Surveys are a valuable source of information for your business. However, they will work only if you use them right. Statistics show that 72% of consumers openly state that surveys interfere with their experience and 80% outright abandon them. This means that you should use fewer surveys and present them in a way that won’t annoy your audience. To achieve this, you’ll need to focus on the most important types of surveys, which are customer satisfaction, net promoter score, product development, and post-purchase surveys.
Top 4 Survey Types Essential for a Successful Business
#1: Post-Purchase Surveys
Post-purchase surveys aim to determine how satisfied your customers are with the transaction. They will help you see if you need to improve the ordering process. However, you can also use them to gather additional information or connect better with your customers.
Unlike the majority of other customer surveys, these are versatile. Therefore, you can ask any questions you want, depending on the goal you want to achieve. Check out a SurveyMonkey sample to get some ideas.
#2: Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Customer satisfaction surveys are your primary source of valuable feedback that will help you improve customer service. You can consider them a variation of a post-purchase survey, but they are important enough to get a separate mention.
This survey has to be focused on assessing the customer’s experience of interacting with your business. Mykfcexperience.com developed by the KFC brand shows how to do this most effectively. This survey asks about not only the actual transaction but the experience as a whole. From satisfaction with the design to complaints about a long wait for the sales assistant, everything must go into this survey.
However, as people tend to drop surveys that take more than 3 minutes to complete, you need to pick your questions carefully. You should consider changing them from time to time in order to collect more data.
#3: Product Development
Product development surveys help you create a better product or service. They also help you scope out the market to see if there is a place on it for your new idea. In essence, you can use them to both pave the way for a new release and to collect information about its performance.
Start with a short email survey that will ask customers what kind of new product they will be interested in. This will reduce your risks a little. Then proceed to narrow down the features your new product should have. Note that you can be asking not only about the product itself but also about the acceptable price range and even preferred delivery methods.
After the release, ask about product satisfaction and any bugs. You should also send a follow-up survey on which extra features the customers feel like they need now that they have the product at hand.
#4: Net Promoter Score (NPS) Surveys
NPS surveys are simple and can be integrated into your post-purchase and customer satisfaction survey. In essence, it’s a form that asks the customer to rate how likely they are to recommend your business to others.
Usually, the score goes from 0 to 10 and those who answer 9-10 are potential candidates for ambassadors. Those are the people you should target first with special offers like ‘bring a friend and get a bonus discount’.
