In an increasingly cutthroat digital landscape, standing out from the pack is essential if you want your ecommerce business to thrive.
Niche or industry aside, getting to know your customers on a deeper level is one of the most powerful ways to deliver experiences that set you apart from the pack.
And guess what? More than ever, customer feedback is becoming an essential part of any successful ecommerce marketing strategy. It’s basically the data-driven gold dust that keeps on giving.
By getting detailed feedback directly from your customers about your brand, service, and products—you will meet their needs head-on. And when you do that consistently, your conversion rates can start to improve.
But how do you create a brand-boosting customer survey for your budding ecommerce business? Well, we’re going to tell you right here in this essential guide on the subject.
Let’s dive in.
Why are customer surveys so powerful in the digital age?
In the age of ecommerce, getting up close and personal with your customers is essential. As you don’t often get to see your customers face-to-face (if at all), customer surveys offer a valuable touchpoint with the people who will potentially support your brand and buy your products long-term.
Here's the magic of surveys in a nutshell:
- Mass feedback instantly: Imagine chatting with every single customer and understanding them on a deeper level. Surveys let you reach everyone at once and get a wealth of data in a flash.
- Data-driven decisions: Ecommerce success in the digital age is centered around collecting valuable data. Surveys give you hard numbers and specific feedback to base your choices on, not just hunches.
- Targeted improvements: Gone are the days of guessing what customers want. Surveys pinpoint exactly what's working and what needs work so you can focus your efforts for maximum impact.
- Competitive edge: Understanding your customers better than your competitors gives you a huge advantage. You can tailor your offerings and experiences to exactly what people crave.
- Building trust: By actively seeking feedback, you show customers you care about their experience. That builds trust and loyalty, which is gold in the competitive online world.
Basically, customer surveys are like a secret weapon in the digital age. They help you gather tons of info, make smarter choices, and build stronger customer relationships: the key ingredients for ecommerce success.
What you should include in your customer satisfaction surveys
Now that you’re up to speed with the potential power of customer satisfaction surveys, let’s consider what types of questions you present to people for the best possible responses.
We’ll start with the user experience.
Questions about customer support/experience
- How would you rate your last experience with us?
- What were your thoughts when you experienced _________?
- Were you able to find the _________ you were looking for?
- How responsive was our team to your questions or concerns?
Questions about customer challenges, needs, and wants
- What’s your biggest challenge in _________?
- What questions do you have about _________?
- What else do you want to learn about _________?
Question about competitors
- What other competitors did you consider before choosing our brand?
- What made you choose us over a competitor?
- How would you compare us to our competitors?
Questions about customer loyalty
- How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?
- How long have you been a customer with us?
- How likely are you to do business with us again?
Bonus tip: Whether it’s a social media poll or an email-based Q&A, send your customer surveys when they are most likely to engage.
According to a mix of studies, ecommerce surveys are most effective when you send them to customers on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Questions about products and services
- What problem does [product/service] solve for you?
- How well does [product/service] meet your needs?
- What do you like [most/least] about [product/service]?
- Which of the following would you use to describe our [product/service]?
- What features are most valuable to you?
- Did we have the product in stock?
- How well did the [product/service] meet your needs?
- How well did the [product/service] meet your expectations?
- What would you change about our [product/service]?
Questions about the customer
- How did you find us?
- What else would you like us to know?
Bonus tip: To get inspiration for your customer surveys, you can sign up to your competitors’ email lists or do a little mystery shopping. Doing this will give you opportunities to interact with a range of surveys within your niche and gather intelligence to make yours as effective as possible.
Check out our guide to competitive analysis for tips and ideas on how to get inspiration from your direct ecommerce rivals.
How to use surveys to improve customer satisfaction
Now that you know what questions to ask your audience to earn the most impact from your user experience surveys, let’s look at some essential tips to consider when creating them for your audience.
Know your audience
Okay, one of the main aims of your customer surveys is to, well, get to know your audience.
But here’s the thing—to make the most possible impact—you have to aim your questions at the right people at the right time. Then you can gain even more personal insights from your customer surveys, understand your customer data, and grow your customer base.
To do this, creating buyer personas for specific segments of your audience is the way to go. That way, you can match your survey content and style with different target groups based on their demographics, interests or buying patterns.
Work with the right tools
Once you’ve gained a little competitor intelligence and developed your buyer personas, you should look at different customer survey-building tools that you think will best suit your business needs.
There are so many customer survey-building tools available in today’s digital landscape—and here are some of the best for your consideration:
- Microsoft Forms: This is a classic for a reason. It's free of charge, user-friendly, and integrates perfectly with any other Microsoft supported platforms. It’s a great way to create simple surveys to deliver to your customers post-purchase or via email.
- Typeform: Want to add a little pizazz to your survey-building efforts? Typeform lets you create visually engaging surveys that are actually fun to fill out. Their free plan has limitations, but it's a great way to test the waters.
- SurveyMonkey: A big name in the survey world, SurveyMonkey offers a free plan with basic features. You can collect responses and see some results, but some of the good stuff (like advanced reporting) requires a paid upgrade.
Bonus tip: Some email marketing tools and platforms also have built-in survey creation functions. This can be a handy option if you're already using one for your email blasts.
How to choose the right tools for your needs:
Consider your business needs
Are you looking for simple and consistent feedback on your products and services or data digs a little deeper? Knowing what kind of information you're after will help you pick the right tool.
