A customer satisfaction survey questionnaire can be a very useful tool for gathering information about the opinions, tastes, and viewpoints of your customers. Through surveys, you can get a lot of information about what your customers like and don’t like, what would make them buy certain products again, their opinion of the service they received, etc. But here’s the problem: You can’t use the information you don’t collect. That may sound simple, but it’s not always easy to get people to fill out your survey. Here are a few tips to increase the chances that customers will fill out your survey.
Make it easy
First and foremost, it’s important to make the survey easy to fill out. The easier it is, the more likely more people will want to do it. If it feels like a chore, people are going to be much less likely to want to do it. For example, if you send an email to your newsletter subscribers and include a direct link to the survey, they are much more likely to fill out the survey than if you have someone call them at home and ask questions over the phone. (People tend to find phone surveys very tedious).
Next, keep it short. No one wants to answer 50 questions on a survey. The shorter the survey is, the more likely it is that someone will be willing to fill it out. A basic customer-service satisfaction survey (such as the kind left on the table in a restaurant) should never take more than 30 seconds to 1 minute to complete. A more detailed survey (such as a product review) should take no more than five minutes at the most; three is preferred. Note, however, that there are some exceptions to this rule. If you are offering a gift or other incentive in return for filling out the survey, it’s probably ok to make the survey a little longer. If customers know that they are going to get something at the end of the survey, they will be more likely to answer a few extra questions!
Choose your topic carefully. Customers will be more likely to complete your survey if they are passionate about the topic. People want to have their voices heard, and surveys are a fantastic way to do that. If you can frame your survey around a topic that people can get behind (or passionately against) they will be much more willing to take the survey. People don’t tend to pass up an opportunity to speak their minds.
Finally, it’s important to let your customers know that their opinions are valued. When people feel that you truly value what they have to say and that you are not wasting their time, they will be more willing to give you their input. Always let your survey participants know that their opinions are important and answer any questions they have about how their input will be put to use by your company.
