We know that in marketing getting new customers is only part of the job. The real challenge is to delight them, build loyalty and make them stay with our brand for a long time.
Therefore, it is essential that we know what our customers think of us and what we can do to make them more satisfied. And of course, the best way to find out is to ask them directly. So let’s see the keys to the satisfaction surveys and the 10 questions you can’t stop asking your clients.
What do customer satisfaction surveys provide?
Customer satisfaction surveys are a series of questions that are asked to users of a product or service to evaluate their opinion of it, as well as possible aspects to improve. Creating a customer service survey is a simple action to implement and that can bring us multiple benefits:
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Satisfaction surveys help us take decisions in the short, medium and long term on various aspects of our company, since we can detect areas to improve and obtain many ideas to launch new products and services.
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They help us to retain to current clients, since their responses will help us better adapt to their needs. Additionally, simply asking their opinion makes them feel valued and can improve their perception of the brand.
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They contribute to attract potential clients, since we will be able to better adjust our offer of products and services to the real needs of the market. With the right questions, the customer satisfaction survey can be used to obtain ideas for new products with a high probability of success.
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They allow you to accurately measure the satisfaction of customers regarding different elements of the company and see how it evolves over time, in addition to knowing how well the customer satisfaction improvement initiatives that we launch are working.
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Help to differentiate our brand of the competition. If other brands similar to ours are not taking the time to conduct satisfaction surveys and measure the results, we will have an advantage, since we will know customers better and we will be able to create better brand experiences.
The 10 fundamental questions of a satisfaction survey
1) Demographics
This question (or rather series of questions) is very important for the marketing department, since it will be able to compare the users who have responded to the survey with the target audiences of the brand and see if the profile matches or if we are reaching a different audience.
The specific demographic data to ask will depend on the brand, but the basics are age, location and gender.
2) How satisfied are you with the product or service?
This question is essential to know if we are creating a satisfactory brand experience or if, on the contrary, we need to do urgent improvements to our products or services. It also helps us establish periodic controls over time and see if we are managing to improve.
3) Matrix type question about different aspects of the product
The matrix questions They include several rows and columns so that the user can evaluate different aspects of the product. For example, “from 1 to 10, please indicate how satisfied you are with: the appearance of the product, the delivery time, the price, the after-sales service, the size…”.
Although these questions may be a little more complicated to configure and fill out, they are highly recommended so that we can identify more precisely what the brand’s strengths are and what aspects need improvement.
4) From 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product or service to a family member or friend?
This question is actually a way to obtain one of the key metrics in customer satisfaction: the Net Promoter Score or NPS.
The Net Promoter Score is a score that measures the loyalty of a company’s customers based on the likelihood of recommendation. Based on the response obtained, we classify users into three categories:
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From 0 to 6 points: detractors.
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From 7 to 8 points: passive or indifferent.
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From 9 to 10 points: promoters.
To calculate NPS, we convert the number of promoters and detractors into percentages and subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The result can range from -100 (all customers are detractors) to 100 (all customers are promoters). Normally a result greater than 0 is considered good and a result greater than 50 is excellent.
5) What would you improve about the product if you could?
This question is very important to detect possible problems that we have not thought of, or simply aspects that do not work well “in real life” and that we had not noticed in the design phase. Taking into account these suggestions for improvement will help us better respond to customer needs and will also make them feel heard and valued.
6) How did you find out about our brand?
Another essential question for the marketing department, since It can help us measure which channels are bringing us clients. Possible response options may include our own website, social networks, online advertising, or recommendations from family and friends. The idea is to see how the number of real customers acquired corresponds with the budget allocated to each channel.
7) What do you think of the relationship between the quality offered and the price?
He price It is a very important aspect in making purchasing decisions, so we have to be able to evaluate if we are getting it right in the eyes of the user. Other variants of this question that may be interesting are “How often can you afford to buy our product or service?” and “Would you invest your money in our products and services again?”
8) How do you rate the attention received from our staff?
In addition to evaluating satisfaction with the product itself, it is also essential to include a question regarding the shopping experience. The people who represent the brand are one of the keys to the company’s success, and it is essential that they are both professional and approachable.
9) If you are dissatisfied with some aspect of your experience with the brand, how could we improve?
If the user answers negatively to any of the satisfaction questions, it is a sign of a problem that we have to improve as soon as possible. Be able to identify and resolve these “pain points” is one of the biggest benefits of customer satisfaction surveys. Ideally, this question would be automatically triggered when the user checks an option below the average level of satisfaction.
10) Final open question
Finally, it is a good idea to include a question at the end of the survey such as “Do you have any other suggestions or comments?” and an open field so you can write your answer. In this way, we can obtain new ideas about aspects of our brand that we had not thought to ask about.
How to optimize your customer satisfaction surveys
A good selection of questions is key, but it is not everything. If you want to get the best results with your survey, follow these tips:
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Adapt the language to your buyer persona. Targeting professionals in the chemical sector is not the same as targeting high school students. The language of your survey should be precise and adapted to the level and way of expression of your target audience. When in doubt, the simpler the better.
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Make sure your survey is responsive. You already know that a large percentage of internet traffic occurs through mobile devices, so it is essential that your satisfaction survey looks good and is easy to complete from these devices.
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Simplify everything possible. The experience of taking your survey should be as quick and easy as possible. To achieve this, limit the number of questions, try to keep them brief and easy to understand and do not force the user to answer them all. You can mark the most important questions as mandatory and leave the rest as optional.
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Try to make most of the questions quantifiable. It is a good idea to include some open questions to collect more qualitative comments, but surveys that are too open make it very difficult to collect and evaluate information. Therefore, try to make most questions closed-ended or have the user respond on a scale (for example, from 1 to 10 or from “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied).
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Launch your satisfaction survey as soon as possible after the user has used the product or service. If you let too much time pass, it is very likely that the client will no longer remember important details or that their perception will be distorted by the passage of time.
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Encourage the most reluctant users to give their opinionfor example, through raffles, gifts or special promotions for customers who complete the satisfaction survey.