BlogCustomer Satisfaction

CSAT Questions: Crafting Surveys that Deliver Results

Luca MicheliJul 05, 2023
CSAT Questions: Crafting Surveys that Deliver Results
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As a SaaS business owner, you understand the crucial role of customer satisfaction in achieving success. But how do you know how customers feel about your product or service? 

The answer is simple – you need to ask them about their opinion.

However, crafting an effective customer satisfaction survey can be challenging since poorly crafted surveys can lead to unreliable data and missed opportunities. You need to ask the right CSAT questions to gather valuable insights into your customer experience.

That’s where Customerly comes in. 

Customerly is one of the best SaaS tools that enable you to efficiently create CSAT surveys and send them via live chat to gather feedback from customers, receive actionable results, and improve your product or service. 

You can easily design your CSAT survey using our customizable survey templates and pre-defined question types or create one from scratch.

Register your account today to enjoy all benefits of our platform!

In today’s article, we will share recommendations about designing customer satisfaction survey questions and explain how to employ Customerly to streamline and accelerate your customer feedback collection process.

Defining customer satisfaction survey

A customer satisfaction survey is a research method you can use to collect customer feedback about your product or service. 

You can ask customers how happy they are with different aspects of their experience, such as the quality and reliability of your product or service and the level of customer support they received.

Survey data helps you understand how customers perceive your business to improve your offerings continuously, meet their needs and exceed their expectations.

Why are customer satisfaction surveys important?

Creating customer satisfaction surveys allows you to measure customer happiness and track changes in their sentiment over time. It also enables you to monitor your progress and make an effort to ensure ongoing success. 

Regularly asking for customer feedback demonstrates that you value their opinion and want to provide the best experience possible. 

This approach enhances customer loyalty and encourages users to refer new people to your SaaS business.

Four types of customer satisfaction surveys

Let’s share some customer satisfaction survey examples and how to use them to increase survey responses.

Email surveys

email surveys

Email surveys are popular for gathering customer feedback due to their easy setup, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. 

However, these surveys can have low response rates if the audience targeting is ineffective or customers receive too many survey requests.

Additionally, the limited question types of email surveys may not provide in-depth feedback.

To overcome these challenges, you can use a customer satisfaction tool like Customerly to precisely target your audience, design effective NPS email surveys, and easily track customer responses. Customerly also includes automated data collection and analysis.

Start your free trial to evaluate these features.

In-app surveys

in-app surveys

In-app surveys help you gather customer feedback about specific features while they use your product or service, providing real-time insights into their experience. 

With Customerly, you can use pre-made in-app survey templates and questions to assess customer sentiment and boost the number of satisfied customers.

Our surveys are brief and straightforward, making it easy for customers to complete them quickly. This convenience encourages users to participate and share their opinion instantly.

Web surveys

Web surveys offer a flexible approach to collecting customer feedback since you can share them across multiple channels.

You can share the survey URL via email or social media platforms or implement these polls directly into your website. 

Customers can deliver feedback at their convenience, which leads to better response rates and more precise feedback. 

SMS surveys

SMS surveys are a practical way to gather instant customer feedback. 

You can set them up fast, communicate more personally with your customers and boost completion rates. 

Due to limitations, you must pay attention to the number of characters you use to keep your survey completely visible.

In addition to these benefits, there are other advantages to consider. 

The advantages of customer satisfaction surveys

Here are some of the critical advantages of using customer satisfaction surveys.

  • Improved customer experience
  • Increased customer retention and loyalty
  • Enhanced customer engagement
  • Improved customer referrals
  • Gaining competitive advantage
  • Improved audience segmentation
  • Data-driven decision-making
  • Early warning of potential issues
  • Better product development
  • Cost savings in the long run
  • Increased revenue and customer lifetime value
  • Improved brand reputation

These are just some reasons to incorporate customer satisfaction surveys into your strategy to build a loyal customer base, boost customer satisfaction metrics and ensure long-term success.

Let’s share some critical tips for designing an effective CSAT survey and improving your overall customer satisfaction score.

Crafting an effective customer satisfaction survey

Crafting a customer satisfaction questionnaire is crucial to any customer feedback initiative. However, it is not limited to merely formulating and forwarding questions to your clients.

