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Ultimate Guide to Customer Service Survey Templates & Questionnaires

Jan 7, 2024

In a market that has 81% of people believe that a positive customer service experience increases the chance of them returning to your establishment, being aware of your customer's experience and needs is essential. The right customer service survey template can help you make a complete customer survey to determine what your business is doing right and what needs improvement.

In this guide to the ultimate in this definitive guide, we'll discuss the elements that make successful customer service surveys successful in the first place, and provide three free surveys, guidelines for understanding survey data, and guidelines for making changes within your company.

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What are the characteristics of a great survey on customer service?

An accurate and effective customer survey is a challenging job. One of the first steps to design your survey is knowing what constitutes a quality survey, so we've compiled an exhaustive list of the 15 best practices for you for creating a successful customer survey.

  1. Set out with a specific objective. Your customer service survey must have a clear purpose. This will assist your employees to formulate simple and concise questions that obtain responses that can be helpful to achieve your objectives.
  2. Ask concise questions. In keeping the goal of the survey in mind, write straightforward, relevant questions. Also, you must be aware of the reason behind every question and reach that point in a short time. We'll look at an illustration.
         Answer: Unconcisely: In your contact with our customer service team Did you encounter any issues which you thought could be improved upon, for example, speed of customer support and the friendly nature of our support staff or the product quality you received that you believe could be improved on in any manner?
         
         Answer in just a few words What were your feelings satisfied with the speed, efficiency and the quality of the customer service offered by our employees?
  3. Incorporate question types. Question types include open-ended and closed-ended questions, ratings, multi-choice and Likert scales. Each question can be used for different purposes based on the kind of question that you're asking and the results you'll get the greatest value from. Utilizing different types of questions will aid in collecting valuable data in addition to keeping people engaged in your survey.
  4. Keep surveys brief. The longer the survey you conduct, the more respondents are likely to leave prior to completion. When analyzing responses from 100,000 respondents, Survey Monkey found that every question after the 15th increased respondent drop-off. This is why you must avoid posing unnecessary questions in order to focus on the survey's primary purpose.
  5. Use the everyday words and phrases. Be sure to use straightforward phrases that are not jargon-free when you conduct your surveys. Intricate industry terms could confuse users, leading to greater drop-offs, and also an increased risk of a wrong responses. A general rule of thumb is to try to create content that is below or at an 8th grade reading proficiency. We advise making use of Hemmingway Editor for analyzing writing. Hemmingway Editor is used to assess writing for clarity, vocabulary and comprehension level.
  6. Create specific questions. Specific questions will prompt specific, relevant, and helpful responses, which ultimately help in achieving your goal. Here's an example of nonspecific or precise language.
         
         In general: How would you rate the ambience in the restaurant?
         Particularly, what would you say about the size of the dining area?
  7. Use neutral language. A biased and leading language could cause survey responses to be distorted, which can result in inaccurate data. Two examples are provided of neutral as well as. important major languages.

Non-neutral: How satisfied did you feel with the chairs in the restaurant?

Neutral What are your thoughts regarding the seating options in the dining area?

Are You of the opinion our products are better than the other options available?

Neutral: How would you rate our service in relation to other similar services available?

  1. Avoid double-barreled questions. When a survey contains at least two or more questions, the same survey, it's referred to as an unambiguous question. Here's an illustration
         
         "How pleased were you with the speed, friendliness, and quality of the services provided by our staff?"
         
         Perhaps you've noticed the problem before. The question is about speed is efficient, speed, as well as the level of service. To get better results, the question can be broken down into three different questions each asking different aspects of the quality of service.
  2. Beware of the use of absolutes. Absolute language may include terms like "always" as well as "never." The use of these terms can lead participants to answer questions that aren't helpful.
         
         In this case, "Do you always order clothes online?" is likely to cause individuals to respond "No." Take the following question into consideration "How frequently do you purchase on the internet?" This question will generate responses that will more likely assist you in understanding the customer's purchasing habits than the previous version.
  3. Utilize Conditional logic. Utilizing conditional logic is a feature that many survey instruments offer. In this case, the answer of a person's question determines the next question they see.
         
