5 Customer Satisfaction Survey Turnoffs and What to Do Instead

These common survey mistakes can prompt customers to send your survey straight to the trash.

Americans receive billions of customer satisfaction and feedback surveys a year. While many consumers are happy to answer a few questions about their experience, many others suffer from “survey fatigue” and have no desire to complete one more customer satisfaction survey.

At the same time, the inundation of surveys and resulting fatigue present tough challenges for businesses and organizations seeking feedback to improve the guest/customer experience.

It’s not so much that people dislike being asked for their opinion. More likely, they receive so many customer surveys that they just don’t have time to fill out new ones several times a week.

Still, surveys are a valuable guest feedback tool that your business or organization can use to improve services and the guest experience. Surveys are also here to stay, according to customer engagement platform Khoros.

“Surveys won’t be going anywhere soon. Indeed, customers understand this simple fact, and even recognize that it can benefit them: According to our research, a whopping 64 percent of consumers appreciate when a brand seeks out their feedback or opinion in a survey,” according to Khoros, which conducted a survey of consumers of various products and services.

So, how can your business improve the chances of recipients completing the survey your management has so carefully prepared with relevant questions?

Want more customers to complete and send back your customer satisfaction survey? Avoid these five survey mistakes that can cause your customers to close the email and hit delete.

1. Too many questions

There’s nothing like a long list of questions to answer to prompt your customer to close your survey email and move on to other things. Better to keep your survey short, according to research from survey automation company Survicate.

Surveys with one to three questions have a completion rate of 80 percent, according to Survicate. With four to eight questions, that rate drops to 65 percent. And only 56 percent of customers complete surveys with nine to 15 questions.

Customer service software company Zendesk recommends posting the estimated time in minutes that it will take to fully complete the survey. Also provide a progress bar so respondents can see that the end is in sight.

2. Broad questions

Asking broad questions is a “one-way ticket to a low response rate,” according to Zendesk. Rather than asking about overall satisfaction, choose specific areas. For example, instead of asking the customer to rate their overall hotel stay, ask about satisfaction with room cleanliness, staff friendliness and/or satisfaction with the booking process.

3. Open-ended questions

Make the first questions on your survey easy to answer, with a rating scale or yes/no option, recommends customer satisfaction platform customer Alliance. “Avoid using [open-ended] questions and comment boxes at the start of your survey as the thought of writing out longer answers right at the beginning scares people off.”

4. Vague, leading or complicated questions

Avoid using questions that could be misunderstood or be perceived with more than one meaning, says Zendesk. Such questions could skew results, especially when customers are in a rush or unsure of exactly what you’re asking.

5. No customer survey goal

Form a team of managers and staff to create your customer survey. Then set a survey goal for what you’re trying to achieve from completed surveys. Is it an improved guest retention rate?  Or maybe you’re seeking the level of satisfaction with your brand’s mobile app.

Zendesk recommends focusing on only one topic for your goal, since it’s harder to collect and learn from feedback from multiple issues at once.