by Kim Elliott | February 1, 2018

Do your surveys feel more like a punishment instead of opportunities for organizational improvement? Here are 5 tips for creating better surveys that don’t exhaust your customers.

Customers are constantly solicited with emails, texts and calls from organizations all vying for their attention and feedback. And many companies survey after every customer interaction. So, do your surveys feel more like a punishment instead of opportunities for organizational improvement?

Here are 5 tips on how to create better surveys so that you don’t overload your customers and tire them out.

1. Make sure the surveys have a purpose.

   Don’t just survey your customers because you can. The information you collect from them should be truly valuable to the company and that you have the time and/or resources to do something about the customer data.

2. Don’t send too many surveys.

   A simple way to not cause survey fatigue is to pick and choose appropriate times to conduct a survey, and to know when soliciting feedback would not be welcome.

3. Before the survey starts, tell customers what to expect.

   Customers don’t want to go into a survey expecting it to take only 5 minutes when in reality it takes 30 minutes to complete. Tell them upfront about how long the feedback will take, if they are expected to write length explanatory replies, if they will be expected to provide personal information, etc. This way they aren’t surprised by what they encounter and won’t get so frustrated that they abandon the survey.

4. Tell customers how their feedback will be beneficial.

   Most customers are happy to help you improve your company’s customer experience because they, too, can benefit from better service. To build better trust and loyalty, set expectations with your customers so that they know what your organization plans to do with their feedback. Knowing what demonstrable actions the organization will take, a timeframe of when things might happen, and how it will directly benefit the customer base will make the customers appreciate you that much more.

5. Do something with the results and be prepared for change.

   After the survey is complete and all feedback has been gathered, don’t let the data just sit in a corner, never to be used. Make a plan to go through the feedback and set actionable steps to address customers’ concerns and needs. And be prepared for the possibility that parts of your organization might have to change. When customers see that their input actually helped create change, they will be more inclined to participate in future surveys.

Collecting customer feedback via surveys can be a powerful mechanism for growth and improvement for an organization. But companies need to be careful and deliberate when implementing a measurement program to avoid customer survey fatigue. These tips can help you show consideration for your customers to effectively gather their feedback and take action to improve the experience.

CFI Group offers expertise in designing experience measurement solutions that provide action-oriented data to help you create change in your organization. Contact us for more information on how we can help you measure and manage the customer experience.

Other Resources