50 Examples of Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions

Organizations often make assumptions about their products and services, and overestimate how satisfied their customers are.

This is highlighted in a Bain & Company report that found 80% of companies believed they delivered a “superior” customer experience. In reality, only 8% of customers agreed. The same report found that 95% of high-level management teams claimed to be “customer-focused,” and only 30% maintained customer feedback loops.

This satisfaction gap creates rifts between perception and reality, leading companies down the wrong path, resulting in customer churn and misaligned products and services. The answer is often quite simple—surveys to collect customer feedback to gauge sentiment and satisfaction.

But what types of questions should you ask your customers?

In this article, we share examples of customer satisfaction survey questions to help companies collect actionable feedback that highlights needs, closes sentiment gaps, and bridges customer needs to product and service development.

50 Examples of Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions

Your customer survey questions will depend on your product or service, the survey medium you’re prompting users with – for example, in-app survey questions – and more. However, there are default, straightforward survey questions you can tweak for your contextual customer sentiment feedback survey.

We’ve curated a list of common customer sentiment survey questions across buckets of categories, including:

• Questions on Customer Experience
• Questions on Customer Sentiment
• NPS Surveys and Customer Loyalty Questions
• Questions for Collecting Product Feedback
• Questions on Customer Service Satisfaction
• Marketing Research Questions

Examples of Customer Experience Survey Questions

• How would you describe your overall experience with our company?
• Can you tell us about a positive interaction you’ve recently had with our company?
• Are you satisfied with the quality and speed of our service?
• Could you navigate our website/mobile app easily?
• Did you encounter any challenges during the purchasing/checkout process?
• Did our product/service meet your expectations?
• How likely are you to recommend our product/service?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, rate how seamless your experience was with our product/service.
• Could you find the information you were looking for quickly?

Examples of Customer Sentiment Survey Questions

• On a scale of Very Unlikely to Very Likely, how likely are you to continue using our product/service in the future?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with our product/service?
• Does our product/service help you meet your goals as a [job title]?
• Are there specific features of our product/service that you’re most satisfied with?
• Did you find our product/service user-friendly?
• Do you find that our product/service provides good value for its price?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, how well do we tailor our features/offerings to meet your needs as a [job title]?

NPS Surveys and Customer Loyalty Questions

• On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company to others?
• For Detractors: Please explain why you gave a rating of [customer’s rating]. What can we do to improve?
• For Passives: Can you provide additional feedback on what we can do to increase your likelihood of recommending our product/service?
• For Promoters: What do you value most about our product/service?
• How does our product/service/company compare to others?
• On a scale of ‘Never’ to ‘Very Often,’ how often do you actively promote or talk about our products/services to others?
• How likely are you to explore other products/services our company offers?
• Would our company be your first choice for similar needs in the future?
• On a scale of ‘Very Unlikely’ to ‘Very Likely,’ how likely would it be for you to switch to a competitor if they offered a similar product/service?

Questions for Collecting Product Feedback

• On a scale of ‘Never’ to ‘Very Often,’ how frequently do you use our product/service?
• What use cases/goals/tasks do you typically use our product/service to achieve?
• How has our product/service positively impacted your day-to-day responsibilities?
• How satisfied are you with [specific feature]?
• Would you like to see improvements made to [specific feature]?
• Would you be open to providing a testimonial or review for our product/service?
• What improvements would you suggest for the user interface or design?
• Please rate the following features on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is ‘Not important at all,’ and five is ‘Extremely important.’

Questions on Customer Service Satisfaction

• On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the responsiveness of our customer service team?
• Did our customer service team resolve your ticket/inquiry to your satisfaction?
• Can you recall a specific positive experience with our customer service team?
• Did you find our self-service resources and FAQs helpful?
• Are you satisfied with the availability and responsiveness of our customer support channels?
• Did our customer service team exceed, meet, or fall short of your expectations?
• How likely are you to seek future assistance from our customer service team?
• Did our customer service team keep you informed about the status of your inquiries or issues?
• How would you describe how our customer service compares to other companies in the market?

Marketing Research Questions

• What factors influenced your decision to choose our product/service over competitors?
• How did you first hear about our company/product/service?
• What companies/products/services did you evaluate before deciding to purchase our product/service?
• Can you share examples of how our product/service offering has made a difference for you?
• How would you describe your current perception of our product/service within the market landscape?
• Are there emerging trends or features in the market that you would like to see in our product/service?
•  Who or what most influences your purchasing decisions for products/services similar to ours?
• Which online platforms do you use most frequently to research or learn about similar products/services?

