How to create a Customer Experience Survey

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“We adore our customers.”

It’s a phrase you might include in advertisements, About Us pages, and contracts to demonstrate your dedication to providing a total customer experience.

But are those just words?

Show your true, abiding, and honest love for your customers by collecting and using customer feedback correctly. You can accomplish this by delving deeply into the customer experience by conducting customer experience surveys and understanding what they encounter when working with you. Then, take that feedback and improve the client experience slightly. That is true love!

What is a Customer Experience Survey?

It is a questionnaire designed to help a company collect information about its brand, products, or services from customers.

What does this have to do with your company? Consider this: a business is essentially a system with a purpose, where various elements (support staff, a sales platform, a clear marketing message, fulfillment, etc.) are interconnected to achieve an ultimate goal—and to provide a great experience to your customers, you must understand what they believe is working (and not working) across the entire system.

Customer satisfaction surveys allow you to collect data at specific touch points (for example, immediately after a sale, when a potential customer chooses to leave a website without purchasing, or after a customer support ticket is resolved and closed), and acting on the information you gather will help you improve the experience for both current and future customers.

Also Read- Customer experience strategy

Why are Customer Experience Surveys so important?

Businesses and organizations must conduct a CX survey to learn what their customers think about their brand. It also provides you with a better understanding of the entire experience journey and customer support. Other reasons to consider customer satisfaction surveys are as follows:

1. Aids in customer retention

A satisfied customer is likely to return. You can predict if a product or service is heading in the wrong direction by tracking the entire customer journey. You can also forecast future sales based on customer loyalty. Effective changes can be implemented immediately to retain customers.

2. It aids in identifying your promoters

Satisfaction surveys can assist in identifying brand promoters or advocates. Customers can be classified as promoters or detractors using the Net Promoter Score® (NPS®). You can also use this data to send personalized messages to customers to convert detractors into promoters.

3. Assist in the collection of data to make informed decisions

The best business decisions are based on data, not luck. Businesses can run smoothly and understand their customers’ preferences by gathering data.

Now we know the importance of satisfaction surveys, so let us learn about how to make surveys.

How to design a Customer Experience Survey?

Setting up surveys is simple, but you should consider the big picture first: what you want to investigate will determine the type of survey questions for customer experience you ask and where (in the customer journey) you ask them.

Step 1- Decide what you want to study

Choose one touchpoint in the customer journey to investigate. Here are a few things you could look into at various stages of a typical e-commerce customer journey:

  • Pre-sale: do customers have enough information to buy? Is there anything preventing them from making a decision?
  • Post-sale: are they satisfied with the product after the sale? Was the ordering process simple, or would they make any changes? Would they tell a friend about you?
  • Support call: did you solve their problem after a support call? If so, how easy was it to come up with a solution? If not, what effect does this have on their perception of your product and brand?
  • Downgrading, canceling, or returning an item: are they dissatisfied with the product or service?

Step 2: Select the appropriate survey

Various types of surveys will assist you in determining whether your customers are happy, loyal, and satisfied, and each type will also assist you in learning more about their experience. Let’s go over five of the most effective surveys you can use to get started.

1. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

CSAT surveys investigate a user’s level of satisfaction with your product or service; they frequently include a simple question, such as “Are you happy with what you bought?,” with only two possible responses (e.g., yes/no, happy face/sad face).

Tracking your CSAT over time is extremely beneficial because a sudden drop can quickly alert you to a serious problem.

2. Net Promoter Score® (NPS®

The Net Promoter Score® survey asks respondents to rate their likelihood of recommending your company/product to a colleague or friend on a scale of 0 to 10. It also allows you to ask ‘why?’ follow-up questions, allowing you to compare your percentage of detractors (0-6 answers) to your percentage of promoters (9-10 answers), giving you both a numerical benchmark for improvement and a qualitative list of elements to address.

Because NPS® is the best predictor of a company’s future growth, understanding the difference between a “good” and a “bad” NPS® and researching existing benchmarks is an important part of the process.

3. Customer Effort Score (CES)

CES measures the effort required for customers to do things like contact customer service to resolve a problem or use your product in the first place.

When you close a support ticket, you could send a CES survey asking, “How easy was it to get your issue resolved?” A 5-point scale with options ranging from very difficult to very easy’ could be included in the multiple-choice answer set.

Aso Read- CES vs CSAT

4. Survey of conversion points

A point-of-conversion survey is sent to customers after they reach a specific milestone and make a purchase on your website. They typically ask people to rate their purchasing experience on a scale (from 1 ‘hated it’ to 5 ‘loved it,’ and can include follow-up questions that probe what, if anything, nearly prevented them from becoming a customer.

5. Retention survey

A retention survey looks into why customers downgrade or cancel a service they subscribe to, or why they return an item.

Typically, retention surveys are included in the cancellation or return process. In addition to assisting you in determining the primary reason(s) people left your company or product, they can also assist you in determining their likelihood of returning to your business in the future.

Also Read- Different types of satisfaction surveys

Step 3: Determine the types of questions to ask

When you look at our survey templates, you’ll notice that they all use different types of questions. These questions were not chosen at random; each one serves a specific purpose, and each question type has its own set of benefits and drawbacks.

7 types of good survey questions

Some of the most common types of  customer experience survey questions are as follows.

1. Open-ended questions

An open-ended question allows respondents to write whatever they want. Because respondents aren’t limited by your multiple-choice options, they’re ideal for identifying issues and opportunities you didn’t know existed.