         Conditional logic permits you to ask pointed, specific questions in a survey. For instance an example, a customer rates their overall satisfaction with the hamburger they ordered as "poor" and then is quizzed on the taste the food, its temperature, and precision in the next questions.
  4. Keep the survey consistent. Respondents need to identify the same layout and format of their surveys that's why they're not reviewing every page on the questionnaire. They'll most likely ignore any irregularities regarding layout or design which could lead to inaccurate and misleading data. Keep your scales on the right track. For example, always use 1-5 when answering satisfaction questions and always show "excellent" to the right and "bad" on the left.
  5. Make use of balanced scales for rating. Always be able to have a mix of positive and negative alternatives for Likert scales, as well as numerical ratings. Unbalanced scales could cause people to respond more positively or negatively. This can cause results to be distorted, however balanced scales can result in more precise results.
  6. Add skip and opt-out options. If you're asking personal or sensitive questions, allow respondents to leave the conversation with an "Prefer not to talk" option. If possible, allow respondents to skip questions they'd prefer not to answer.
  7. Verify the clarity of your survey. Review your questionnaire with an intimate audience prior to making it available to the public. This can help you identify any unclear or poorly written questions and rectify your errors.
  8. Make sure to regularly update your survey. The products, services and goals change through the decades. Check and update regularly your survey to ensure you are in sync with the current goals and offerings.

Following a thorough examination of the most effective practices and essential elements of a well-designed customer service survey, let's look at three of the most popular forms of surveys for customers.

The different types of customer service surveys. Survey templates

This article will cover the transactional, regular surveys, as well as specific types of surveys. The section will also discuss the most effective times to use the templates and providing these templates to download. Every template for a customer survey covers a distinct aspect of customer service.

Surveys that focus on transactional

Transactional surveys occur immediately after a customer purchase or interaction and collect information regarding the customer's experience. Examples of experiences could be a customer's contact with customer support, recent delivery of a product or an interaction with your website.

The Transactional Survey template is designed to allow you to gather data on your clients' experiences. You can customize the template to suit your customers' interaction type and provide different kinds of survey questions.

This form for customer feedback will assist you calculate the Net Promoter Score (NPS) that will give you an important insight into the extent of customer trust and satisfaction.

Periodic satisfaction surveys

The surveys of customer satisfaction take place at regular intervals throughout the client's interaction with your company. The surveys usually occur every monthly, each quarter and biannually or annually, which help companies assess the overall satisfaction of customers and the overall health of their relationships.

The Periodic Satisfaction Survey template is designed to help you understand the overall satisfaction of your clients as well as areas in need of improvement. Additionally, it helps collect specific feedback about the products and services you offer. The template can help you establish a loyalty rating and also determine the possibility of your customers utilizing your service or product.

Surveys that are specific to the service

Specific surveys to be conducted by service providers concentrate on certain aspects of a product or service. These surveys are similar to transactional and periodic surveys.

Surveys that are specific to your services focus on creating a pleasant customer experience. For example, a good product delivery or an experience on your site. And like periodic surveys, service-specific surveys are most effective when they are distributed regularly. It is the goal of these surveys to collect information about your offerings in order to improve the quality of your services and monitor the progress of your service over the course of time.

The Service Specific Survey template is designed to help you focus upon a particular aspect of your service or product, gather satisfaction and information on the quality of your service, and understand how it's improved, and how it could benefit from more improvements.

Analyzing survey responses

After completing the survey and getting responses from people who took part, now it's moment to analyze the responses and then take the proper decision. If you've opted to make use of these samples of customer surveys or an alternative survey, in the following section, we'll discuss what to examine when you answer the survey, the best way to analyze the data and the best way to take your next steps.

Interpreting survey responses

The initial step to interpret survey results is to discern between qualitative and quantitative results.

Analysis quantitative

Quantitative data refers specifically to the information which can be described in numerical terms. It encompasses Likert scales as well as rating scales.

