25 customer satisfaction survey questions and examples

Figuring out what your customers really think about your company can be challenging, particularly if you aren’t leveraging the right tools to measure and improve customer satisfaction (CSAT) and other metrics. It’s all too easy for customers to completely ignore customer satisfaction surveys or exit out of them if they feel their time is being wasted. However, the choice of question can make a major difference in your customer response rate.

Some suggest that so-called "zero-party data" (information customers willingly give about their own preferences and interests), such as what can be picked up in customer satisfaction surveys, will be collected by twice as many companies moving forward. Clearly, this data has value if obtained and used appropriately – and the questions you ask directly determine the usefulness of your customers' answers. 

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Customer satisfaction remains a top priority in 2022

Satisfied customers are often repeat customers, and repeat customers keep businesses afloat, making customer satisfaction a top priority for companies in every industry. Even better, repeat customers can become brand advocates at any time, effectively ushering new leads in your direction without you having to spend additional marketing money. 

Ensuring customer loyalty requires tracking and improving customer satisfaction figures. CSAT scores can help you determine if your customers are actually satisfied with your business and if not, what parts of it need improvement. And when you combine customer survey data, with other types of customer data, such as social media interactions, call recordings, text or email interactions and more, you can gain a more holistic view of customer experience.  

To get to this powerful CSAT insight, you need to ask the right questions at the right time. Check out the questions and examples we've pulled together to flesh out your own strategy. 

Customer satisfaction survey questions

1. Ask about issue resolution. "Was the support representative able to resolve the issue?" 30 Best Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions, Qualaroo; Twitter: @Qualaroo 

2. Ask macro-level questions. "At HubSpot, we use customer satisfaction surveys to understand the micro-level experiences of individual users and address their concerns, but we always return to macro-level questions like Where is the market going, How is our product on the cutting edge, and Where do we need to improve?" - Michael Redbord, 11 Top Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions [Survey Template], Hotjar; Twitter: @hotjar 

3. Ask about the post-purchase. "Here are sample customer satisfaction survey questions to help you evaluate customer experience after purchases: How would you rate your shopping experience with us?" - NikolettaBika, 57 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions You Need to Ask, Acquire; Twitter: @acquire_io, @Nikoletta_Bika 

4. Ask customers "why" questions. "Asking customers why they liked or disliked something can provide more valuable information than just asking if they liked it. This may depend on the purpose of the survey itself, but asking why can produce better actionable insights. Example: ‘Why do you like our Vitamine C serum?’” - 25 Best Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions and Examples-Simplify, Simplify360; Twitter: @Simplify360  

5. Ask about your website's functionality. "These types of questions can help a business gauge how user-friendly their website, app or processes are. They can also determine which features are used, which are not and whether new features are needed. ‘How would you rate your experience using [company]’s web portal?’” - Gaetano Dinardi,60 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions You Can Borrow, Nextiva; Twitter: @Nextiva, @gaetano_nyc 

6. Give demographic questions a try. "Demographic questions may seem annoying or boring, but they are important to know and understand your customers. It helps with customer segmentation, which is necessary to identify and uncover patterns, trends, etc. The number of demographic questions would depend on the type of study or research you are conducting. Consider making some of these questions optional or provide options such as ‘rather not say.’  

1. What is your age?  
2. Where do you live? 
3. What is your marital status?

- Top 20 customer satisfaction survey questions QuestionPro, QuestionPro; Twitter: @QuestionPro 

7. Ask about usage frequency of your products or services. "Product and usage survey questions can give you greater insight into how your customer base uses your products and services. Not only that, but you can learn more about how they feel about them as well. This can help inform not only how you approach customers, but also with your product development efforts. Incorporating customer feedback about your products, you know how to better meet their needs and improve their experience." - Customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys: Examples, definition & template, Qualtrics; Twitter: @Qualtrics 

8. Ask how customers discovered your company. “How did you hear about us? Knowing how customers learned about a business can help you improve your marketing by identifying the most popular advertising channels and possible under-utilized ways to reach customers." - 20 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions (Plus Question Types), Indeed; Twitter: @indeed 

9. Ask why customers are leaving. "Questions to ask customers who churned [...] What is the main reason you’re canceling your account?" - Gosia Szaniawska-Schiavo,Customer Satisfaction Survey: 100 Sample Questions Guide, Tidio; Twitter: @tidiochat 

10. Ask questions that scale. "On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our products or services to a friend, family member, or colleague?" - Baylor Cherry, 20 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions You Need to Ask (Examples), Bluleadz; Twitter: @Bluleadz 

11. Try questions with multiple choices. "Which best describes your job role? E.g., Director, Manager, Marketing Executive, etc." - 18 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions for 2021 - Customer Thermometer, CustomerThermometer; Twitter: @custthermometer 

 12. Ask how customers describe your product. "Which of the following words would you use to describe our product? Why should you care how people would describe your product? Because it’s an important issue when your product gets described as ‘buggy’ instead of ‘life-saving.’" - Kasia Perzynska, 20 Powerful Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions, Survicate; Twitter: @Survicate  

13. Use psychographic questions for motivation insights. "Psychographics are questions that explain why customers do what they do. These questions help pinpoint specific traits and behaviours of your customer segmentation groups. Psychographic questions present valuable insights into a group’s buying habits. A few general examples of psychographic questions include: 

1. Do you more often use your phone, tablet/laptop, or desktop when online shopping? 
2. How many hours per day do you spend (activity relating to specific industry/product/service) 
3. How important is sustainability when it comes to deciding between (product or service you sell)"

- Yash Chawlani, Top Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions to Ask in 2022 (UPDATED!), Usersnap; Twitter: @usersnap 

 14. Be specific for more actionable answers. "The general question shown above is a nice measure of overall satisfaction to track over time, but you will also want to measure specific aspects of satisfaction in order to obtain more actionable data. [...] Example Q: What is your satisfaction with our cleanliness?" - 5 Essential Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions, My Market Research Methods.