Before gathering customer feedback, you should consider certain actions. Let’s examine them closer.

Determining the desired outcome

Having a well-defined objective can assist you in identifying the precise questions and metrics for your customer feedback survey, accomplishing your goals, and guaranteeing that the feedback you gathered is constructive.

Identifying the target audience

By understanding the requirements and priorities of your target audience, you can tailor your survey questions and delivery methods to maximize engagement and response rates.

Customerly customer base

With Customerly, you can pick an audience for your customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey, add your conditions and filter all contacts. You can send your survey to everyone, all users or all leads.

You can also see the audience preview with relevant details such as:

  1. Name
  2. Email address
  3. Contact ID
  4. User type
  5. First seen at
  6. The last page viewed
  7. Rating
  8. The time of the last activity

These features save you time and resources by only surveying customers who are most relevant to your SaaS business.

Choosing the right customer survey question type

Creating a successful survey involves a thoughtful selection of questions. 

The questions you choose can significantly impact the accuracy of your results, which can either make or break your product or service optimization efforts. 

Fortunately, Customerly provides numerous survey questions, helping you choose the best ones faster and easier.

You can use our customer satisfaction survey template and pre-defined questions to design your survey and distribute it through live chat at every touchpoint in the customer journey. 

Here are some examples to give you an idea of the available options.

Multiple-choice (button) questions

multiple choice button question

Multiple-choice button questions offer a predetermined list of answers for customers to choose from. These straightforward questions enable you to capture your customers’ satisfaction levels quickly and accurately. 

Multiple choice (radio) questions

Multiple choice (radio) questions

Multiple-choice questions with radio buttons also offer customers a list of predefined answers to choose from. Still, unlike button questions, customers can only select one answer.

Dropdown questions

Dropdown questions

Dropdown questions offer great flexibility regarding the number of answers you can present to customers without taking up too much space on the survey page.

You can use these questions when you have a long list of answers or when you want to limit the number of options that are visible to the customer at any given time. 

It can prevent survey fatigue and increase the completion rate of your survey.

Scale rating

Scale rating questions

Scale rating questions let customers rate their satisfaction level numerically, typically from 1 to 10 or 1 to 5. These questions allow you to compare customer responses over time, track customer satisfaction changes, and quickly identify improvement areas.

Star rating

star rating questions

Star rating questions are similar to scale rating questions but use stars instead of numbers. They are simple and easy to understand, making them a popular option for customer satisfaction surveys.

Numeric questions

Numeric questions

Numeric rating questions ask customers to rate their satisfaction level using a number from 0-10 or 1-5. They provide a quick way to gather quantitative data on customer satisfaction. 

However, they may provide less detail or context compared to other question types, such as open-ended questions.

Short text questions

Short text questions

Short text questions prompt customers to provide a concise response. 

They are useful when gathering specific information, such as what motivated someone to contact your customer support team or how to improve your service. 

You can better serve your customers by learning more about their requirements and preferences through this feedback.

Long text questions

Long text questions

Open-ended questions do not constrain customers. They can express their sentiments, thoughts, and feedback on their own terms. 

Compared to other survey questions, your analysis might take more time.

Customerly provides a visual builder, helping you customize all pre-made survey templates. You can pick your questions, assess all responses in real-time and share results with your team.

All surveys are mobile-optimized, helping you deliver a seamless customer experience.

Start your free trial of our all-in-one solution for measuring customer satisfaction. 

Writing effective CSAT questions

Let’s share some tips for writing effective CSAT questions to help you measure customer satisfaction effectively.

Avoid biased or leading CSAT questions

Biased questions can affect customers’ answers and skew the survey results.

Avoid questions that encourage customers to give specific replies and use neutral language to avoid influencing their responses.

Ensure the survey questions are balanced and do not favor any particular product or service.

Keep CSAT questions simple and clear

The more straightforward the questions, the easier it is for customers to understand and respond. 

Use simple language, keep your questions short and to the point and use closed-ended questions that are effortless to answer.

Ask one CSAT question at a time

When you ask multiple questions in one sentence, it can confuse customers, leading to incorrect responses.  

Asking one question at a time is essential. Avoid conjunctions such as “and” or “or,” as well as complicated language or technical terms.

