Inaccurate or poor answers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You can increase the response rate with good survey design, timing, and presentation. But even if you do, the higher number of responses doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019ll get better responses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why? Because the quality of responses depends on other customer satisfaction survey best practices (for example, the survey length or crafting effective questions<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n So even though you can get many responses, not all those responses could be unhelpful if you don\u2019t follow the best practices surrounding getting insightful answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, if you follow the below best practices, you\u2019ll get a high response rate and actionable answers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, let\u2019s see what those responses are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many different types of surveys. Each of them can help you uncover different aspects of customer experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how do you know which one to run? Well, it all depends on your survey goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me explain that with the three most common customer survey types: CSAT, NPS, and CES<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A customer satisfaction score (CSAT)<\/a> survey helps you understand how satisfied the customers are with your product, service, or overall experience. You can use this survey type to measure customer satisfaction at crucial customer interaction points (example: after customer service, billing, sales interaction, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example of a CSAT survey:<\/p>\n\n\n Depending on what respondents choose, the CSAT survey tool<\/a> calculates a CSAT score using this formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n CSAT score = (The number of satisfied customers (i.e., people who selected option 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale)\/ Number of survey responses) x 100 <\/p>\n\n\n\n And depending on the score, you\u2019ll know the customer satisfaction levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out more:<\/strong> What is a good CSAT score?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n NPS (or Net Promoter Score) surveys help measure customer loyalty and customers\u2019 likeliness to recommend your product or service to a friend or colleague. NPS<\/em> is a registered trademark of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example of an NPS survey:<\/p>\n\n\n Depending on what respondents choose, the NPS software<\/a> calculates NPS or Net Promoter Score using this formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n NPS = [(Number of promoters \u2013 Number of detractors) \/ (Total number of respondents)] x 100<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, promoters are the respondents who choose 9 or 10, and detractors choose between 0 and 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This score determines your customers\u2019 loyalty levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out more:<\/strong> How to evaluate NPS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Customer effort score (CES) measures the ease of using\/interacting with your product or service and its features. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a common CES question asked after a customer uses a feature in SaaS:<\/p>\n\n\n Depending on what respondents choose, the CES software<\/a> calculates CES or Customer Effort Score with this formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n CES = Total sum of responses \/ Number of responses<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final score uncovers how easy or difficult the users find interacting with your product or service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like in the above examples, the first survey question shouldn\u2019t demand much of customers\u2019 time so that the maximum number of people start filling the survey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pick one of these frictionless question types for your first question: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you attract users with a frictionless question and get their initial response (necessary for the survey score), you should further ask follow-up questions to understand their response. For that, you can use one of these question types:<\/p>\n\n\n\n All your customer satisfaction survey questions<\/a> should be clear and specific. For example, \u201cHow would you rate the support you received?\u201d is a) a clear <\/strong>CSAT question<\/strong><\/a> that anyone can understand and b) a specific question<\/strong> that demands only one answer (the customer support was good, average, or bad).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides, you must not ask more than one question at a time. Otherwise, it can become hard for respondents to answer. For example, \u201cHow would you rate your customer service experience, and would you recommend us to others?\u201d is both clear and specific, but customers can\u2019t quickly analyze the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few other elements of a good question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The survey length highly impacts both the response rate and quality of responses. It\u2019s simple logic: Almost no one would be willing to spend their tens of minutes filling a long survey. Even if you tie an incentive for completing the survey, most won\u2019t give full & honest answers, and they\u2019ll try to get it over with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rhonda G. Kost and Joel Correa da Rosa researched the impact of survey length on survey completion, response rate, and reliability<\/a>. They sent three types of surveys: ultrashort, short, and long, and found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sending your surveys at the right time<\/a> can positively impact the response rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, send the surveys meant to be sent after action after the action. For example, you should send the survey asking about the customer support experience right after resolving the support query.