Timing is everything : When to send a Customer Survey
By Aniel Bhaga | aniel.bhaga@ungapped.com
To get the most out of any survey, timing is everything. Now I am not talking about the time of day or when in the week to send the survey. I am talking about where in the customer life cycle you send your survey. When is the right time for you to get the most validated data. This is just as important maybe even more than how you ask your questions.
There are many types of surveys that you can send
- Product Feedback surveys.
- Service feedback surveys.
- Event invitation surveys.
- any other customer survey.
Each survey has its own purpose and we all want to get the most valid and accurate responses to each survey we send out right?
To get the most out of your next survey there are two points to consider
- What data do you want to collect?
- Where in the customer journey is it most relevant to collect this data?
What data do you want to capture?
With surveys, you can collect as much or as little data as you like. The sky is the limit. How do you go about working out what data is useful and important for you to collect and what is not?
A great way to make sure you are on track and asking the right questions is to start at the foundation, what metrics matter to you most, and then take it from there.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What metrics matter most to my business?
- What data points could use some more clarification with quantitative feedback?
- What answers do I want to know about my customers and business?
- What questions do you need to ask to give you the answers you seek?
- Prioritize your questions in terms of what is the most important to know now and what can wait.
- Take these questions and look at your customer journey, where along the interactions is it best to ask these questions? Do you require a survey, an in-app pop-up, or something else?
- Fine-tune your survey and questions and then have it ready to send once your customer hits the right point in their customer journey.
Related -> How to seek customer feedback with surveys
Survey question examples
When creating questions for your answers you should think about what type of question to ask. Category questions, single-answer questions, multiple choice, ranking, or open-text questions. The type of question format you use will affect the answers you receive and also determine the type of analysis you can do.
Single Option
The simplest survey question—and the only question you’ll usually use in a poll—is a Yes/No question. You’ll ask a question, then have two options: Yes and No. This type of question gives you an answer in black and white but it does not account for anyone who is in between. It forces your respondent to choose. This may not always be the best case for survey questions, use it wisely.
Multiple Choice
If you need more data than a yes/no answer gives, a multiple-choice question is what you need. It allows your respondent to pick just one option but has more variety and the ability to add in an ‘other’ selection.
Checkbox
If you would like to have various answers to one question then multiple choice-type questions where you can work the magic. Checkbox questions add that flexibility. Add as many answers as you want, and respondents can pick as many answers to the question as they want.
Drop-down
Drop-down questions work much like multiple-choice questions—you have several different possible answers, and respondents can only choose one option. This is a great option if you have many choices that they can choose from and keeps your survey neat. A great practice is to list the answers in order, perhaps from Smallest to largest.
Ranking Scale
Ranking scale questions look like multiple choice questions with the answers in a horizontal line instead of a list. These questions are great ways to gather a more accurate view of how people are feeling. Using a scale from 1 – 5 / 1-10 or another scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “Strongly Disagree”, or from “I really dislike” to “ I really like”.
Textbox
For questions for which you require direct feedback or personal data like names, this is your go-to type of question. Either a small text box or a large paragraph space text box size is usually available. This is great for questions in which you want to get more context around how your customers are feeling about a certain topic, product, or engagement they have had with you.
Following these simple steps, you will be able to understand the right time in your customer journey to send your survey. What are the right questions to ask in the various stage and in turn give you more relevant and accurate data? As with any platform you are able to create the various survey question formats just as you can with Ungapped. All the best with your forms and surveys!
When creating your survey watch out for the 5 easy mistakes that could hurt your response rate.
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Updated Dec 2022. The article was written in 2017.
