Customer Satisfaction Survey Templates

Why Customer Satisfaction Surveys are Important?

Conducting customer satisfaction surveys is the most valuable step to improve customer retention and increase satisfaction. Furthermore, these tools help businesses to:

(a) ensure the quality and delivery of products that would satisfy their customers;
(b) gather negative and positive information that could help them improve their business marketing strategies and sales;
(c) understand the problems with their products and/or services to meet customer expectations; and
(d) improve customer engagement and retention.

This article features 1) key elements of customer satisfaction survey designs; 2) common mistakes when building a satisfaction survey template; 3) mobile-ready app for hassle-free reporting and timely feedback; and 4) downloadable, customizable and free customer satisfaction survey templates.

Key Elements of Customer Satisfaction Survey Designs

Designing your customer survey templates needs to be simple and effective to engage your customers to take time in giving their feedback. Below are the key elements you should consider in creating your customer satisfaction survey designs:

Define the survey purpose and give clear instructions

Your business should clearly state the purpose and intent of the survey to inform your customers of what they are signing for. By providing clear and simple instructions, it would help your customers to proceed with the survey even without your assistance.

Use the most concrete language possible

Customer satisfaction surveys should be comprehensible and easy to understand. Avoid using jargon, abbreviations, or any internal business terms to prevent customers’ confusion and different interpretations.

Use appropriate response choices

Choosing appropriate responses should be clear depending on the metrics you want to measure. If you are asking for ratings, it is advisable to use words rather than numbers as response options (e.g. “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree). This would help your customers to easily determine which of the choices best represents their answers.

The customer satisfaction form should also allow open-text feedback. This would let your customers give personal responses to how they felt about your products or services. Open-Text feedback would help you determine new strategies for marketing campaigns.

Limit your survey to a reasonable number of questions

The key to effective customer satisfaction surveys is asking the right questions. The shorter it is, the higher the probability of customer engagement. It is recommended to limit your survey to about five minutes to be completed, otherwise, if it requires to be a little bit longer you have to set your customers’ expectations.

Ask customer’s overall rating

An overall customer rating can give you a summary of your customers’ journey. It benchmarks the majority of customer responses which allows you to compare your business to your competitors over time.

Common Mistakes when Building a Satisfaction Survey Template Questions

Asking the right questions is a crucial aspect of a good customer satisfaction survey. It allows you to evaluate customer’s experience, sentiments, and level of satisfaction. Below are common mistakes to watch out when building your customer survey template:

1. Leading questions
   These questions can drive your customers to one answer over another because of the way it is worded. This would create confusion with your respondents.
   Example:
   ✖: “You have heard of iAuditor by SafetyCulture, haven’t you?”.
   ✔: “Have you heard of iAuditor by SafetyCulture?”.
2. Double-barreled questions
   This is a two-part question but you are only giving your customers one response option. With this type of question, you are not giving your respondents the chance to have different answers for the issue or question.
   Example:
   ✖: Did you enjoy using our product and services?
   ✔: Did you enjoy using our product?
   ✔: Did you enjoy our services?
3. Mandatory questions
   You should never ask your customers to fill out a mandatory field. This would lead your respondents to leave without answering your survey. Giving your customers the option to skip what they want can make them feel comfortable and remove the pressure of having to finish the survey.
   Example:
   ✖: Please include your comments and suggestions*
   ✔: Kindly include comments and suggestions if applicable
4. Intrusive demographic questions
   Demographic questions are important to know your specific market, but you should avoid asking specific questions that would put your respondents in an uncomfortable situation.
   Example:
   ✖: How old are you?
   ✔: Age: [18-25], [26-35], [36-45], [46 and above]
5. Complicated questions
   Writing complex and complicated questions that require calculations, thorough explanation, and research would definitely drift your respondents away. Keep your customer satisfaction survey simple and easy to answer.
   Example:
   ✖: How responsive (or unresponsive) is our staff in resolving your issues?
   ✔: Did our staff get back to you in a timely manner?

Designing the appropriate customer survey template is necessary to build connections with your customers that will help you to achieve your business goal and other benefits.

iAuditor as Customer Satisfaction Survey Service

An alternative to traditional online surveys and paper forms to capture customer satisfaction results is using digital kiosks. Having customers fill out feedback via an onsite digital kiosk can help you capture relevant and timely feedback.

Download this free collection of digital customer satisfaction survey templates you can deploy on a tablet device via iAuditor mobile app. iAuditor by SafetyCulture is used by across businesses worldwide to capture real-time data and improve their product and service offerings.