More businesses are starting to consider their customers’ opinions and feedback to ensure more positive and successful interactions. An increasingly common strategy is to request participation in customer surveys. If you are planning a customer survey, here are some tips that could help to increase the number of responses you receive.
Limit the Questions
Although you may be tempted to ask as many questions as possible to get plenty of feedback, it’s best to ask just a few of the most important questions. Busy customers don’t like to spend much time helping out the companies where they do business unless you provide an incentive, like a discount coupon for their next purchase. Start your survey by asking three to five questions with the option for customers to answer more if they wish, but don’t ask more than ten questions on average. Keep the questions relatively short in length without multiple parts. Use clear diction they can easily understand.
Offer Simple Response Options
Organize the questions to be readily answered with a checkmark. The questions can be arranged as true-or-false or multiple-choice items. You may want to include a box for comments limited to 1200 characters, so the respondents won’t write too much and include unnecessary information. The survey should take no longer than a couple of minutes, or the respondents might get frustrated and abandon the survey.
Prompt Feedback
A survey should be offered on the same day of service when possible. This will help to ensure the experience is still fresh in the customer’s memory. You could use an email format with e-form software to generate a quick and easy survey that customers won’t mind answering. Make it easy for them to receive, respond to, and submit or return the survey immediately. While mailed surveys can be used, they typically have a lower response rate due to the lag in turnaround time.
Make a Courteous Request and Reply
Use a friendly tone to solicit customers’ feedback. Remember, they are doing you a favor by donating their time and attention to the survey you are providing. Be sure to include a statement of gratitude in the survey. Customers are likelier to respond if they feel their effort will be helpful to the business and appreciated. Keep the language race- and gender-neutral to avoid offending anyone.
Surveys can give you a good idea of what customers think about your company. Their feedback may help to generate ideas for improving your service and enhancing the customers’ future experience.
