Never done a customer survey? Here is where you start...

Designing a customer survey might seem a bit daunting if you have never written one before. In order to get useful data, you need to choose your questions and wording carefully. Below, we'll go over some customer surveying basics. With these in mind, you'll be able to start on your first customer survey.

‍Demographic InformationIn general, the customer surveys you administer will be anonymous. However, you can still gather valuable demographic information, such as the customer's age, gender, race, and the like; you just might not be able to match it up with a specific customer. The wording of your demographic questions should be chosen carefully, with customers given the option to decline to respond.

‍Identification of Key Categories One of the most important factors in customer surveying basics is identifying key categories of customer satisfaction, or key categories you want your customer's opinion on. If you're simply gathering data on your customer’s satisfaction with their experience, you may want to formulate categories such as:

• Cleanliness
• Quality
• Value
• Environment

If you're looking for feedback on a specific product or practice, your questions will be a bit more specifically targeted. Formulating categories before writing specific questions can ensure that you don't overlook key factors.‍

Scaling You don't want to administer only "Yes" or "No" questions, but you can't give free response questions for each category. Instead, most companies use scales such as "Very Satisfied, Satisfied, Neutral, Dissatisfied, Very Dissatisfied," or number scales. In addition, consider whether you want to give customers the option of  responding to any or all of the questions.Language Biased or leading language can derail an otherwise strong survey, so language is an important aspect of customer surveying basics. Some key tips to consider:

• Avoid strong words such as "love" and "prohibit"
• Avoid ambiguous questions - if a question could be split into two questions, do so
• Avoid ambiguous words, such as "could," "might," and "would"
• Stay specific in terms of what you're asking and how you're asking it

Survey Administration There are many ways you can administer a customer survey; the method you choose will depend on your business and your personal preference. For example, if you have a brick-and-mortar store, you might give out customer surveys with each purchase, with the offer of a coupon for completed surveys. If you have an online business, you might prompt customers to take a survey as they finish their checkout. Finally, you can reach out to customers outside of the initial transaction using email, social media, and other resources.