With Customerly, you don’t have to waste time fixing these common survey question mistakes.

All you need to do is create your account and use our pre-made template to provide an optimal customer experience and boost your result.

Designing customer satisfaction surveys for high response rates

Here are some tips to help you create surveys that customers will be more likely to complete.

Reduce the number of CSAT questions

Overloading customers with too many questions can lead to fatigue, causing them to abandon the survey before completing it. 

Instead, focus on asking only the most critical questions that will provide the most valuable insights.

Break up the survey into sections

Organizing a survey into clear and concise sections can improve response rates. Breaking it into small, manageable sections can make it easier for customers to complete.

Choose the right colors and fonts

Colors and fonts can impact the survey’s visual appeal and customers’ willingness to participate. 

Aligning the survey with your branding can help customers recognize your SaaS business, increase engagement, and create a positive user experience. 

Using images and icons

Incorporating images and icons in the survey can make it more visually attractive and stimulating for customers. 

Images can convey ideas or emotions that words alone may not be able to express, and using icons can help customers better understand your questions.

Choosing the right time to send the survey

The timing of the survey can affect the response rate. Sending the survey when customers are most likely to be available and receptive can increase the likelihood of a response.

scheduling survey in Customerly

With an optimal number of survey questions and a customizable design that aligns with your branding, Customerly lets you choose the perfect time to send or stop your surveys, positively impacting your response rate. 

Sign up now and start improving customer satisfaction today.

Analyzing customer satisfaction survey results

After sending out your customer satisfaction surveys, the next step is to analyze the results. 

This process can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses to improve your SaaS business – from optimizing your customer service team to improving customer onboarding or increasing product adoption.

However, you shouldn’t rely only on CSAT surveys. 

You should combine your results with your Net Promoter Score to understand how many NPS detractors you have. You can read our NPS vs CSAT comparison to understand the differences between these survey types.

You can also use Customer Effort Score (CES) to measure how easily customers can achieve their goals when interacting with your business.

It will give you a bird’s eye view of your overall performance and help you pinpoint critical issues to start solving them immediately.

Luckily, all three are available with Customerly. You just need to create your account to start using our platform.

Now, let’s discuss how to analyze your CSAT survey with Customerly.

in-app survey analysis

With Customerly reporting tools, you can identify trends and patterns in customer feedback to make data-driven decisions to improve customer satisfaction.

The Insights page presents crucial indicators like completion rate, drop-off rate, rejection rate, and total views of your CSAT survey. 

It enables you to thoroughly examine specific questions and responses, gaining a new perspective on customer sentiment toward your products or services.

Customerly insights page

On the Completion page, you’ll find details about how often people select specific answers for each question. 

This info can help you define where customers have good or bad things to say about different aspects of your offer. 

Customerly completion page

The Responses page lets you see your customer list and when they answered and completed your survey. By selecting a single contact, you can access their complete response.

Customerly responses page

You can check the Feedback section to see what specific customers say about your products or services. It helps you see their engagement history, evaluate their sentiment toward your business and gain fresh suggestions for improving your offer.

Customer feedback section

CSV and XLS formats are available for downloading the survey results. Furthermore, sharing the data with other team members can facilitate collaboration and discussion, helping to develop strategies for enhancing your product or service.

Exporting reports from Customerly

Unlock valuable customer insights and make data-driven decisions with our customer experience analytics

Sign up today to gain access and start driving business growth.

Final thoughts on CSAT questions

CSAT questions and surveys are valuable tools for assessing customers’ satisfaction with your products or services and pinpointing areas for progress. 

You can easily create effective questions, distribute surveys, and analyze the results using the right software.

Customerly is a simple-to-use platform that makes it easy to build in-app surveys. 

You can create a dynamic list for survey distribution, leverage pre-built survey templates, and even build question logic to ensure you get relevant input.

Our software also provides user-level reports, enabling you to learn more about the experiences of specific clients and spot opportunities to raise their satisfaction. 

We also provide outstanding customer service each step of the way.

Sign up now to leverage the power of Customerly.

Luca Micheli

Luca Micheli

CEO @ Customerly

Luca Micheli is a serial tech entrepreneur with one exited company and a passion for bootstrap digital projects. He's passionate about helping companies to succeed with marketing and business development tips.

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