Why Are Customer Surveys Important and What Questions Should You Ask?
8x8_RedSquare_Logo_CMYK.jpg?auto=webp?ar=1-1&fo=face&q=100&width=150){kind=logo}
Why Are customer surveys important and what questions should you ask?
Why are customer surveys important? In very basic terms, customer surveys are the number one way to gauge customer satisfaction. Sure, you can track other valuable data, such as first-call resolution rates, average handle time and abandonment rates, to gain some perception as to the quality of your customer service. However, you will never be able to truly identify customer impressions without asking the customer directly.
Why Are customer surveys important?
As you already know, the quality of your customer service directly relates to the success and growth of your business. In fact, recent studies show that 90% of consumers consider the quality of customer service when making decisions about brands, and 58% will switch brands after poor customer service experiences. The good news is that when done right, customer satisfaction surveys have the power to build customer loyalty, foster customer engagement and improve satisfaction rates.
Tips for improving response rates
While customer satisfaction surveys can provide invaluable insight into how customers perceive your business, it’s important to make them as easy and convenient to complete as possible. There are three main types of B2B customer satisfaction survey questions, including:
- Yes/No Format
- Scaling System (typically 1-5 or 1-10)
- Open-Ended
What questions should you ask?
Since you want to keep your customer satisfaction survey as short as possible, you should select questions that provide the most insight, such as:
“How satisfied were you with the services you received today?”
Overall satisfaction is one of the most important insights you need. It helps you gauge how happy customers are with your current customer service offerings. This one question will also allow you to calculate the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT):
(Number of satisfied respondents / Number of total respondents) * 100% = CSAT
“How likely are you to refer our services to a business partner?”
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is considered the gold standard when it comes to customer feedback. It allows you to separate the promoters, those customers that will bring you new leads, from the rest. You can use the answer from just this one simple question to calculate your NPS score.
% of promoters (yes or rating 9-10) - % of detractors (no or rating 1-8) = NPS
“Was your issue resolved today?”
Metrics, such as first call resolution rates, will let you know how your agents perceived the call, but this question provides insight into customer satisfaction. Other similar questions include:
“Was your call handled in a timely and efficient way?”
“Did you receive a desirable outcome?”
“Was this the first time calling about this issue?”
“Was your agent friendly and knowledgeable”
Call center metrics may tell you about the efficiency of your agents and system but not about their level of professionalism and courtesy or how easy your call system is to navigate. This question, along with the ones listed below, can show what impression your customers have about your customer service.
“On a scale from 1 to 10, how easy was our call system to use?”
“Was your call handled by the initial agent?”
“How would you rate your interaction with our agent?”
Asking the right call center satisfaction survey questions can help you identify problem areas and make adjustments to your system and agent services to increase satisfaction rates. Learn more about how customer feedback can improve call center processes by contacting 8x8 today.