Customer satisfaction survey examples

15. Enhance customer satisfaction survey data with conversation analytics. “Surveys are a good start to gaining insight into CX, but according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, the average survey response rate is only between 5 and 15%. Plus, using surveys alone to assess CX is often a flawed practice as it tends to only attract the extreme ends of the spectrum. The typical respondent is either extremely satisfied or extremely dissatisfied.” - MeasuringVoice of the Customer, CallMiner; Twitter: @CallMiner 

16. Opt for simplicity in your survey design. "Simplicity is key: Apple’s survey design and template are quite simple, avoiding any distractions whatsoever. This helps in keeping the respondents focussed on the survey and achieving good survey completion results. Templates that use a lot of colors and themes tend to be distracting and off-putting." - 7 Groundbreaking customer satisfaction survey examples, QuestionPro; Twitter: @questionpro 

17. Description choices help isolate emotional responses. "Which of the following would you describe the support you received today? Select all that apply. 

• Fast 
• Personal 
• Empathetic 
• Convenient 
• Effortless 
• Incomplete 
• Difficult 
• Other_____"

- CanOzdoruk, Customer Satisfaction Surveys [Top 17 Templates Use Cases], Netomi; Twitter: @netomi_official, @canozdoruk 

18. Encourage responses by reminding customers of their importance. "Referring back to our first point on engaging introductions, Nest, a leading home technology platform uses an enticing header to grab the attention of their customers. By stating their evident desire in listening to the voice of the customer, their patrons feel more tended to and inclined to fill it out." - 16 Exceptional Examples of a Customer Satisfaction Survey, Benbria; Twitter: @benbria 

19. Try open-ended questions for unexpected insights. "What can we do to improve our customer service? Response format: Since this is an open-ended question, the response format would be an open field for customers to type their responses." - 25 Best Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions and Examples, Simplify360; Twitter: @Simplify360 

20. Use incentives when possible to improve response rate. "Klook, a travel activities booking platform, clearly reminds its customers of the experience they booked before asking for their feedback. Consider how the company portrays the survey as a way to benefit future travelers, rather than the company itself. Klook tries to appeal to the travel culture of sharing reviews with others when it says, ‘They would love to hear your stories.’ Klook also offers a small incentive — $1 in Klook credits per review — to further persuade people to respond. While incentives typically help boost response rates, they should be used with caution." - Carla Vianna, 8 best customer satisfaction survey email examples, Xola; Twitter: @xola 

21. Ask about your competitors. "Even though this section isn’t a mandatory part of a customer satisfaction questionnaire, you can throw in one or two questions to know whether your competitors influenced the customer’s decision-making process. [...] What were the other brands in consideration before buying our product?" - FasnaSavad, 21 Effective Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire Examples, SurveySparrow; Twitter: @surveysparrow 

22. Ask about product features. "If there was one new feature you could suggest, what would it be and why?" - Ruchika Sharma,23 Excellent Customer Satisfaction Survey Examples [Templates], Hubspot; Twitter: @HubSpot, @Sh_ruchika 

23. Use a Likert scale question to cover all possible responses. "A Likert Scale question provides customers with options for their response from one extreme to another (i.e. satisfied to unsatisfied), with or without a neutral response. For example, a five-point Likert scale question might look like this:

 “How satisfied are you with our service? 

1. Very satisfied. 
2. Moderately satisfied. 
3. Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. 
4. Moderately dissatisfied. 
5. Very dissatisfied."

- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Surveys in 2022 - Qualtrics, Qualtrics; Twitter: @Qualtrics 

24. Try NPS for clarity of customer groupings. "NPS surveys ask customers how likely they are to recommend a brand or product to their friends or colleagues, on a scale from 0 to 10. As a result, you’re able to group customers as: 

• Promoters (scores 9 - 10) 
• Passives (scores 7 - 8) 
• Detractors (scores 0 - 6) 

 “The objective of NPS scores is to assess customer loyalty and overall satisfaction. A large number of Promoters suggests a high level of customer satisfaction." - Inés Roldós, Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Questions Examples, MonkeyLearn; Twitter: @monkeylearn 

25. Try open-ended questions to learn about customers' language and word choices. "These types of questions don’t offer any predefined answer to choose from. They allow the respondents to freely write about their experience. 

Advantages 

• Allows users to define what matters to them 
• Gives you insights into the exact language they use 

Disadvantages 

• Can be more time consuming for your respondents 
• Can feel like it requires a big effort and have fewer respondents 
• Can be difficult to compile and analyze" - Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Omniconvert; Twitter: @Omniconvert