Types of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys may only need a few straightforward questions, while more complex products or questions require more extended qualitative responses to gather actionable feedback.

You could also opt for brief surveys at specific parts of your customer journey and more comprehensive product feedback surveys during others. These stark differences are influenced by factors such as the behavior or preferences of your target audience, the type of product or service you’re delivering, or the kind of insights you want to explore.

Let’s explore a few different types of customer satisfaction surveys that you can start building today:

1. Multiple-choice questionnaires

Companies that want to collect quantitative data or analyze apparent trends can use multiple-choice questions to collect standardized feedback more efficiently. These surveys require respondents to choose from several pre-determined responses.

For example, you can drill down on your customer experience for a specific transaction or determine a feature in your product or service that customers like best. Surveys with multiple-choice questions are a good fit if you’re looking for concise feedback that you can interpret quickly and at scale.

You can use it to capture pre- and post-purchase satisfaction, demographic information, or customer requests for future product developments.

Use cases for multiple-choice questionnaires:

• Identifying Common Customer Preferences: To determine which product features or services customers value the most.
• Measuring Customer Awareness: To assess customers’ knowledge of certain features, promotions, or policies.
• Segmenting Customers: To categorize customers based on demographics, usage patterns, or satisfaction levels.

Examples of multiple-choice questions:

• Why are you using our product? (Improve productivity, centralize spreadsheets, increase collaboration, other)
• What devices do you use to access our product? (Smartphone, desktop, tablet)
• What features do you use on a weekly basis? (feature 1, feature 2, feature 3, feature 4)

2. Open-ended questionnaires

Unlike multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions help companies collect feedback on factors that cannot simply be bucketed into a few pre-determined choices. These questions require customers to share their unique opinions and experiences with more detail or context. Instead of capturing obvious trends and patterns, these questions are useful for helping companies understand customer sentiment and perception.

Open-ended responses are much more difficult to analyze, especially at scale. Still, they equip teams with rich information that is sometimes necessary to inform strategic discussion and product explorations.

Use cases for open-ended questionnaires:

• Gathering Detailed Feedback: To understand specific customer experiences or issues.
• Exploring Customer Motivations: To learn why customers prefer one product or service over another.
• Capturing Suggestions for Improvement: To collect ideas or suggestions directly from customers for future enhancements.

Examples of open-ended questions:

• What did you like most about your recent customer service experience?
• What single new feature or product update would add the most value to your subscription?
• What is the most frustrating challenge you’ve faced with our product this year?

3. Likert-scale surveys

These survey questions measure a specific range of agreement, satisfaction, or likeliness. For example, you can use a Likert scale to see how likely customers will recommend your product to their peers.

The response to this question would include a scale of text or numbers depicting the intensity of your customer’s likeliness — from ‘Very likely’ to “Very unlikely,’ for instance. This question type is most commonly used to measure customers’ attitudes or sentiments about your brand, such as the Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, which analyzes how likely a customer will recommend a product or service to others.

You can also use a Likert scale to capture how customers rate a particular product or experience, how often they use a feature, how satisfied they are with product or service quality, or how likely they are to use your product again.

Use cases for Likert-scale questionnaires:

• Measuring Customer Satisfaction: Gauge customers’ satisfaction with different aspects of the product or service.
• Assessing Brand Perception: Understand how customers perceive the brand compared to competitors.
• Evaluating Customer Loyalty: Determine the likelihood of customers continuing to use the product or recommending it to others.

Examples of Likert-scale questions:

• On a scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree), how satisfied are you with our customer service?
• How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague? (1 = Not Likely, 5 = Very Likely)
• To what extent do you agree with the statement: “Our product meets your needs.” (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree)
• How satisfied are you with the ease of use of our website? (1 = Very Dissatisfied, 5 = Very Satisfied)
• What is your overall satisfaction with our product? (1 = Not Satisfied at All, 5 = Completely Satisfied)

4. Single-choice questions

As the name implies, these questions require customers to select only one response between two options. A single-choice question commonly prompts customers to select between yes and no or true and false.

These questions can be answered promptly, so they’re suitable for simple surveys that quickly gather real-time customer feedback about specific interactions or transactions. For example, you can use this question to identify if customers found it easy to complete an action or found a customer service resource helpful.

Use cases for single-choice questionnaires:

• Determining a Primary Choice: To identify the most important factor driving a customer’s purchase decision.
• Understanding Service Usage: To determine which services or features customers will most likely use.
• Pinpointing Key Customer Preferences: To discover customer priorities in terms of features, pricing, or support.

