Business survey questions can help you gain valuable insight into your customers.
With that in mind, here are 28 top questions to ask. We’ll cover why business survey questions are crucial, how to use them and what to ask. Moreover, we’ve included questions to help you gain insight to improve your sales, products, customer service and marketing.
Why Ask Them?
Business survey questions are inquiries used to elicit feedback from customers or prospects. For instance, they can ask questions about various aspects of customer experience, including satisfaction with your sales process, products or customer service. Furthermore, they can be used to gather crucial marketing information.
Methods of Asking Business Survey Questions
Note that business survey questions can be phrased in different ways to elicit different types of answers. Some types of questions seek answers which can be quantified on a numerical or verbal scale, while others use yes-or-no questions, multiple-choice lists or open-ended inquiries.
Numerical Scale Questions
To make answers measurable for greater objectivity and analytics value, business survey questions are often phrased in a format that invites an answer expressed on a ranking scale.
For example, a customer who has just received support from your customer service team may be asked to rate their experience on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents a poor experience and 5 represents an excellent experience.
Verbal Scale Questions
Note that not all survey questions need to have measurable answers to be analyzed mathematically. You can create a scale that uses words instead of numbers and then convert the answers into numbers.
For instance, you can have a range of answers from “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied,” with the lower end of the scale equivalent a 1 and the upper-end equivalent a 5.
Yes-or-No Questions
You can ask yes-or-no questions and divide the answers into groups for statistical analysis.
For instance, you could ask whether a customer would recommend your product to a friend or family member and tabulate what percentage of your customers answered yes.
Multiple-Choice Questions
You can provide a list of suggested answers, allow respondents to choose one or more responses and tally which replies were most popular.
For example, you might ask customers whether they purchased from you because of price, quality or selection.
Open-Ended Questions
You can ask open-ended questions to allow customers more flexibility in their replies. For instance, you can ask customers for suggestions on how you could improve your customer service.
Why Is Asking Good Customer Survey Questions So Important?
Customer survey questions represent an excellent source of business intelligence for several reasons. Namely, they:
- Gather information directly from your customer base rather than from broader market segments
- Can be customized to focus on a wide range of questions relevant to your business needs
- Can be used periodically to track trends over time, allowing you to test variables and make adjustments and improvements
- Are an inexpensive way to collect information
In short, these benefits make business survey questions a versatile and valuable tool for business intelligence collection and analysis.
How Do You Collect Answers to Business Survey Questions?
A business survey questionnaire can be distributed through a number of different media:
- Online business survey questions can be extended to your website users through online forms embedded on web pages or in apps such as chatbots
- Email surveys, often used in conjunction with links to online surveys, can be sent to your email marketing list subscribers or to customers who have provided their email
- Telephone surveys can be conducted with customers who have provided phone numbers
- Physical surveys can be distributed at brick-and-mortar stores
Use whichever method is appropriate to your survey. For online and email surveys, providers such as SurveyMonkey supply tools and templates for digital questionnaires.
What Are the Best Questions to Ask in a Survey?
Which questions you should ask in a survey depends on what type of information you’re trying to elicit and what you intend to use it for.
Survey questions are commonly used to help improve performance in a number of key areas, including:
- Sales experience
- Product quality
- Customer service satisfaction
- Marketing efficiency
Here are some examples of questions you can use in each area. Use this list to help you develop customized questions based on your own business objectives.
Post-Sales Questions to Ask Customers
A purchase provides an opportunity to ask a customer questions about their shopping experience or other sales-related information.
With that in mind, here are 7 questions you can ask a customer following a purchase:
- How would you rate your online shopping experience on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How easy was it to search our site and find the products you wanted on a scale of 1 to 10?
- Our checkout process: How easy was it for you to use it on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How would you rate our delivery on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How satisfied are you with your purchase on a scale of 1 to 10?
- What other products would you consider purchasing from us? (Include a list. You can customize list answers based on what type of product the customer purchased. This type of question can be used to create upsell opportunities.)
- How likely are you to recommend us to a family or friend on a scale of 1 to 10?
Note that a good way to conduct this type of survey is to email a link to an online survey shortly after a customer makes a purchase. You may choose to wait a set period in order to allow delivery to complete or to give the customer time to try the product.
Survey Questions to Ask about a Product
Asking questions about your product can help you evaluate satisfaction with your products, identify selling points, correct flaws and improve design.
With that in mind, here are 7 product questions to ask customers:
- How satisfied are you with the product you purchased on a scale of 1 to 10?
- Which product features do you find most useful? (Include a list of features. If you want customers to be able to mention features you may not have considered, include a field where they can enter their own replies.)
- What are the biggest benefits you receive from our product? (Include a list of suggested replies, along with a field for custom answers if desired.)
- What is your biggest complaint about the product you purchased? (Include a list of suggested replies along with a field for customer answers.)
- How could we improve this product to better meet your needs? (Include a field for a reply.)
- How would you compare this product with competing products you’ve purchased? (You can use a scale or use a custom field if you want customers to be able to provide feedback in their own words.)
- How likely are you to recommend this product to others on a scale of 1 to 10?
These types of questions can be asked via email either shortly after purchase or after the customer has been given a certain amount of time to use the product. Moreover, the nature of your product will help determine how long you should wait before conducting a product survey.
Business Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions
Note that asking questions immediately after a customer receives support can help you evaluate and improve your customer service.
Here are 7 questions you can ask to gauge customer satisfaction with your service:
- How satisfied were you with the support you received on a scale of 1 to 10?
- Did we resolve your support issue?
- How easy was it for you to use our support system on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How would you rate the promptness of our customer service on a scale of 1 to 10?
- What could we do to improve our service to provide better support for you?
- How would you rate the customer service representative who assisted you in the following categories? (List categories such as courteousness, promptness and product knowledge.)
- Based on the support you received, how likely are you to recommend us to a family member or friend on a scale of 1 to 10?
Ideally, these types of questions should be asked immediately after the customer receives support. If the customer receives support through an online tool such as a chatbot, you can present them with the option of completing the survey before they close the app. Alternately, you can email them.
Best Marketing Survey Questions
Business surveys can be used to collect marketing information from your customers and website visitors.
To that end, here are 7 marketing survey questions you can ask:
- How did you find our online store? (Include a list of answers, such as a Google search, Facebook ad or referral from a friend.)
- What brought you to our store? (Include a list of answers, such as trying to save time, trying to save money or dissatisfaction with competing products, for example.)
- Why do you buy from us? (Have a list of answers, such as price, the product was in stock or free shipping, for instance.)
- How competitive would you rate our prices on a scale of 1 to 10? (Note that this question could be expressed using a verbal ranking system such as “very expensive” to “very affordable.”)
- How long have you been buying from us?
- Which other competing brands do you buy from? (Include a list of answers.)
- How would you rank us against our leading competitors on a scale of 1 to 10? (This question could be expressed verbally using a scale such as “much worse” to “much better,” for instance.)
Note that these types of questions may be offered on your website to all visitors or asked of your customers periodically through occasional emails or in-app prompts.
Ask Good Business Survey Questions to Gain Insight into Your Customers
Business survey questions ask customers to provide quantifiable feedback on topics such as their sales experience, satisfaction with your products, customer service experience and marketing preferences. Certainly, asking business survey questions represents one of the most cost-efficient ways to conduct market research into your customer base. You can collect answers to questions through tools such as email, online forms and phone surveys, for instance.
To sum up, the value of the answers you obtain depends on the quality of your questions, so invest time in designing good survey questions. Use our list as a template to develop your own customized questions to meet your needs.
