Top 10 Tricks to Boost Customer Satisfaction Survey Response Rates

Customer satisfaction surveys are powerful instruments for assessing product quality, customer loyalty, and a variety of other factors. There's just one issue: making customers complete surveys might be challenging, particularly if they're too lengthy. However, keeping surveys brief is easier said than done. This is especially true if you need to collect a lot of data about your target audience. Luckily, there is always a solution. In this post, we will share with you the key tricks to make your customer satisfaction surveys work for you.

Tick #1 — Narrow the Focus of Your Survey

Let’s start with the basics — you can’t have a survey to cover multiple things at the same time. This approach will hardly work. The most effective customer satisfaction surveys are focused and targeted. That implies you should avoid offering your clients questionnaires that cover too many topics at once, such as customer happiness, product usage, pricing, and so on.

Instead, provide your customers with individual surveys on each of these areas. Depending on the type of data you aim to get, you may send them narrowly tailored surveys on:

• Customer satisfaction;
• Pain points and improvement areas;
• Customer preferences and needs;
• Brand perception.

The more targeted your surveys are, the better. People are more inclined to reply to a survey that focuses on a specific issue rather than a large, in-depth one that covers a wide range of topics.

Trick #2 — Keep the Wording Simple

When it comes to wording, simplicity is key. Using straightforward language can be beneficial in boosting customer survey response rates for several reasons:

• Customers can read quickly, which means they can perform tasks faster.
• It is less likely to cause misinterpretation or misconceptions.

Using concise language is more captivating and user-friendly for customers, particularly when they are pressed for time and aiming to complete the survey promptly. Customers are much less inclined to complete a survey if it is filled with perplexing language that requires them to spend valuable time deciphering.

Trick #3 — Give a Reward

The most effective trick to boost customer satisfaction survey response rates is to give a prize or a limited time offer to your customer satisfaction survey responders. The incentive might range from $1 off your next transaction to a thank you email with a unique promo code. The goal is to make the survey worth your consumers' time.

Small incentives may significantly increase your survey response rates in the customer review funnel, allowing you to get the data you need to enhance your company. Furthermore, purchasing incentives like discounts and special offers may enhance your sales and generate more revenue, thus, increasing your earnings.

Trick #4 — Provide Clear Details

Similarly, while creating your survey questions, be precise. Make no assumptions about the customer's choices, wants, or requirements. For example, if you want to quantify your reputation among your clients or the general public, don't ask them. “Are you satisfied with our company overall?” By phrasing the question differently, you can obtain more accurate data and increase the likelihood of survey completion. “Please rate your satisfaction with our company on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest.”

Being specific is really helpful for both customers and yourself. It enables you to collect customer responses as individual data points, which can then be analyzed further. This is a mutually beneficial situation.

Tick #5 — Use Previous Data to Improve Surveys

It is definitely a good idea to use any past data you have gathered when creating fresh customer satisfaction surveys. For example, if you already know a customer's name, age, and gender, you may include that information in the survey replies for that customer. Again, this helps with your data analysis work later on, but it also makes the survey easier for customers to complete.

Tick #6 — Send Customer Service Surveys Via Relevant Channels

Your customers are unlikely to go out of their way to complete your survey. Make it simple and comfortable for them to give relevant replies by sharing your surveys via the appropriate channels:

• In-product — If you sell physical products, you may include a survey invitation in the package. If you provide a digital product, you may automatically urge users to complete a survey after a specified amount of time.
• Website — A one- or two-question integrated online survey can let you learn how visitors feel about your product. Ask about their user experience and how you might improve it.
• Email — Send surveys directly to your target audience. For more accurate results, you can even segment your audience and send targeted questions to each segment separately, without spamming people.
• Text messages — SMS surveys are a fast, easy, and engaging method for customers to assess their experiences. Text messages are likely to get a greater response rate than other digital platforms. According to EZ Texting's study, a consumer is 134 times more likely to read a text than an email.

Use a variety of survey distribution techniques to improve the number of replies. Sending reminders across various channels — while keeping feedback fatigue in mind — could potentially be the push clients need to finish the survey.

Trick #7 — Skip Long Introductions

Long introductions should be avoided if you want your surveys to be brief and interesting. If a question requires a lengthy explanation, it may not be suitable for a survey. In fact, survey introductions longer than one or two phrases should be avoided. You might provide a quick introduction that explains the nature or purpose of the survey (or why consumers should reply). Anything extra slows down your study and may cause a consumer to exit the survey before completing any questions.

Tick #8 — Choose the Right Questions

The types of questions you ask can greatly influence the effectiveness and ease of completing a survey. When it comes to surveys, various question types can be used for this purpose:

• Questions that require a single response;
• Questions with multiple options to choose from;
• Questions that allow for a more expansive and detailed response;
• Scale questions (like in the preceding example, with customer satisfaction evaluated from one to five).

In general, the most effective survey questions are those that offer immediate data points. Scale and multiple-choice questions are both appropriate for this purpose. For example, if you want to know what payment methods your consumers prefer, you may provide numerous alternatives.

However, open-ended inquiries might be valuable for learning about your clients' broad sentiments or ideas. For example, if you want to know how much clients are willing to pay for credit card processing fees, you may provide them with a text box to enter their responses. Keep in mind, however, that open-ended questions often get fewer responses since they require more work to answer.

Trick #9 — Ask One Question at a Time

When creating your customer satisfaction surveys, ensure that each inquiry only contains one question at a time. Do not put two questions in the same box or bucket of the survey. This just confuses customers and may make them overwhelmed by the subject at hand. If you truly need to know two things, create an additional survey question and include it in the same batch.

Trick #10 — Display the Remaining Questions

Your surveys are more likely to be completed if they are brief and simple to complete. As a result, including a little “remaining questions” counter in the screen's corner may be beneficial. For example, if your customer satisfaction survey has 6 questions, displaying a simple “0/6” counter on the screen that raises by one for each completed question may encourage your clients to complete the whole survey. It is a little psychological trick, but it works. A counter provides your consumer with a feeling of progress and accomplishment. When your clients have completed 5/6 of the survey questions, they are less likely to leave it!

Let’s Wrap up

As you can see, keeping your customer satisfaction surveys brief and engaging requires carefully preparing what questions will be asked and structuring them in short entertaining packages. Take the time to thoroughly organize your surveys, and you'll have a lot more consumer feedback to utilize to enhance your company.