Online Customer Service Survey: In-Depth Guide in 2023

Offering top-notch customer service is crucial for success in today’s strongly competitive business environment. Indeed, compared to 2019, companies put 19% more effort into improving their customer experience in 2022 (see Figure 1).

Source: McKinsey

Figure 1. Customer experience improvement is the priority of marketers in 2022.

Collecting customer feedback through online customer service surveys is one of the most effective ways to measure customer satisfaction. Businesses can use these surveys to understand their customers’ needs and preferences better, and to identify improvement areas.

In this article, we explain what customer feedback surveys are, the types of customer service questions, their benefits, and the best practices.

What is an online customer satisfaction survey?

An online customer satisfaction survey is a tool businesses use to gather feedback from existing customers about their experience with the business. These surveys are conducted online and can be delivered through various channels, including email, social media, and website pop-ups. Research shows that 89% of marketers used online surveys regularly in their research in Q4 2020 (see Figure 2).

Source: Statista

Figure 2. In Q4 2020, the proportion of traditional quantitative methods utilized globally in market research

Research shows that the majority of money spent on online surveys in 2021 is used to measure customer satisfaction (see Figure 3).

Source: Statista

Figure 3. Percentage of market research spending through online surveys

Online surveys are preferred by the companies in collecting customer feedback as they:

• Involve less yes-saying bias, making the responses more reliable.
• Contain multimedia elements (e.g., screenshots)
• Encourage participants to disclose sensitive information more.

The customer satisfaction score measured through online customer surveys gives marketers insights into how pleasant the customers are with the service they receive or their thoughts on the products.

1- Helps build brand image

Businesses actively seeking customer feedback demonstrate that they value their customer’s opinions and are committed to providing excellent service. Customers will feel more trusting and loyal if they believe their feedback is valued and that the company is working to improve their experience.

Furthermore, by acting on customer feedback and making changes based on it, businesses can demonstrate that they are responsive and willing to adapt to their customers’ needs. This can aid in developing a reputation for providing excellent customer service, which can be a key differentiator in a crowded marketplace and leads to satisfied customers.

2- Determines product or service performance

Businesses can gain valuable feedback on how well they are meeting customer needs and expectations by asking customers to rate their experience with a specific product or service. This feedback can assist businesses in identifying areas that require improvement and areas where the product or service is performing well.

3- Enables data-driven decisions

Online customer service surveys offer organizations a wealth of data that can be utilized to make informed judgments about improving the customer experience, making them an indispensable tool for data-driven decision-making.

For more on online survey analytics, check out our comprehensive article.

Types of customer satisfaction survey questions

There are various types of customer service survey questions that each provide unique insights into customer behavior.

1- Customer Effort Score (CES) survey questions

The Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric that assesses how simple it is for customers to interact with a company. Customers are rated on how much effort they put into completing a task or resolving an issue with a business in this survey question type. The easier the customer found it to work with the company, the higher the score. CES survey questions include:

• How easy is it to find the information you are looking for?
• How easy is it to place an order on our website?

2- Product feedback survey questions

Surveys asking for product feedback are used to learn about a specific good or service. This survey question asks customers to share their opinions on a product’s quality, usability, and features. Here are some examples of product feedback survey questions:

• How satisfied are you with the performance of the product?
• What features would you like to see added to the product?

3- Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey questions

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty and satisfaction metric. In this survey question, customers are asked how likely they are to recommend a business to a friend or colleague. The higher the score, the more likely customers will recommend the company to others. Example survey questions include:

• How likely are you to recommend our business to a friend or colleague?
• On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our business?

4- Channel-specific survey questions

Channel-specific survey questions collect feedback on a particular customer service channel, such as phone support or chatbot customer service. Customers are asked to rate their experience with a specific support channel and the effectiveness of the support they received. Channel-specific survey questions include but are not limited to:

• How satisfied are you with the support you received over the phone?
• How helpful was the support you received via a chatbot?

5- Multiple choice questions

Various customer feedback can be gathered using the flexible survey type known as the multiple choice question. Customers are given options, enabling businesses to quickly and easily collect information about customer preferences, opinions, and behaviors. Here is a multiple-choice question example

• “Which of the following best describes your reason for contacting customer support?”
  • I have a question about a product or service
  • I need help with a technical issue
  • I want to make a complaint
  • Other (please specify)

5 best practices for creating customer satisfaction surveys

1- Make sure you choose the right survey tool

When conducting customer service surveys, choosing the right survey tool is crucial for businesses to gather accurate and reliable customer feedback as it can affect:

• the response rate
• the customization options
• the analytics and reporting features
• mobile-friendliness
• compliance with data privacy regulations.

Sponsored

Clickworker is a survey participant recruitment service provider using a crowdsourcing model with a global team of 4.5+ million workers. Clickworker provides services such as survey data collection, survey participant recruitment, and sentiment analysis.

Working with Clickworker allows you to:

• Reach your target audience using their survey participant recruitment service
• Be able to assign unique survey links to each survey participant
• Get a high response rate on online surveys
• Acquire relevant data with ease
• Offer participants a mobile-friendly design

To learn more about their services in survey data collection, watch their video:

Here is our data-driven list of survey participant recruitment services for those interested.

2- Send the surveys at the right time

It is essential to send the survey at the appropriate time because it can impact the response rate and quality of the data obtained. For instance, if the survey is issued too soon, a customer may need more time to properly analyze their interaction with the company and provide honest feedback. On the other hand, if the survey is sent a long time after the encounter, the customer can forget the details and be unable to give constructive feedback.

Businesses can improve their chances of collecting accurate and relevant feedback by scheduling the survey distribution, which will improve decision-making and, in turn, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

3- Ask short and relevant survey questions

To understand the customer journey, implementing questions that are easy to understand is crucial. Asking short, clear, and relevant questions would ensure that the questions have the same meaning for everyone. Besides, asking for one piece of information in a single question would yield the most accurate results.

4- Implement a mix of survey question types

Businesses can collect comprehensive and diverse data from customer service surveys by using a variety of survey question formats, such as multiple choice, rating scales, and open-ended questions. This method enables the gathering of organized, quantitative data as well as more in-depth qualitative insights that can support data-driven choices to enhance the customer experience.

5- Use a mobile-friendly design

Source: Snap Surveys

Figure 4. Examples of mobile-friendly online surveys

To ensure that customers who want to do surveys on their mobile devices may do so, customer service surveys must be mobile-friendly. Customers are more likely to access surveys on their mobile devices due to the rising popularity of smartphones and tablets. Surveys that are not mobile-friendly may be challenging to browse, resulting in lower response rates and less accurate data.

Additionally, a survey’s responsive design for mobile devices helps guarantee that it is tailored for smaller screens, making it more straightforward for users to read and react to the questions. Customers are more likely to complete the survey as a result, which can assist in improving the overall user experience.

Further Reading

Reach us if you have any questions on customer service surveys:

Find the Right Vendors