Sample Customer Service Survey Questions To Gauge Customer Satisfaction

Whether you are a large corporation or a small local business, getting the opinions of your customers can help you to work more efficiently and improve your bottom line.

These sample customer service survey questions will help you to build stronger relationships with the most important resource you have - your customers.

Photo: Microsoft Office Online

Keeping Your Finger on the Customer’s Pulse

The only way to know whether your customers are satisfied is to ask them. What and how you ask them can play an important role in gaining insight into their buying habits and how they relate to what you are providing them.

Customer service surveys can provide more information than simply whether customers like what you are doing. Here are the added benefits of not only finding out your customer’s opinions but how to keep them as loyal customers for years to come:

• Measure results: find out what you are doing well and what you can improve
• Give you new ideas: new products/services can be sparked by customer suggestions
• Discover customer preferences: discover the needs/desires of customers so you can deliver what they want

What Types of Questions Should You Ask?

When brainstorming your series of questions, make sure you think about specifics. Asking open-ended questions may only yield surface responses, and thus you may not receive the answers you are seeking. Here are some ways to get the results you are looking for from your customers:

• Ask for their opinions: shows you care about their input
• Ask them what went well so you know what to continue doing
• Ask for any problem areas so you know what to pinpoint for improvement

Suggested Topics to Cover

When thinking about your business as a whole, there are a few areas you may want to consider asking your customers about:

• Service: How did they feel about your service standards? Did you live up to their expectations?
• Quality: What did they think about the value of your product? Was it worth what they paid for it? How does it compare to similar products of your competitors?
• Satisfaction: What worked well and what could use improvement? Were they disappointed in any aspect of your service?

Offering Incentives

Sending out a customer service survey is often not enough. Offering an incentive such as a discount or free sample can entice customers to take those few minutes to fill out your survey.

A popular method is to offer a discount when a current customer refers a friend. This works twofold, by giving your current customer something to keep them coming back, while also gaining you a new customer in the process.

Building Buzz

Word of mouth is also a very useful tool in marketing your business. Creating buzz for your company is not always easy, and customers do not always react favorably to buzz created by the company themselves.

Having friends sharing information about your products adds a level of credibility that seems more natural than a targeted marketing effort.

Free Sample Templates

Microsoft Office offers a variety of free sample customer service survey questions that can be downloaded and customized to suit the needs of your company.

Whether you run a restaurant, sell products or offer services, there is a template for you. Just click on one of the links here to find the template you need.

Screenshot by author: Microsoft Office Online