The data is a little more difficult to analyze, but there are many techniques available to make analyzing open-ended questions easier.

For instance, how could we improve [product]?

2. Questions with multiple choices

Multiple-choice questions have a finite number of answers. The results are simple to interpret, and response rates are generally high because responding requires less effort than answering open-ended questions (where users write a free-form response).

3. Questions based on rating scale (also called ordinal questions)

These questions provide a range of answers that correspond to a numerical scale, such as rating purchase ease on a scale of 1-5. To avoid confusion, define the scale clearly (e.g., 1: very difficult, 5: very easy).

For instance, how simple was your onboarding process? (1: extremely difficult – 5: extremely simple)

4. Questions on a binary scale

These questions limit responses to two options, such as “yes/no” or “happy face/sad face.” A binary scale is less ambiguous than a rating scale, where one person’s four-star experience could be another person’s five-star experience.

For instance, did we solve your problem today? (yes/no)

5. Nominal questions

Nominal questions specify distinct answer categories. Answers do not overlap (unless an “all of the above” option is selected), and no numerical value is assigned to them.

Example: Which of the following statements best describes you? “I am ……..”

[Company;s customer name]’s

Not a customer, but considering becoming one

I am not a customer and do not intend to become one.

Download Free Guide: Find the best Customer Experience Platform

6. Survey questions with a Likert scale

A 5- or 7-point Likert scale is used to assess customer sentiment. The smallest number (always a ‘1’) corresponds to one extreme perspective, while the highest number (for example, a ‘7’ on a 7-point scale) corresponds to the opposite extreme. The middle number (for example, a ‘4’ on a 7-point scale) denotes a more moderate viewpoint.

Example: What percentage of the time do you agree with the following statement: The onboarding process for [Product name] was simple.

1 – Completely disagree

2 – Disagree somewhat

3 – I don’t agree or disagree.

4 – Slightly agree

5 – Completely agree

7. Questions about semantic differentials

In the same way that Likert scale questions use a 5- or 7-point scale, semantic differential questions do not ask respondents to agree or disagree with a statement. They instead ask them to select the point on the scale that best describes their situation.

Example: How useful do you think our knowledge base is?

1 – Not at all helpful 

2 – Only marginally helpful

3- Neither helpful nor unhelpful

4 – Moderately helpful

5 – Extremely helpful

Explore: Voxco’s online survey tools

Step 4: Create and distribute your survey

When you’re ready to build your survey, the steps you take will be determined by the tool(s) you use. If you use Voxco, you can use the following instructions:

  • create and distribute an NPS® survey
  • create an e-commerce point-of-sale survey
  • arrange for CSAT surveys, customer effort score, and retention surveys

Whatever tool you use, keep the following three suggestions in mind:

  • Begin small.

You don’t have to create a dozen surveys all at once; start small and see how things go. If certain questions don’t work, consider changing or replacing them. You’ll learn from your mistakes and get better with each round.

  • Choose the best time to distribute your survey.

When it comes to surveying distribution, keep in mind that timing is everything. Consider sending a customer service survey 20 or 30 minutes after the interaction, giving the customer enough time to determine whether or not the problem has been resolved. Similarly, before conducting a product NPS® survey, ensure that your customers have received your product and have had sufficient time to use it

  • Analyze your data (when your sample size is large enough)

Calculate the number of data points required to achieve statistical significance using a sample size calculator (i.e., a representative sample of your customer base).

When should you send Customer Experience Surveys?

As soon as possible after contacting customer service

After some time has passed since a customer’s initial purchase (the length of time will vary depending on your product or service).

At various stages of the customer lifecycle to assess how satisfaction evolves throughout the customer journey

The timing of the question also influences the quality of the data. While there are various strategies for conducting these surveys, if you ask enough experts, you’ll hear this common error: Most businesses ask too late.

Companies may be tempted to take “the autopsy approach” to customer satisfaction, which entails waiting until an event has concluded before determining what went wrong with a customer. Customers should instead be asked questions while their feedback is still relevant.

Ideally, you’ll deploy customer satisfaction surveys at various stages of the customer life cycle to gather different perspectives on the customer experience.

So, your first directive should be to align your survey points with the value points you want to measure in the customer experience. The more touch points you track, the more detailed your picture of the customer experience can become.

When you send your survey depends on the type of survey.

In particular, for CSAT surveys, we recommend sending them as soon as possible after a customer support interaction to capture the experience while it is still fresh.

Best practices for Customer Experience Survey

Be cautious of “satisficers”,’ or respondents who avoid engaging meaningfully in a survey, as they may skew your data. They may respond at random, choose ‘don’t know,’ or agree with everything.

Best practices can help to reduce satisficing:

  • Make your survey brief, with a maximum of 10 questions.
  • Maintain clear, direct, and unbiased language, with no leading questions.
  • Reduce distractions as much as possible.
  • To increase engagement, provide a small incentive, such as entry into a drawing.
  • Before sending it out, thoroughly test it.

Conclusion

Customer experience surveys are an excellent way to learn about your customers. The feedback survey responses can assist you in increasing customer retention, increasing customer happiness, and learning more about how to improve your brand. To meet your customer’s expectations, you must first understand what they are. So, decide what kinds of sample customer experience survey questions to ask, work hard on the survey design, and make sure to use the customer feedback data to improve.

Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter Score℠ and Net Promoter System℠ are service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

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