The 2021 online survey survival guide

Abstract

Companies that collect their own insights, then use those insights to drive deeper customer engagement and retention, are the companies who get (and stay) ahead.

Consumers’ attitudes, behaviors and purchasing habits are always evolving, yet never has the pace of this change been so dramatic and unpredictable. When you look at winning companies you will find one thing in common - they keep their finger on their customers’ pulse at all times. Getting real-life customer feedback and acting on it is instrumental to their success.

Enter Surveys — the solution to gathering real-time, structured insights from consumers that drive impactful business decisions.

Online Surveys — who does paper surveys these days anyway? — enable companies, both big and small, to gain insights into their current and target markets.

At Birdeye we use customer surveys to guide literally everything we do — from developing award-winning tools to up-leveling our customer success processes. However, having over 60,000 businesses on our platform has another advantage. We get to analyze how these businesses (many of them with hundreds of locations) use surveys — why, when and how.

In this guide, we will dive into some key learnings from the study that our research team did recently; but first, let’s start with the basics.

Surveys 101: Making customer feedback collection a habit

If you want a seat at the table, don’t bring opinions. Bring actionable insights.

Nothing guides companies better than insights from the Voice of their Customers (VoC). Surveys help collect critical feedback at different touchpoints in the customer journey. Understanding trends in customer preferences from this feedback and using them as insights to continuously provide better customer experiences is what can make all the difference. Surveys are the quintessential component in any well- executed VoC program.

Types of surveys

While surveys are great for collecting feedback, there’s no one-size-fits-all survey that can be used for all situations. Surveys can be used to get feedback from customers, prospects and even employees. For the purpose of this report, we will restrict ourselves to customer surveys.

Depending on the stage in the buyer’s lifecycle, companies use different types of surveys to capture different types of feedback. The most common types of Surveys used by companies are CX surveys (CSAT, NPS, CES); Product surveys; Brand and Marketing surveys.

While CX surveys help collect constructive feedback from customers at different touchpoints, Product surveys help companies learn what their users think about their products. Running a survey before launching a product helps you see what people really want and need. Product surveys for an existing product allows you to see how customers are enjoying their experience and how the product can be improved. Brand and Marketing surveys allow you to articulate your brand positioning, then develop further messaging that resonates with your future customers...

Download this guide for more expert insights on surveys