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, send general surveys when customers notice them, yet the surveys don\u2019t feel intrusive. For example, if you send surveys via email, sending them at the right time<\/a> increases open rates – and thus response rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two reasons to send your surveys frequently<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For such people, send the same survey after some time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, here\u2019s an email from Namecheap asking to rate their services (on Nov 11):<\/p>\n\n\n And here\u2019s a reminder email a week later:<\/p>\n\n\n Therefore, you should send surveys frequently (every quarter, 6 months, or year) to gather the freshest opinions of your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where you send your survey also impacts the survey response rate. Choose from these options, based on survey types and actions involved:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you follow all the above-mentioned best practices, you\u2019ll likely get a great response rate and helpful responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, sometimes, all the best practices don\u2019t cut it or get a specific customer segment to respond. In such cases, you can try offering an incentive for those who complete the survey. For instance, you can offer an extended free trial, a freebie, or even a monetary reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note<\/strong>: Ensure that they know they\u2019re asked for an honest opinion, and the reward is not a bribe to say positive things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As soon as possible, follow up with survey respondents and close the feedback loop. Unfortunately, this is an often ignored step, and it leads to customers thinking they wasted time filling your survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few options to follow up, close the feedback loop, and ensure that the customers feel valued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last and the most crucial customer satisfaction best practice is to take action based on survey responses. Otherwise, there\u2019s no point in running the surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how you can put your survey results in action:<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, find out if the problem requires immediate action or not. For example, if the CSAT survey score is 70%+, the warning levels are pretty low. Therefore, you can passively act on customer problems you find while looking through the survey responses. On the contrary, if CSAT is below 40%, the warning levels are high, and customer problems need immediate attention, or you might lose them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, you can\u2019t go customer by customer and make changes per each feedback. Instead, you need to look for patterns and find common problems that, if solved, will uplift the survey score in the next iteration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two ways to look for patterns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consult all the relevant teams, consider everyone\u2019s opinions, and make an action plan. Then, act and solve the problem. And don\u2019t forget to update the customer about it to gain those loyalty points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Running customer surveys is the best way to uncover how customers feel about your brand. Simply put, here\u2019s how customer surveys work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 1:<\/strong> You ask customers a question<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step 2:<\/strong> The customers answer it<\/p>\n\n\n\n Practically, it\u2019s not that simple, though. You need to take care of a lot of things to get the maximum possible actionable answers. And hopefully, this guide helped you find those \u201ca lot of things.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, only one thing remains: Try all the abovementioned best practices. Good luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n In this guide, I’ll show you the best practices for running CSAT surveys. And let\u2019s face it – when you implement any strategy for the first time, you often miss the mark. There\u2019s always something you could\u2019ve done or shouldn\u2019t have done better. The good news? You don\u2019t have to try to figure out what […]<\/p>\n10 CSAT Survey Best Practices<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Make sure CSAT is the survey that matches your goals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1. CSAT<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"CSAT](\"http:\/\/ec2-34-253-215-75.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/image3.png\")
2. NPS<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"NPS](\"http:\/\/ec2-34-253-215-75.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/image1-2.png\")
3. CES<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"CES](\"http:\/\/ec2-34-253-215-75.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image6-1.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n2. Choose the right survey questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. Construct clear and specific questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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4. Limit the number of survey questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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5. Send surveys at the right time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Example](\"http:\/\/ec2-34-253-215-75.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Refiner4.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n6. Send surveys frequently<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1. People want to fill the survey, but they forget because of other priorities. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/p3v0miefa4isR10RUTFFydG70q3bvkCfKh6AgoFkyFiGPhKlro12cTSVlDVRpi45raFDOE5_CNadtowgOnTDCQav9sCL65DRchhx7c_E_6-jAzfsEJnSEptq6lQ8zZEMTLxCWDVw\")
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/W2E9ZDI3SGM8ep1rOMdSJne5_vIpys6O2z1Xp80ZqsHe8GNa5eh7FXJNnMvJFCgoqX2K4BqSML0DxBdkbhEWP0vE4mrnMFiRZqlfiM5UjdnBzuN9TnLISiRVBh3aaQTxXEvbzX-3\")
2. People\u2019s opinions change (if you make response-based changes). <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
7. Send surveys to the right platform<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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8. Offer survey respondents a bonus (optional)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
9. Follow up with respondents.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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10. Put your findings into action. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Determine warning levels<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Look for patterns<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Step 3: Make an action plan and act<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n