Think about your budget
There are great free options, but if you need more features—paid plans might be worth exploring. Most tools offer free trials so you can test them out before committing.
Look for user-friendliness
Don't get bogged down in complicated interfaces. Focus on tools that are easy to set up and use, so you can spend more time creating epic survey content and growing your business
Speak your customers’ language
Even if you deliver a slick-looking survey with your customers armed with a selection of relevant questions—if the way you write your content is dull, robotic or unrelatable—you’re unlikely to get the results you deserve.
So, speaking your customer's language is essential to extracting every last drop of brand-boosting juice from your customer survey content.
Write in a tone that suits your brand story and identity to spark engagement and appear authentic.
In addition to staying true to your brand, you should also frame your survey intro and questions in a way that is approachable to your target customers.
Bonus tip: Think about the future. As you create questions, consider how you can use the customer survey at a later time.
Use questions that will be relevant over a long period of time, and ask questions that will provide data you can compare over time.
Immerse, inspire, and gamify
Last but certainly not least, to engage your customers to the max, earn loyalty, and gain the brand-boosting insights you need to get ahead of the competition, gamifying your surveys is a good way to go.
There are several ways of making your customer surveys more immersive by gamifying them. Here are some ideas or formats for your consideration:
- A quiz
- A personality test
- A “guess the product” game
- A sound byte quiz
- Social media polls
- A comparison or ‘versus’ game (E.g. “which version of ____ do you like most. A or B”)
- A creative contest where your customer draw or write something based on a theme and ask certain questions about your brand or product to enter
The point here is: Make your customer survey fun as well as visually appealing and not only will you get more responses, but you’re also likely to inspire trust and repeat custom.
Bonus tip: Ask “how” questions. Another way to gain better insight is to ask “how” questions. Don’t ask “Do you like the product?” Instead, ask “How well would you rank the product?” or “How would you describe the product?”
How to encourage your customers to fill out your surveys: extra engagement tips
As we said. you can only benefit from a customer survey if you get shoppers and clients to complete it.
So, in addition to the tips we’ve already mentioned, follow this advice to earn the best brand-boosting returns for your customer survey efforts.
Keep it short and sweet
You don’t want your survey to feel like work for your customers. So, keep it short so it doesn’t take up much of their time or energy. When conducting a survey, keep it to about five to 10 questions.
Be upfront of the length and time it will take to complete
Right away let customers know what is expected of them. Before the survey starts, set expectations and let them know how many questions are included and how long it will take to complete.
Give something back in return
Make it worth the customer’s or client’s time to take your survey. Offer an incentive such as a coupon, discount, or freebie to complete the survey.
Show the benefit
Also, show the customer or client how the survey will benefit your business and ultimately them, too. Let them know what you’re going to do with the results or how you will use their insights to create a better customer experience.
Consider using language like, “Help us improve!” or “Be a part of a brighter future” Fill out this survey to tell us how we can get better at __________.”
Make it easy to complete
Again, a customer survey shouldn’t feel like work. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to submit their answers. Use the tools and software we’ve mentioned in this guide to steer your customers through the process. And get creative with gamification where you can.
Ask one question at a time
Also, don’t make the survey challenging for customers by asking confusing or complex questions. Be straightforward, and focus on asking clear questions about one product, service, or topic at a time.
Use consistent ranking scales
If you use sliding scale questions, use the same ranking system throughout the survey. For example, don’t use a one-to-five ranking scale on some questions and then a 1-to-10 ranking scale on other questions. Keep it consistent.
Ask at the right time
Be mindful of the customer’s journey with your brand as you decide when to present shoppers or clients with a survey. For example, you might not want to push a survey on a customer only a few minutes after they do business with your brand for the first time.
Ask the right people: A quick reminder
Yes, a quick reminder. Consider who would be the best people to take your survey. Match the questions and goals with the customer who will be most likely to complete the survey (and provide the best insights). A brand-new customer might be confused to find a survey with questions about brand loyalty and long-term brand advocacy.
Bonus tip: Experiment with different channels when it comes to serving your surveys to customers and see what works best. Play with a mix of post-purchase ranking sliders or scales, email-based surveys, game-based in-app surveys, social media polls, and website landing page surveys.
The key ingredients of an effective customer satisfaction survey: a quick checklist
You have everything you need to create a customer survey that sings. To further guide you on your quest for brand-boosting ecommerce domination, here’s a handy checklist for your reference.
My customer survey includes most (if not all) of these key ingredients:
A snappy intro that states the reason and the benefits of filling in the survey
Eye-grabbing visuals or graphics that fit in with your brand identify
Open-ended questions or content that will result in gaining actionable customer feedback
Copy that is conversational and gets to the point
An interesting theme or hook for your survey
Rating scales or sliders to get customer satisfaction insights and data
Final thoughts
By following these tips, ideas, and best practices, you can create a customer satisfaction survey that will help you gain real-time insights about your business.
You can use what you learn to improve your brand and create better products, services, and experiences. Do it consistently enough, and you’ll accelerate the growth of your ecommerce business while consistently standing out in your niche.
As you can see, there are several ways you can create a better customer experience in ecommerce —and they’re all within your reach. Take the time to craft surveys for specific segments of your audience, and you’ll get to know your customers better than you ever thought possible.
Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice from GoDaddy on any subject matter.
