How To Create A Great Customer Satisfaction Survey With 5 Examples

November 24, 2023

Chris Risse

Estimated Reading Time : 17 minutes

A successful small business knows what the customer wants, and to understand your customer, you must ask the right questions to get the right answers. This is why a customer satisfaction survey is critical to the future success of your small business.

In this article, I share insight on the best strategy to prepare, manage, and use a customer satisfaction survey in your small business marketing and communications. In addition, I give examples of questions to ask and customer satisfaction survey tools to look at when setting up your own.

Quick Links

What is a customer satisfaction survey?

Customer Satisfaction Survey In Your Small Business

Great questions to ask in a customer satisfaction survey

How to create a customer satisfaction survey

The Top 5 Customer Satisfaction Survey Tools For Small Businesses

Helpful Resources

What is customer satisfaction?

10 Ways to Boost Customer Satisfaction

What is a customer satisfaction survey?

A customer satisfaction survey is a communication response tool for your small business interactions with customers. The purpose of a customer satisfaction survey is to gather honest and accurate feedback that can help a company assess customer satisfaction, identify areas for improvement, and measure customer loyalty. Ultimately, the survey can lead the customer to a final action, such as leaving a review, sharing on social media, or referring to a friend.

Like any tool, a customer satisfaction survey is only as good as the questions asked and the answers given. Left alone, a customer satisfaction survey will not help your business gain feedback, reviews, or client testimonials. You will need to bring a customer satisfaction survey into your business sales, marketing, and support processes, to gain the valuable feedback and response that can be applied to future sales, customer generated marketing, and product development

Customer Satisfaction Survey In Your Small Business

The goal of a customer satisfaction survey should be to answer Who, What, Why, How, and When. Using this information, the survey can lead to a conclusion that exchanges value for you and the customer.

Example: You would like to receive feedback about the customer’s experience with your products or services, while the customer would like to receive a discount on their next purchase.

What types of answer options should be in the survey?

While there are many ways you can allow your customers to answer in your satisfaction survey, it is best to keep the fields to common or easy to use options that your customers will already be familiar with. This keeps the process easy to complete, which maximizes the likelihood that your customer will finish the survey.

Keep your customer satisfaction survey easy to complete with these types of answer options:

Multiple Choice (Numerical or Alphabetical)
Rating Scale (1 to 5 OR 1 to 10)
Ranking (Best to Worst)
True/False
Yes/No/Maybe

How many questions should be in a customer satisfaction survey?

A customer satisfaction survey should be quick and easy for a customer to complete. Try to keep your questionnaire to 1 to 5 questions that allow the customer to choose their answers. If the choices require further information, such as the customer will need to type out an answer, keep this to a single question at the end of the survey.

Maximize survey completion with a value exchange

A core concept in small business is understanding the value exchange (e.g. supplying goods in exchange for currency). This core concept holds true for a customer satisfaction survey as well. Having an incentive to complete a survey can greatly increase the completion rate. Offering something as simple as a discount code, store credit, or a bonus item are simple, yet effective ways of increasing your customer satisfaction survey submissions.

Need some more examples of the value exchange? Here is an excerpt from a past podcast episode on the subject:

What to do after customer survey completion

When a customer has completed a satisfaction survey, there are further actions that can be taken. Make sure to have a “Thank You” message that shows your gratitude for the feedback and answers. In addition, if you did offer an incentive for the completed survey, delivery of the reward is due, so make sure your customer receives it. Last, you can always add in a customer review funnel as the final step, to get a customer review or testimonial.

Great questions to ask in a customer satisfaction survey

When preparing your customer satisfaction survey, having basic questions in place can satisfy your goal of knowing the answers to Who, What, Why, How, and When. I've prepared a list of 10 great questions you can ask your customers in your customer satisfaction survey:

Examples of great questions to ask:

How satisfied are you with the overall quality of our product/service?
How would you rate the level of customer service you received?
How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or family member?
Were all of your expectations met during your experience with our product/service?
What could we do to improve your experience in the future?
How was the packaging and delivery of your order?
Have you purchased from us before? If so, how does this experience compare to your previous experiences?
Were there any issues or problems with your purchase? If so, please describe them.
How did you hear about our product/service?
What is the main reason for your satisfaction/dissatisfaction with our product/service?