Examples of single-choice survey questions:

• Which of the following is the most important factor when choosing our product? (Price, Features, Customer Support, Brand Reputation)
• What is the primary reason for canceling your subscription? (Cost, Lack of Features, Poor Customer Support, Other)
• What is your preferred method of contact for customer support? (Email, Phone, Text, Live Chat, Social Media, In-App)

Benefits of Collecting Customer Satisfaction Survey Data

It’s virtually impossible to track and measure customer satisfaction across different factors without collecting direct feedback. Implementing customer satisfaction surveys at specific milestones in the user journey can help you prevent bottlenecks and anticipate challenges.

This proactive approach to customer engagement provides organizations benefits like:

1. Grow revenue and reduce churn

Customer satisfaction surveys give businesses direct insight into what customers want. Your organization can identify pain points to prevent customer churn. These surveys also allow you to proactively spot trends that you can turn into opportunities for increasing customer engagement, improving service quality, and ultimately attracting and retaining customers by building trust in your brand.

Equipping yourself with deep visibility into customer sentiment and satisfaction helps you prioritize projects and initiatives that impact your bottom line, whether by driving more sales pipelines, expanding opportunities with existing customers, or strengthening your product or service lines through strategic partnerships. Not to mention, good survey responses serve as great proof points to leverage as you build these relationships.

2. Build customer loyalty

From strong customer service to corporate social responsibility, incentives, and technology availability, customer loyalty is born from holistic brand experiences covering all bases.

For example, strong value alignment with a brand isn’t enough to result in returning customers if a poor experience on a mobile application or website inhibits them from exploring products while they’re on the go.

With so many factors to consider when managing customer expectations, customer satisfaction surveys give businesses a clear avenue to gather feedback regularly. Product or customer-facing teams can capture and document complaints, wins, or ideas businesses can use to inform and implement more customer-driven strategies.

3. Identify friction points and improve products, processes, and services

You can’t improve what you aren’t measuring. You can gain a holistic view of your business by combining quantitative product data from product analytics software and end-user behavioral tools with qualitative data from customer satisfaction surveys.

You can also deploy targeted surveys to supplement your analysis of specific product paths, website experiments, customer journeys, or workflows. This feedback is crucial in giving you realistic and contextual information from end-users that you can use to improve existing procedures—technical processes in your product, internal collaboration, or back-end and front-end operations.

With Whatfix’s digital adoption platform (DAP), you can create a customer feedback loop with its in-app surveys and end-user behavioral event tracking to understand where customers are experiencing friction and frustration with your products, digital processes, and services.

Whatfix also enables organizations to close that feedback loop by making data-driven product decisions based on those qualitative insights and quantitative data to create and launch in-app guidance and contextual support experiences at the moment of need, directly inside their app or website UI.

For example, imagine your customers are experiencing a high drop-off rate after converting to your paid subscription. You hypothesize that they’re not experiencing early value and are churning, but you’re not exactly sure where this user friction is occurring.

Between Whatfix’s Analytics and In-App Surveys, you can collect qualitative customer feedback and quantitative feedback for your dropoff points by exploring customer segments and journeys.

With Whatfix’s Visual Editor, you can create contextual product tours for different end-user segments. Each tour can include an in-app Task List that provides new users with specific action items to complete upon signing up for your product—again, each contextual to different types of personas or end-users.

Each Task List action item can prompt an in-app Flow that provides step-by-step instructions on accomplishing a workflow. This reduces time to proficiency for new end-users by guiding them to their “aha!” moment.

4. Identify trends across customer segments

Customer satisfaction surveys allow you to access rich data on how customers interact with your product regularly. Depending on the scope of your survey, you can use your survey questions to narrow down on specific behaviors, actions, preferences, and more.

Analyzing this data set regularly keeps you on the pulse of customer trends and helps you familiarize yourself with your ideal customer persona. You can use customer surveys to enhance your competitive intelligence and adapt your product to market shifts and evolving customer cultures. You’ll also be better positioned to identify patterns or irregularities in customer behavior that can lead to growth opportunities and business risks.

5. Validate business decisions

Gathering feedback from your product and customer teams or your executives isn’t enough to validate significant decisions about a product or service. Ultimately, the most critical voices belong to your customers– they’re using your product or service, after all.

Instead of assembling a focus group or conducting one-on-one interviews with target customers, you can build and deploy a customer satisfaction survey in minutes to get direct feedback from a larger volume of customers. This helps businesses align themselves with customer expectations without delaying project timelines.

