Most managers often dread a survey, with employees citing surveys as the number one reason they dread going to work. Because of this, most survey results need to be more accurate and show the precise picture of how effective your customer service agents are.
Getting started with customer surveys is easier than you think. And there’s no need for a big budget either because we’ve made setting up your survey as easy as 1-2-3.
This is the guide if you’re looking for an effective way to set up your customer service survey! In it, you’ll get tips on how to get started on your customer service survey and what type of questions to ask during your survey to maintain high-quality customer service on your team.
Tools
Many online survey tools can help you create an excellent customer survey. The best way to learn about these tools is to read reviews from others who have also used them and see which one will work for your company. Here are a few of the most popular:
- SurveyMonkey – This is the granddaddy of survey tools and offers many of the same features as other products. It’s effortless and provides a free plan for your first 30 questions.
- LimeSurvey – This tool is more potent than SurveyMonkey but also more complicated to use and tied to a paid plan. It’s less expensive than other options on our list, though, and it has a great community of users that can help you when you run into trouble or want to learn tricks.
- SurveyGizmo – This tool can do almost everything you need with minimal fuss and at an affordable price. However, it has a different depth than other options on this list.
- SurveyPlanet – A lot of people like this tool because it’s straightforward to do cool-looking surveys with no design experience at all needed, but it does have limitations on its free plan that could make it less than ideal for more extensive surveys or ones that need advanced questions or custom coding.
How many questions to ask
Many people take surveys to help with market research, but many of those surveys need to be shorter and more straightforward. The problem with a long survey is that it can be challenging for the person taking it to keep focused, especially if they’re not going to get any money for doing so. The longer the survey is, the more likely someone will give up in the middle of it.
A short survey keeps the focus on your brand or company, and it gets to the point quickly. That’s why you should keep your survey short—a good rule of thumb is between 5 and 10 questions—and only ask the questions you need. Remember that less is more when it comes to surveys, so think about what’s most important for you and eliminate anything else.
What questions to ask
When trying to find out about your customers, it can take effort to strike the right tone. Close-ended questions are more effective for gathering valuable data because they have a built-in answer format. However, they can be stifling if they don’t allow customers to share more about their personal experiences with a business. On the other hand, open-ended questions will enable the customer to share more about their experience with a firm. Still, they could be more effective at gathering valuable data. The best solution is to use open-ended and close-ended questions in your following customer survey.
Anonymous feedback is best
There are multiple reasons why it’s best to keep a survey anonymous. First, anonymity makes the survey taker feel more comfortable being candid about their experience and opinions. Rather than fearing that an idea could result in some backlash, the survey taker can approach the task with a very open mind. If a survey is non-anonymous, customers who do not wish to identify themselves might be hesitant to be honest, if only because they don’t want to come across as too harsh or mean. In this case, the person conducting the survey may have to go back through responses and weed out those that are disingenuous on some level. When you know who you’re surveying, you can ask them clarifying questions. Still, otherwise, there is no way of verifying a comment’s truth. Another benefit of keeping an experience anonymous is that it loosens the customer to think more creatively and freely about how they want to respond. For example, rather than simply saying they disliked something, they can say what they would change for them to like it better.
Avoid incentivizing too much
Surveys keep customers in the loop and show them that they are valued. Asking for customer feedback can help you identify ways to improve your company and build better products/services.
This is one of the main reasons businesses ask customers to complete a survey. However, this tactic could be more effective because it can lead to biased results. For example, suppose a company sends customers a survey offering discounts or other incentives. In that case, their responses might need to be more honest. They may feel that giving negative feedback will make them less likely to receive the incentive, so they’ll give you only positive feedback, even if it needs to be more accurate. This is why it is essential to refrain from offering any incentive when asking customers for feedback. By doing so, you are guaranteeing more honest responses from your audience.
Asking for customer feedback is only effective when incentives aren’t involved. When businesses collect customer feedback by offering an incentive, their responses may not be as honest as they could be.
Let your customer elaborate
Providing your customers with a space to talk through their feedback is a great way to create a friendly dialogue and build a relationship that benefits both parties. Your customers will feel valued, making them more likely to respond positively and engage with you in future interactions. And you’ll have the opportunity to talk about what could be improved, which will help you understand their needs better so you can continue creating products that delight them.
Free text boxes on posts give your readers a chance to tell you what they want more of and what they want to be improved—and those things could be anything! It might be too early to ask them whether they want more cats in your blog posts or prefer less miscellaneous travel writing. Still, with free-form text boxes, you can certainly ask them if there’s anything you’ve been neglecting that they’d like to see more of. If there’s some aspect of your blog that one specific customer has been looking for, free text boxes allow them to tell you about it. They might even tell you something you didn’t know about yourself!
Want positive customer feedback?
Every business’s number one goal is to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty. The best way to do this is by improving your customer support. With that in mind, getting to know your customers’ thoughts, opinions, and desires through surveys is a fast, effective, and inexpensive way to streamline your business process.
Hopefully, you will better understand how to set up an effective customer survey. You can apply this advice to your projects. If you need more help with your customer satisfaction, connect with us!
