CX Guide: Survey Success Made Easy

Updated 9/25: The following blog is adapted from Bizrate Insights’ past library of white papers and guides that we’ve made publicly available. Enjoy!

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How to Get the Most From Your Customer Feedback Tools

Organizations focused on eCommerce have long utilized surveys to collect information vital to understanding the customer experience.

Despite robust and comprehensive advances in CX tools over the years, the key elements of survey design continue to challenge retailers, resulting in lower response rates and feedback that lacks actionable insights.

Using surveys to collect actionable feedback has the highest levels of success when a business has the knowledge and experience to apply best practices, test extensively, and continually adjust as trends develop.

THIS GUIDE WILL:

• • Detail how to identify and avoid common pitfalls.

• • Present an overview of testing best practices.

• • Provide ways to ensure balanced responses and eliminate polarization.

Assuming a Short Survey is Best

Most people believe that customers will be happier and more likely to respond when presented with just one or two questions. In reality, the exact opposite is true.

While short surveys, including SMS texts and online polls, can help identify certain trends in customer sentiment, the results are often skewed toward the worst experiences. Very short surveys allow respondents to provide off-the-cuff answers or scores rather than think about the overall experience. Bizrate Insights’ testing has shown that over 95% of customers who answer the first three questions will go on to answer as many (or as few) questions as they are asked.

In addition, asking about the entire experience before including an open comment box results in more thoughtful, well-rounded comments and balanced scores.

Fixating on The Wrong Metrics – Or Looking Only at the Metrics

Businesses need more than just data; they need actionable insights and results. Using a baseline of Key Performance Indicators and metrics is important, but so is knowing what to ask next.

For example, Net Promoter Score™ (NPS) is often looked at as the gold standard in measurement, but it only focuses on one key question. For example, if Checkout Satisfaction is low, then deep-dive questions surrounding checkout length, login process, payment options, etc. should be included to drive insights.

Metrics are necessary to measure performance. Viewing CX as purely a “numbers game” is a mistake, as many of the most valuable insights come from customer sentiment analysis, which provides details that can’t be found in a graph or chart.

Asking the Wrong Questions

You know the problem you’re trying to solve, but how do you know what to ask to get the answers you’re looking for? Input and assistance from experienced VoC specialists can be the key to writing questions that yield actionable insights.

Minor wording adjustments and changes to question types, like a scale versus agree/disagree format, can drastically alter the results.

Bizrate Insights has completed extensive question testing and utilizes standardized questions across all survey experiences. This helps to maintain a baseline for measurement and allows for benchmarking across companies and surveys. Custom questions are a great addition to any standard set and can be adjusted as needed throughout the year.

Requesting Feedback at the Wrong Time

Asking for feedback too soon – or too late – can skew results. To get the most accurate data, you want to strike while the iron is hot. For example, asking about the online shopping experience after the order is delivered requires customers to remember what happened while shopping. And that memory can be clouded by the delivery experience. If the online experience was great, but then shipping was delayed, the customer may give lower site scores because they are upset in general.

At the same time, customers want time to reflect on their experience before answering questions, and they don’t want to be inundated. Bizrate Insights’ survey methodologies combat this in a number of ways based on the type of survey.

The online survey is split into two parts: post-purchase and post-delivery (or in-store pickup). Post-purchase surveys are offered on-site while post-delivery surveys are emailed a few days later, after the order has been fulfilled. A reminder email is only sent to customers who don’t complete the post-delivery survey, with the option to respond at any time. This ensures that customers are only thinking about the most recent experience and that they aren’t overwhelmed by a barrage of emails.

The Site Abandonment Survey allows for a custom experience targeted to each website’s usage. The invitation can be triggered to appear based on the number of pages visited, time spent on site, upon exit, or as an intercept when landing on the page. It can be optimized separately based on device experience.

No matter how surveys are presented, the most important thing to remember is that timing matters. Ask the right questions, at the right time, to the right people.

When valuable CX data is at stake, retailers can’t underestimate the power of the small details.

Design

The most elegant images don’t always equate to the best performance. Testing has shown that basic images, colors, and font most often increase response rates. Using a standard font, size, and color along with an easy-to-read image encourages customers to focus on the questions rather than the design.

Verbiage

The right phrasing can mean the difference between collecting valuable data and losing the respondent entirely. Avoid industry or company jargon that is unclear to the average reader. Have someone outside your team or organization review the questions for clarity. When respondents don’t understand the question or have too many options, they grow tired and may opt out. Keep questions simple and optional to encourage accurate responses without survey burnout.

Length

Survey length is best determined by the stage in the customer journey. Customers who are further down the funnel, such as those who have just made a purchase, are typically more willing to provide in-depth details about their experience and answer more questions.

Comparatively, site abandoners will likely only want to spend a minute or two. Test surveys of varying length to optimize the completion threshold or consider a rotation to vary survey length.

Boost Response Rates to Normalize and Improve Data Quality

A major issue companies face when collecting feedback is the number of “extreme CX” responses. In general, customers are much more likely to provide feedback if they’ve had an unusually good or bad experience – usually bad.

While this feedback can be helpful, it also skews the overall picture and drowns out the majority voice, most of which is satisfied or whose experiences fall somewhere in the middle.

To eliminate polarized CX feedback, optimizing survey length and offering incentives can help to entice respondents across the experience spectrum. Incentives are one of the most effective tactics for driving up response and completion rates. In Bizrate Insights’ tests, incentivized invitations have a response rate up to five times higher than those without.

In addition, allowing customers to answer only the most relevant questions – and keeping personal questions like demographic details optional – can help to encourage unbiased responses.

Are you ready to start collecting customer feedback, but don’t know where to start? Bizrate Insights offers the tools and expertise to quickly create and collect customer surveys.