Quantitative information is much easier to analyse and gather because you can employ statistics such as median, mean and average in order to understand the data. Consider the following issues:

     What do you think of the high-end of the product?

1 Very low

2 Poor 2 Poor

3 - Neutral

4. Good

5 - Very Good

Since the answers have been grouped by numbers, for example, they have a median that is 4.2 It's easy to say that the vast majority of buyers think that the standard of product to to be good enough.

Qualitative analysis

In comparison to quantitative data qualitative data can be more complicated to understand since it relies on factors which aren't analyzed in a numerical way. These kinds of data are usually written and also includes responses to free-response or open-ended questions.

In order to make the information qualitative easier to understand, researchers often try to quantify the data. This can be accomplished with a thematic analysis. It takes text and examines it to find specific terms or words. It's all about finding out how often certain themes are mentioned in a response to a poll.

In the example above in the above example, you're asked "How do you feel about the food you ate the last time you had a meal?" You could analyze responses by searching for the regularity of terms such as "hot" as well as "cold." If the term "cold" is used often in answers, it may indicate that there is a problem in the cooking process. In contrast If neither one of these words is used frequently, it may mean the participants were trying to focus on the different aspects of their experiences.

Thematic analysis is a great way to make the interpretation process more efficient, you'll need to be able to discern the outcome of the analysis. This leads us to some tips for analyzing your survey results.

  • Find patterns. Similar to a thematic study, you should look for patterns within responses to surveys. It is possible to spot trends in one survey or throughout multiple survey periods.
  • Be aware of any changes that occur as time passes. Patterns can aid you in identifying popular opinions or issues that you've been unable to tackle. They may also help you in identifying strategies that do not work.
  • Locate the most important details. The initial step to creating an online survey of customer service was to begin with clear objectives. When you have those initial goals set then you must pay close consideration to the related data. If, for instance, you're trying to improve the retention rate of your customers, you should pay particular attention to customer satisfaction as well as the churn rate.
  • Results of surveys. I.e., break the survey responses into different demographic categories like age, gender, location and the income. This will help you better understand the requirements of your customers, behavior and needs.
         
         As an example, splitting results by age might reveal that younger clients tend to enjoy using a chatbots for customer service, whereas more mature customers would prefer a live person to assist them.
  • Results of a benchmark survey. It is the act of the comparison of your survey's outcomes with industry standards or past results of surveys. It helps you comprehend how your performance is compared to the past or the competition.
         
         Take for example that your customer satisfaction ratings are less than your standard for your industry, but higher compared to your last survey. It suggests that recent changes have been beneficial, but there's still room for improvements.

Even after these suggestions the process of analyzing responses to surveys can be a monumental job. If the data you have is extensive, as will most likely happen when you're running a medium-sized to an enterprise of a significant size, you should contemplate using advanced analytical tools to aid to analyze the data. The tools you use will enable you to interpret the data and determine your next steps.

The best practices to implement surveys feedback

When you've thoroughly examined the results of your customer service survey and then interpreted them in a way that you can translate your interpretation into action. In order to turn the data of your survey into a sensible and systematic plan requires an approach. Avoid knee-jerk reactions by following this simple three-step approach instead of hurrying to make adjustments.

Transforming insights into outcomes

Before making any significant modifications or changes, begin with transforming the insights you gleaned from initial survey and data analysis phase into tangible results.

If, for example, if findings from a survey show that customers aren't satisfied with the support team's expertise in the field, then you may consider implementing ongoing employee training.

Note all of your actionable results in one location, like an Google Document or spreadsheet.

Set priorities

After you've converted your insights from the survey into tangible findings, you'll need to determine what's the next step. The knowledge of your goals will allow you to determine what areas you'll need to focus on initially.

A variety of factors may affect your decision-making process and how you rank certain actions over others. These are just a few of the things you need to consider:

  • Potential for impact - Is the action that you perform more likely be significant for the person around you?
  • Feasibility - Is one action simpler or less expensive to carry out in comparison with the other?
  • Importance - Are there critical aspects you must focus on due to company-wide measures or the focus of your business's management?