With the right technology, you can increase your response rate from specific customer segments by implementing in-app surveys at high-impact points in the customer journey.

For example, online gaming app PlayOJO used Whatfix’s DAP to target specific segments of their gaming community with contextual promotions to increase user engagement and improve retention rates – creating in-app messages and prompts at specific times in the user journey that nudged customers to continue playing.

Best Practices for Running Customer Satisfaction Surveys

A customer survey can serve many purposes — from calculating your NPS score to modeling customer retention and measuring customer effort scores. Regardless of what customer survey you’re building or the types of questions you’re using to collect feedback, you’ll want to keep the following framework in mind:

• Identify your objective and target audience: Your survey’s content, length, and distribution will depend on the audience demographic you want to explore and the type of information you’re looking to gather. Determining these criteria upfront will help your team avoid drastic do-overs and poor engagement rates later.
• Select the appropriate survey and question type: Choose a survey and question type that aligns with the kinds of responses you’re looking for, the behavior of your audience, and the time and place of survey distribution. For example, an NPS survey may only call for a brief Likert-scale questionnaire, while a market research survey would require a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
• Keep survey questions short, direct, and relevant: Build a survey that’s easy to scan and engage with on the device type of your audience’s choice. Avoid using dense blocks of text, jargon, and long-winded questions that make your survey look and feel like it would require significant effort.
• Optimize when you send your surveys: Pinpoint the exact moments to deliver surveys to your customers. For example, customer service follow-up surveys should be sent immediately following a support ticket closing. For general customer satisfaction surveys, be sure to A/B test delivery times and days. Avoid sending after work hours or during weekends and holidays.
• Create a smooth and logical flow of questions: If your survey comprises multiple questions, ensure that each question is arranged in a way that’s easy to follow. For example, you can group questions about specific features or transactions to help customers better organize their thoughts and feedback as they navigate your survey.
• Determine the right distribution channels: The success of your survey is ultimately driven by the number of customers who engage with it. Be strategic about when and how you deliver your survey to capture your customers’ attention when they’re most engaged with your product.

Examples of CSAT Surveys

CSAT surveys are potent tools for gauging customer sentiment and improving service offerings. By examining real-world examples from leading companies, we can gain insights into effective survey practices that measure satisfaction and inspire positive change.

Below are some examples of CSAT surveys by renowned brands to maintain and enhance customer relationships.

1. Starbucks’s customer satisfaction survey

Starbucks’ commitment to customer satisfaction shines through in its comprehensive CSAT surveys. After enjoying a beverage or snack, customers may receive a survey inviting them to reflect on their visit.

These surveys ask about everything from the coffee’s taste to the café’s atmosphere and the service’s friendliness. Starbucks uses the insights gathered to fine-tune the café ambiance, streamline service, and ensure that every cup of coffee is served just the way you like it, making each visit a little better than the last.

2. Amazon’s post-purchase feedback survey

After you click that final “Place your order” button on Amazon, your interaction with the retail giant isn’t over yet. Once your package is safely in your hands, Amazon follows up with a CSAT survey that lands in your inbox.

The survey digs into every part of your shopping journey, from the accuracy of the product descriptions to how easy it was to check out, and even how the delivery stacked up against your expectations. Amazon isn’t just trying to see if you liked what you bought; they want to know if the whole process made your life a little easier. This attention to detail helps them smooth out any wrinkles in their massive shopping and delivery machine, ensuring each order is as hassle-free as the last.

3. Whatfix’s user support feedback survey

Whatfix empowers companies to provide in-app guidance and on-demand user support for their end-users through guided experiences like product tours, walkthroughs, tooltips, and in-app surveys.

Whatfix enables companies to solicit immediate feedback through on-the-spot CSAT surveys directly after key events, like post-user onboarding, after a support issue was resolved, or after a user engages with an in-app experience.

These surveys are designed to assess the effectiveness of your user guidance and gather insights on user experience challenges in real time. The feedback collected is not only about improving the user’s immediate experience but also provides companies with actionable data to continuously refine their in-app tutorials, user flows, and feature presentations. This ensures that users start off on the right foot and remain engaged and proficient with the tools provided.

4. JetBlue: in-flight experience survey

JetBlue knows that the journey is just as important as the destination—that’s why they ask passengers to share their thoughts through a CSAT survey shortly after their trip. Whether it’s the legroom, the movies, the snacks, or the service,

JetBlue wants to know what soared and what fell flat. The collected feedback isn’t just filed away; it’s used to train and empower their staff, upgrade their offerings, and ensure that your next flight is even better. This kind of attentive care aims to keep JetBlue at the top of the list for flyer satisfaction.

