Customer satisfaction surveys are a powerful tool for businesses looking to elevate their customer support experience and increase customer loyalty. By asking the right questions, you can gain valuable insights into what your customers think about your products, services, and support.

In this guide, we'll share proven customer satisfaction survey questions and best practices to help you create effective surveys that deliver actionable results. We'll also provide templates you can use to get started quickly.

Why Customer Satisfaction Surveys Matter

Regularly checking in with customers allows you to:

• Identify areas where you are excelling in customer service
• Uncover pain points and issues that need improvement
• Show customers you value their feedback and are committed to meeting their needs
• Reduce churn by proactively addressing problems
• Boost customer loyalty and advocacy

Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend your business to others. Customer satisfaction is directly linked to retention and revenue growth.

Key Elements of Effective Customer Service Surveys

To get the most value from your surveys, make sure to:

• Keep it short and focused - aim for 5-10 questions max
• Use a mix of rating scales and open-ended questions
• Make it mobile-friendly
• Send surveys at relevant touchpoints in the customer journey
• Act on the feedback to close the loop

Avoid overwhelming customers with too many questions. Respect their time and keep surveys brief. Including an open-ended question allows customers to provide additional context and details.

Sample Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions

Rating Scale Questions

• How satisfied are you with the support you received?
• How easy was it to get the help you needed?
• How knowledgeable and helpful was our support team?
• How likely are you to recommend our company to others?

Use a 5-point scale from Very Dissatisfied to Very Satisfied or Not at All Likely to Extremely Likely. The last question is an example of measuring Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Open-Ended Questions

• What did you like most about your experience with our support team?
• How can we improve our customer service?
• Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

Open-ended questions allow customers to respond in their own words. This can surface insights and ideas you may not have thought to ask about.

Additional Questions to Consider

• How many times did you contact support before your issue was resolved?
• Which support channel did you use? (e.g. live chat, email, phone)
• How much effort did you personally have to put forth to handle your request?

Use a mix of question types to get a comprehensive view of the customer experience. Limit the number of questions to avoid survey fatigue.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Templates

Post-Support Interaction Survey

• How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the support you just received?
• How easy was it to get the help you needed?
• Is there anything else you'd like to share about your experience with our support team today?

Trigger this short survey immediately after a support interaction to get timely feedback. Keep it to 2-3 questions to increase completion rates.

Periodic Customer Service Survey

• How satisfied are you with our company's customer service?
• How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?
• How responsive have we been to your questions or concerns?
• How knowledgeable are our customer service representatives?
• How can we improve our service to better meet your needs?

Send this survey to your customer base on a quarterly or bi-annual basis to track customer service performance over time. The NPS question provides a high-level view of customer loyalty.

Best Practices for Sending Surveys

• Let customers know how long the survey will take upfront
• Send surveys at relevant moments, such as after a support interaction or key milestone
• Use clear, concise language
• Make rating scales consistent (e.g. 5 always equals best)
• Thank customers for their feedback
• Share what you're doing with the feedback to show customers it's valued
• Integrate surveys with your CRM to track feedback by customer

With the right approach, customer satisfaction surveys provide a wealth of actionable insights to improve your customer service. Use the templates and best practices in this guide to start collecting feedback and taking your support to the next level.

Looking for an easy way to create and send customer surveys? Askly's customer support tool makes it simple to survey customers and track satisfaction over time to boost loyalty and revenue.