Surveys to improve customer experience

Good customer service equals good customer experience. “What do my customers want?” This is the question that concerns every organization today. That’s why we’re going to learn how to use surveys to improve the customer experience. Many companies have already grasped the fact that creating great products and services is only part of the business.

An amazing customer experience combined with great products and services is what will keep your business ahead of the competition. Having satisfied customers is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of any business, and it requires you to look back to find out what caused that satisfaction. How do you do that? By seeking feedback from your customers through surveys.

what is a customer satisfaction survey?

Customer satisfaction surveys can be defined as a tool for soliciting customer feedback so you can measure customer satisfaction, understand customer expectations and conduct market research. Surveys help to gather real, concrete information from customers rather than working from assumptions.

This uncovers problems that you may not even know exist or that are hindering your product or service. Direct feedback from your customers lets you know the actual performance of the product or service, any shortcomings you may have or, and improvements that can be made.

Advantages of using surveys to improve the customer experience

A survey is the right way to understand customer satisfaction and expectations. An example of the advantages of applying a survey would be, for example, when a restaurant chain collects information from its customers. They would have questions that would help them understand aspects to improve their customer experience.

The survey would address areas such as restaurant ambiance, food quality, staff hospitality, wait time, etc. This would help identify areas that need improvement. Using surveys is a great strategy to know if you have made a positive impact on your audience. Here are some of the benefits you get by soliciting feedback from your customers

1. Your customers will come back to buy from you

Satisfied customers are likely to buy from you again. An easy way to know this is through customer satisfaction surveys. Ask them to rate their satisfaction levels on a scale of 1 to 10 and find out who will be happy to buy from you in the future. Customers who rate you 7 or higher are satisfied and are likely to engage with your business again.

A score of 6 or less is cause for concern; these customers are not happy. Customers who rated you 9 or 10 are your biggest advocates and most loyal customers. You can use them to promote your brand and improve your satisfaction score.

2. Using surveys sets you apart from the competition

In this competitive world of a large number of brands, delivering the best customer experience has to be at the core of your strategy. No amount of marketing campaigns and promotions will help you if your customers are not satisfied. Brands that have low levels of customer satisfaction are likely to disappear in the future.

It’s also very likely that brands that have advocates will do better than those that don’t. As you can see, it all starts and ends with knowing what your customers think of the product or service you offer.

3. Reduce churn

Another advantage of using surveys to improve the customer experience is that they help you know if you are providing a good service to prevent customers from leaving. You can use the results of your survey to improve your customer service processes. Look for ongoing feedback to track your progress and share the results with your customer service representatives.

4. Decrease negative word-of-mouth

It is estimated that a dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about their experience. Considering the number of dissatisfied customers you can have, that’s very negative for your business and will directly impact revenue and your brand’s reputation. There will always be a loss of customers, but you don’t want to lose them to bad word-of-mouth advertising.

Conducting regular surveys will help you measure customer satisfaction and identify factors that may be hindering your positive results. Learn more about the importance of customer service.

how to create surveys to improve customer experience?

Here are some types of surveys you can apply to get the feedback you need. You can make use of online surveys and send your questionnaires via email, SMS, use QR codes so that users can download the survey, insert it on your website, place a tablet in your establishment, in short… These examples of surveys will undoubtedly allow you to obtain valuable insights to improve the experience you offer to your audience.

NPS Surveys

Net Promoter Score surveys help analyze customer loyalty and are often used in satisfaction surveys. Through the score provided by the participants, you will be able to detect who are your promoters, detractors or those users who are passive.

Web intercept surveys

Web intercept surveys allow a certain number of your website visitors to respond to online surveys. Visitors to your website are shown a message about the survey, and have the option to participate in it. Many brands prefer them because they are non-intrusive, which ensures that your website visitors are not lost.

Customer service surveys

Service surveys help analyze whether customers are happy with a brand’s customer service. They are usually triggered after customers interact with customer service representatives and seek to check if customers are satisfied with the interaction and their queries resolved. Here 5 ways to improve customer service.

Survey design tips

If you want to implement surveys to improve customer experience, we recommend you follow these tips to achieve a higher response rate, and get the expected results.

• Create short and simple surveys. Remember to keep your surveys short and simple if you want to improve response and survey completion rates, as well as collect the maximum and most accurate information from consumers. People abandon long surveys or don’t even bother to respond.

Also, remember to include demographic questions to get to know your audience better. For example: What is your age, what is your gender, what is your level of education, what is your marital status, what is your income level, what is your income level, what is your income level, what is your income level, what is your income level, what is your income level, what is your income level, what is your marital status

• Use consistent rating scales. There are several rating scales that can be used in online surveys. While it is good to have options, it is imperative to have consistent rating scales to maintain uniformity and consistency in your survey data.

You can try several scales, but use a standard one per survey. For example, you can use Net Promoter Score questions, Likert Scale questions, or a Bipolar Scale Matrix question which are some of the most effective types of interval scales.

• Use open-ended questions. There are several types of questions you can use in a survey, and each has its purpose. Remember to have at least 1 or 2 open-ended questions for customers to express their opinions in their own words.
• Create smart surveys. Depending on the focus of your survey, you may have different types of audiences. You may want to conduct a survey specifically for one type of audience, (women over 30, car owners, etc.)

To get better results you can make use of logics, for example an exclusion logic to gather accurate information and avoid respondents answering questions that are unnecessary for their profile.

• Choose the right time to apply your survey. Although respondents can take online surveys at any time, it is essential to send surveys at favorable times to get the responses you expect, based on the profile and activities of your target audience. You can do several tests to find the most appropriate day and time to send out your surveys to get the best response rate.
• Distribution methods. Use a variety of survey distribution methods to ensure you reach a much broader respondent base. Again, think about the type of audience you are targeting – don’t forget that you are using surveys to enhance the customer experience – try the various avenues available to you, from email, mobile apps, point-of-sale (POS), etc.
• Make use of incentives>. You are soliciting valuable customer feedback. That feedback helps improve your product or service, so providing some sort of incentive will certainly help improve the customer experience.

For example, it could be a discount coupon or entering them in a sweepstakes, but make sure they have an incentive to invest their time in answering your surveys. Now that you know how to use surveys to improve the customer experience, it’s time to start creating your own questionnaire and commit to acting on real customer needs. We hope you implement some of these ideas to improve the experience you offer, and don’t hesitate to share with us any other recommendations you have for creating the best surveys for collecting valuable insights from your audience. Remember that all this data will always be for the better – success!