Also, don't hold back on being creative with your questions to spice up the survey. Having nonstandard questions can make your survey more fun and engaging, helping your customer progress to survey completion.

Examples of fun questions to ask:

What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Who would win in a fight between ____ and ____?
What is your favorite color?
Which do you prefer: Chopsticks or a spork?
How much wood can a woodchuck chuck?
What one thing would you take with you on a deserted island?
Which is heavier, a ton of rocks or a ton of feathers?
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

Customer satisfaction surveys are the preferred solutions for all business pups.

100% of customers responded with "good boy" when asked about business pup.

How to create a customer satisfaction survey

There are MANY great tools and solutions available for creating a customer satisfaction survey, and I will get to those in a moment. But first, I want to cover the process for building, deploying, and activation - employ this simple strategy for managing your small business customer satisfaction survey.

Define your objectives

Determine the purpose of the survey and what specific information or feedback you want to gather from your customers.

Choose the right survey tool

Evaluate different survey tools available and select the one that best fits your requirements in terms of features, customization options, and ease of use.

Choosing can be hard, especially when you need a solid solution quickly.
I've made a list of my top 5 customer satisfaction survey tools in the section below.

Design your survey

Use the survey tool's features to create your survey questionnaire. Consider the following elements when designing your survey:

Craft effective questions

Formulate clear, straightforward questions that are easy for participants to understand. Be specific and avoid leading or biased questions. Test the survey internally to ensure the questions are properly framed.

Test the survey

Before sending it out to customers, conduct thorough testing to ensure everything works as intended. Test the survey on different devices and platforms to check for compatibility issues.

Determine the distribution method

Decide how you will distribute the survey to your customers. Options can include sending it via email, embedding it on your website, or sharing it on social media.

Follow up with reminders

If you have a low response rate, consider sending gentle reminders to customers who haven't completed the survey yet. Be polite and emphasize the importance of their feedback.

Review responses

As survey responses come in, use the survey tool's reporting and analytics features to analyze the data. Look for trends, patterns, and recurring feedback to gain insights into customer sentiments.

Incentivize Survey Completion

If your customer satisfaction surveys are being ignored or the completion rate is extremely low, consider sweetening the deal for your customers by providing a carrot at the end of the stick. By adding a discount code, small reward, or bonus item for completing the survey, your customers will be motivated to provide the feedback you seek.

Take action based on feedback

Use the feedback you receive to implement changes or improvements in your product, service, or customer experience. Engage with customers who provided valuable insights to show appreciation and demonstrate that their feedback is being taken seriously.

Make a final ask for a review

Once a customer has completed the survey, and conditions have determined that the customer is very satisfied, you can make a final ask for a customer review. Either link directly to your prefered review profile or give them options with a customer review funnel.

Top 5 Customer Satisfaction Survey Tools For Small Biz

Here is a curated list I have prepared for my top 5 favorite customer satisfaction survey tools. I have worked with each for many small business clients and my list is based on the perspective of a small business owner/marketer. These tools have been included in the list for the following reasons: ease-of-use, cost-effectiveness, capabilities, integrations, and completion rate.

Helpful Resources For Customer Feedback

6 Simple Ways You Can Generate Great Customer Reviews

Your small business can generate great customer reviews just by applying these 6 simple concepts within your daily tasks.

Emotional Intelligence Advantage: Crafting Review Responses That Wow Customers

Unleash the power of emotional intelligence to transform customer reviews into opportunities for growth, satisfaction, and business success.

5 Essential Tips To Attract Customers With Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is one of the best ways to be seen by new customers. Optimize your profile, post relevant content, gain customer reviews, and more.