Last Updated on February 15, 2021 by Bright Past
Creating a useful and effective customer survey is not an easy task, but it’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to receive a large amount of data from your customers, actionable data that you can then use to change your strategy when it comes to the service that you provide.
While another favorite way to get a hold of this data involves speaking one-on-one with a customer, customer surveys are a great way to get answers to questions that might frankly go unanswered otherwise.
However, surveys do have some inherent problems, and these problems are only made worse when you don’t have a solid game plan in place.
In this post, we’re going to look at some of the proven ways to turn your surveys into a reliable source of insightful customer information.
Tips for Creating an Insightful Customer Survey
Customer surveys do have some serious problems, but that doesn’t mean that they should be dismissed altogether as a valid source of information. It just means that you need to be smarter with the data.
For instance, research has shown that there will always be a small minority of people who lie about their survey questions. These will tend to revolve around belief, belonging, and behavior. Some people will even provide inaccurate information completely by accident, further complicating the issue of the customer survey.
Fortunately, there are ways to combat these notorious issues when it comes to customer surveys. Let’s take a look at some of these ways.
KISS
KISS, or Keep It Simple Stupid, is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re getting accurate information on your customer survey.
This is all about using the simplest language you possibly can to get your point across. No rhetorical flourishes here, just easy to understand phrasing that leaves nothing to interpretation.
At the same time, this will help to keep your survey on the short side, which is essential. No one’s going to want to read and answer a survey for 30 minutes, so KISS works double duty and helps you out here.
Only Questions that Serve Your Goal
Be ruthless in killing your darlings when it comes to writing a survey. Cut unnecessary questions wherever you find them. Every question you include must have an actual purpose for being there. Fluff questions don’t help at all.
Every question you use should have a purpose and a good reason for being there. Depending on the nature of the site, you might not need to know how the customer got there. If you don’t need to know the customer’s name, then don’t bother asking.
Including a question that you only think couldn’t hurt to know will just make it more likely for the survey taken to exit out of your survey.
Construct Smart and Open-ended Questions
It can be tempting to go with easy multiple-choice questions, but then you’ll be missing out on an opportunity to hear what your customers think and want right from their mouths.
However, it’s best that you start small and slow. Your customer won’t want to answer a big text box question right off the bat. You’ll need to ease them into it with simple, multiple-choice questions first.
One strategy is to get the survey taker to commit to a simple introduction question and then follow up with a text box question that asks them why it is that they feel that way. This way, you’ll first get the customer engaged and then ask them a more open-ended question. It’s the best of both worlds.
Creating a useful and effective customer survey is not an easy task, but it’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to receive a large amount of data from your customers, actionable data that you can then use to change your strategy when it comes to the service that you provide.
While another favorite way to get a hold of this data involves speaking one-on-one with a customer, customer surveys are a great way to get answers to questions that might frankly go unanswered otherwise.
If you’re looking for a reputation management company that can help you through this process, get in touch with us today.