An effective satisfaction survey reveals the true expectations of your customers. But what distinguishes an impactful survey from a simple poll with no impact? From choosing questions to analyzing responses, including a well-thought-out structure, designing a good survey is a delicate exercise.
>> The best tips for creating a satisfaction survey
Characteristics of a Good Satisfaction Survey
A good satisfaction survey should allow for gathering valuable information, as well as engaging participants and obtaining reliable answers.
Clarity and Conciseness
Questions should be formulated in a simple and direct manner, avoiding any jargon or ambiguous terms. Each question must have a specific objective and be easily understandable for all respondents. Conciseness is also crucial: a survey that’s too long risks discouraging participants and compromising the quality of responses.
Relevance of Questions
The relevance of questions is paramount to obtaining useful information. Each question must be directly linked to the survey objectives and add value to the analysis. It’s important to avoid superfluous questions that could weigh down the survey without providing new information.
Logical Structure of the Survey
A logical structure enhances the survey’s effectiveness. Questions should follow a natural order, generally starting with more general questions before addressing more specific aspects. This progression allows respondents to familiarize themselves with the topic and provide more thoughtful answers as they progress. The structure should also group questions by themes or categories to facilitate understanding and subsequent analysis of results.
Balance Between Open-ended and Closed-ended Questions
A good satisfaction survey maintains a judicious balance between open-ended and closed-ended questions. Closed-ended questions (multiple choice, rating scales) provide easily analyzable quantitative data, while open-ended questions allow participants to express their opinions in more detail. This balance offers a complete view of customer satisfaction, combining precise metrics with rich qualitative insights. It’s important not to overload the survey with open-ended questions, which can be more demanding for respondents.
The online survey software Drag’n Survey allows you to automatically analyze customer comments using artificial intelligence. Users can focus on analyzing the data rather than processing it.
Types of Questions to Include
An effective satisfaction survey combines different types of questions to obtain comprehensive and actionable information.
Closed-ended Multiple Choice Questions
These questions offer a predefined set of options from which the respondent must choose. They are ideal for collecting quantitative data that is easily analyzable.
Example: “How would you rate our customer service?”
- Excellent
- Good
- Average
- Poor
- Very poor
Likert Scale Questions
Use Likert scales to measure the intensity of opinions or attitudes. Generally, these scales range from 1 to 5 or 1 to 7.
Example: “Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement: ‘The product met my expectations.'” (1: Strongly disagree – 5: Strongly agree)
Binary Questions (Yes/No)
These simple questions are useful for obtaining clear answers on specific points. Example: “Would you recommend our company to a colleague?”
- Yes
- No
Open-ended Questions
Incorporate open-ended questions to allow respondents to express their opinions in more detail. These questions provide valuable qualitative insights.
Example: “What improvements would you suggest for our service?”
Ranking Questions
Ask participants to rank several options in order of preference. This approach helps to understand customer priorities.
Example: “Please rank the following aspects of our service from most important (1) to least important (5) for you:
- Price
- Product quality
- Customer service
- Delivery time
- Ease of use of the website”
Net Promoter Score (NPS) Question
The NPS is a key indicator for measuring customer loyalty.
The typical question is: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company/product to a friend or colleague?”
Online survey software like Drag’n Survey automatically processes the NPS question in the results analysis. The score is thus directly displayed without the need for manual calculation.
Conditional Questions
Use skip logic to ask additional questions based on previous answers. This allows for obtaining more detailed information without weighing down the survey for all respondents.
Example: “Have you contacted our customer service in the last month?”
- If yes: “How would you rate your experience with our customer service?”
The Importance of Timing and Frequency
Appropriate timing and well-calibrated frequency can significantly improve the response rate and the quality of feedback obtained.
Optimal Timing
The best time to send a form depends on your industry and the type of interaction with the customer. As a general rule, it’s preferable to solicit feedback shortly after a specific experience, when it’s still fresh in the customer’s mind.
For example, for an online purchase, send the survey a few days after the product is received. For a service, wait until the customer has had time to evaluate the results.
Adapted Frequency
The frequency of sending forms must be carefully balanced. Too high a frequency risks tiring your customers and decreasing the quality of responses. Conversely, surveys that are too spaced out may cause you to miss opportunities for improvement.
Adapt the frequency according to the intensity of the customer relationship. The more frequent the interactions, the more you can increase the cadence of forms.
Analysis and Exploitation of Results
The analysis and exploitation of results are facilitated by the use of online survey software. These tools, like Drag’n Survey, offer integrated analysis features that simplify data processing. Use automated dashboards to get a quick overview of main trends. Use the filters and segmentations offered to deepen your analysis by customer or product type.
Most platforms allow you to generate attractive visual reports in a few clicks, integrating dynamic graphs and tables. For open-ended questions, take advantage of text analysis and word cloud features to identify recurring themes.
More about surveys:
The benefits of an online survey, click here
Jotform and competing solutions, click here
Top survey apps for data collection, click here
Essential tools for creating a survey, click here
Effective solutions for creating a quiz, click here
Reasons to try an alternative to Qualtrics, click here
Replace Google Forms with a French tool, click here
A Guide to the Best Online Survey Software, click here
The differences between Drag’n Survey and Survio, click here
Discover Surveymonkey and European alternatives, click here
Essential software for creating a satisfaction survey, click here
Compare Typeform and the French software Drag’n Survey, click here
Read the article:
Polish – stworzyć dobry kwestionariusz satysfakcji, click here
French – créer un bon questionnaire de satisfaction, click here
German – eine gute Zufriedenheitsumfrage erstellen, click here
Portuguese – criar um bom questionário de satisfação, click here