Based on your goals, prioritize your goals according to their order of priority. This will help you in Step 3.

Act

This is the right moment to transform your plan into reality. The only thing you need to do is get started.

Develop your action plan. It must outline specific duties as well as delegate responsibilities and times and include any necessary materials.

Then, implement changes slowly. Sudden change can put a strain on your team and also shock customers. As you implement your action plan, monitor the response from your customers, monitoring for any significant responses--interdepartmental collaboration can be especially helpful here, as your marketing and customer service teams are most likely to see these responses first.

Conclusion

Crafting comprehensive and effective survey on customer service takes more than simply stringing questions together and attaching them to an email campaign. Surveys about customer service could continue to be a continuous cycle of asking, listening and improving, requiring patience, planning and dedication.

The guide will equip you with the ability to plan successful surveys, evaluate the results, and turn your analysis into a plan of course of. When you are implementing these methods, maintain a customer-centric approach--the main goal of all customer service surveys is to increase the satisfaction of the customer.

Begin your survey by selecting one of three templates for surveys to get useful insights from your clients' experiences.

  • Customer service transaction survey template
  • Periodic customer service survey template
  • Customer service specific survey template

Commonly Answered Questions

What is the main parts of an Customer Service survey?

The surveys of satisfaction with customer service typically include a combination of channel-specific, agent-specific the customer's effort as well as their satisfaction, and Net Promoter Score questions. The survey makers are able to alter the scope of their survey to suit the company goals, and tailor the focus of the questionnaire to particular aspects like quality of products or customer satisfaction with service.

A thorough survey of customer service can help you concentrate on a limited set of requirements to help you encourage a variety of question types with a focus on clarity.

How often will which customer service surveys be carried out?

The surveys of customer satisfaction should be completed regularly in order to get the most efficient results. However, the frequency of surveys depends on the kind of information you'll need to gather and the kind of surveys you're distributing.

We advise distributing survey surveys for transactions either periodically or perhaps service-specific ones. The transactional survey is conducted following the purchase of an item purchase of a service. Like service-specific surveys they are conducted after the event that led to a product or service. They both require a specific event to trigger survey distribution. But periodic surveys are conducted frequently, with set times, usually biannually, or even every year.

It is generally accepted that the type of survey you pick can affect the time and frequency at which and frequently you conduct your poll.

What are some of the common errors that customers must avoid making in service surveys?

There are many common errors in surveys for customers. Here are five of the most common error-prone mistakes.

  1. Distributing surveys without a clear goal - Creating a survey with no objective can produce unhelpful results that makes making changes or taking actions difficult for the business.
  2. Conducting lengthy surveys: The larger your survey, the more likely respondents will leave the poll. Make sure to make sure that you ask questions relevant to your objective only.
  3. Insufficiently asking questions In reality there is a tendency to have numerous questions. Aim to find a middle ground between asking too much of surveys and responding to enough questions so that you are able to comprehend what is of concern to your clients.
  4. Asking questions that use the wrong language or bias phrasing may skew results, which can lead to inaccurate information and, in the end, an ineffective strategy or analysis, which could leave issues with the organization that have not been resolved.
  5. Violating the privacy of customers The respondents to surveys should be free to decide whether or not to respond to private or personal inquiries as well as it's best to avoid soliciting customers in multiple solicitations to get replies to survey questions.

In addition to these five blunders that a majority of customers make when conducting customer service surveys It is recommended to look at what makes a good customer service survey. We will look at fifteen most effective practices to use in the creation of an effective survey.

What can companies do to effectively use the information gathered through customer satisfaction surveys?

It is advised to begin with the analysis of your results from your customer service surveys. After that, you should analyze the findings of the data analysis to transform insights from your survey into concrete results. This is the time to begin identifying priorities and implementing changes based on your survey.

The method is based on goals for your survey and stresses the need for a comprehensive approach prior to making adjustments to your business. This strategy can aid businesses determine which resources will be most effective.

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