5. Apple: retail store service survey

When you walk into an Apple Store, whether to browse the latest gadgets or seek help at the Genius Bar, Apple is keen on making sure you leave satisfied. Shortly after your visit, you might receive a survey asking about your experience.

Did the staff solve your problem? How did the store’s atmosphere make you feel? Apple uses your answers to fine-tune the in-store experience, striving to create an environment where technology meets serene simplicity, all tailored to customer satisfaction.

6. Hilton: guest stay experience survey

After your stay at a Hilton hotel, don’t be surprised if they reach out asking for your thoughts on your stay. Their CSAT survey covers everything from the moment you checked in to the morning you checked out.

How clean was your room? Were the amenities up to par? Did the staff make you feel at home? Hilton values this feedback as it helps them ensure that every guest’s stay is not just satisfactory, but excellent.

They use this data to polish their service and refine their guest experience, making sure that your next stay is even more comfortable and welcoming than the last.

How to Take Action With Customer Satisfaction Survey Data

Once the effort of designing and distributing customer satisfaction surveys has concluded, the real work begins.

Collecting the data is only the starting point—to truly impact your business, you need to convert these insights into actionable strategies that drive improvement and foster deeper customer connections.

Here’s how you can make the most of the data your customers have entrusted you with.

1. Analyze the data for patterns and trends

Start by diving into the responses to look for patterns and trends. Are there recurring themes in customer complaints or praise? Identifying these patterns can help pinpoint what’s working well and what might be missing the mark. Use this analysis to focus on key areas for immediate improvement and to reinforce successful strategies.

2. Set specific, measurable goals based on the feedback

Once you’ve identified areas for improvement, set specific, measurable goals. For example, if customers are consistently indicating dissatisfaction with customer service response times, set a clear goal to reduce response times by a specific percentage within a set period. Measurable goals ensure that the impact of changes can be quantitatively assessed, providing clear markers for success or further adjustment.

3. Implement changes and track their effects

The next step is to implement the necessary changes based on the goals you’ve set. If the data suggests a need for better product features or more efficient service, work with the relevant teams to make these improvements happen. After implementing changes, continue to monitor customer feedback to track the effectiveness of your actions. This ongoing loop helps refine strategies and responses continuously.

4. Communicate changes to your customers

Don’t keep your responses to customer feedback a secret. Communicate back to your customers about the changes you’re making based on their suggestions. This not only shows that you value their input, but also reinforces their importance to your business. It could be through an email, a newsletter update, or a post on your social media channels. Transparency builds trust and fosters a stronger relationship with your customers.

5. Foster a company culture that embraces customer feedback

Encourage a company-wide culture that values customer feedback. Make sure every team understands the role they play in customer satisfaction and how their actions influence overall perceptions and loyalty. Training sessions, workshops, and regular discussions about customer feedback can help maintain focus on the customer’s voice across all departments.

6. Celebrate wins and plan for the future

When survey data shows improvement and customer satisfaction increases, celebrate these wins with your team. Use these positive outcomes to motivate further innovation and dedication to customer service. At the same time, always look to the future—customer expectations evolve, and your strategies should too. Regularly updating your survey questions and the way you analyze data can help you stay relevant and responsive.

Using customer satisfaction survey data effectively means continuously improving your business practices. It involves a commitment not just to meet customer expectations, but to exceed them, cultivating lasting loyalty and driving business growth.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys Click Better With Whatfix

Whatfix helps companies build and deliver in-app customer satisfaction surveys at impactful, strategic points in the customer journey. With Whatfix’s DAP, teams can collect qualitative and quantitative feedback through in-app surveys and analytics that collect end-user behavioral data and track custom events.

Empowered with this data, companies can overcome areas of user friction and create frictionless customer journeys that drive end-user adoption with in-app guidance and contextual support. With Whatfix, you can create contextual, segmented in-app widgets that overlay your UI including:

• Product Tours and Task Lists that welcome new users and guide them to their “aha!” moment.
• Smart Tips that provide additional context at key moments of friction.
• Self Help that provides real-time customer support in a resource center that aggregates content and links to your knowledge base, FAQs, product documentation, and in-app guided prompts.
• Flows that walk end-users step-by-step through complex processes and workflows.
• Field Validation that provide error messages to end-users when they enter data incorrectly.

Explore how Whatfix can enhance your customer experience and streamline your onboarding process by visiting our website and scheduling a personalized demo today.