullest
De-risk your investments and achieve greater impact in an evolving market by listening to the voice of your consumers and taking an agile, proven approach with Inbe. Learn how to:
- Structure your innovation projects based on Inbe’s® front-end innovation
- Develop and strengthen market research and validation practices
- Identify and seize opportunities for innovation through the voice of the customer
- Develop differentiating value propositions in the form of minimum viable products
- Identify winning attributes and turn them into innovative product concepts