What’s best for your users and customers is (usually) best for your business. But how do you know what’s best for your users?

You have to ask them.

Customer surveys are the most direct way to gather constructive feedback from the people who know the most about the strengths and weaknesses of your products and services.

This article rounds up all of the best customer feedback questions in one place.

Use them to survey your customers and find out what they like, and what they still need, from you.

28 customer feedback questions

Here is a list of 28 recommended customer feedback questions, to use to get closer to your customers and their needs.

Most of them are pretty straightforward and it should be clear why and when to ask each of the questions but if you want detailed descriptions on each of the questions, check the full article (link at the bottom). I’ll include only a few expanded questions – the important ones.

Customer feedback questions that help you understand your customers

First of all, you can’t help your customers if you don’t know who they are and what they want in the first place. Asking your customers about themselves helps you gather psychographic data that can be used to create user personas: semi-fictional characters based on the real people who use your product. These personas come in handy for more targeted marketing and for improving user experience.

1. How would you describe yourself in one sentence?
2. What is your main goal for using this website/product?
3. What, if anything, is preventing you from achieving that goal?
4. What is your greatest concern about [product/brand]?
5. What changed for you after you started using our product?


Customer feedback questions to improve your marketing efforts

Marketing can be time- and money-intensive, so it helps to use your customers’ feedback to make sure your efforts are effective and well-targeted.

6. Where did you first hear about us?
7. Have you used our [product or service] before?
8. Why did you choose to use our [product or service] over other options?
9. Have you used a similar [product or service] before?
10. How do you use our product/service?

Customer feedback questions to ask on a web page

In general, you want a web page to be attractive, intuitive, and helpful for customers. You can use on-page surveys (that pop-up or slide-in from the side of the page) to poll customers on their opinions, which will help you improve your web page and the overall customer experience.

11. How can we make this page better?
12. What’s the ONE thing our website is missing?
13. What, if anything, is stopping you from [taking action] today?
14. What are your main concerns or questions about [product or service]?
15. Thanks for [taking action]! How are you planning to use [product or service]?

Customer feedback survey questions to ask when a product isn’t selling

When your product is underperforming, turn to your customers to find out what you’re doing wrong and how you can improve. It’s difficult to ask people why they aren’t buying your product, but you can get a sense of your target audience’s needs: email an open-ended survey to recent customers to learn more about how they felt about purchasing your product.

16. How would you describe the buying experience?
17. Do you feel our [product or service] is worth the cost?
18. What convinced you to buy the product?
19. What challenges are you trying to solve?
20. What nearly stopped you from buying?

Customer feedback questions to improve a product or service

Ask your customers for honest feedback about your actual products and services to learn what’s pleasing them and what isn’t working. Continue to refine and improve your offerings to better meet customer needs.

21. What do you like most about our [product or service]?
22. What do you like least?
23. What feature/option could we add to make your experience better?
24. How could we have gone above and beyond?

Customer feedback questions to measure the customer experience

The concept of “a good customer experience” can look a bit intangible and difficult to measure—and this is exactly where the next three questions come in.

25. Net Promoter Score (NPS): how likely are you to recommend our products?
26. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): how satisfied are you with our product/services?
27. Customer Effort Score (CES): how easy did (organization) make it for you to solve your issue?

One final question

At the end of multiple-question surveys, add one final bonus question.

28. Is there anything you’d like to add?

A few important questions

What convinced you to buy the product?

What were the hooks that persuaded your customers to take the plunge? Try to understand these driving forces, and then replicate and emphasize them.

What nearly stopped you from buying?

What are the barriers or obstacles that might deter potential customers from following through? You want to identify and try to minimize these issues.

How could we have gone above and beyond?

Learn what would make your customers sit up and say “wow!” These suggestions may not be feasible, but they’re a good window into what delights your customers.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Always give your customers a chance to offer feedback at the end of a survey. Many people will leave this section blank, but a surprising number of people will have a burst of insight or a helpful answer to a question you never even thought to ask.

The biggest survey tip is simply to encourage people to be honest. Really emphasize that you want them to be brutally, 100% honest, and that all feedback is helpful. This will free them up to tell you what they really think.

Final tips: getting the customer feedback you need

Customer feedback is extremely valuable because it gives your customers a voice and an opportunity to share what parts of your business are working or not working for them. However, to get reliable and useful information, you must ask the right questions in the right way. Here are four final tips:

Know what information you want to collect

Before you even start writing any of the questions, pin down exactly what you’re hoping to achieve. Do you want to:

• Know how people experience a specific website page or customer process?
• Improve your marketing techniques?
• Brainstorm new services to offer your existing user base?

Your goals will dictate the kind of questions you need to ask customers.

Keep your survey short

Filling out a feedback survey can be a big ask for busy customers, so keep yours as brief as possible. You probably won’t be able to ask every question you would like, so prioritize the information that is most useful to you.

Pick the right format

There are two major formats of customer surveys: long, multiple-question surveys and very short on-page polls.

• On-page polls typically consist of only one or two questions and are perfect for collecting a snapshot of information about a specific page or process. Because they take almost no time to complete, response is usually high.
• Longer surveys help you collect more in-depth information, but the more questions you ask, the fewer responses you are likely to receive. As a rule of thumb, ask as few questions as possible to get the information you need.

Test the survey before sending it to customers

If you are new to customer surveys, start off with a single-question on-page poll. Then, work your way up to longer multiple-question surveys.

If you are sending out a longer survey, ask coworkers or other connections to make sure that it’s well worded. The questions should be clear and concise so that customers know exactly what kind of information you’re looking for.

Conclusion

First, know what information you want to collect.
Keep your survey short. You won’t be able to ask all the questions you want.
Pick the right format. On-page polls or email surveys.
Choose important questions based on what you identified in the first step.
The fewer questions you have the better the answers you’ll get.
Important: act on the answers.

28 of our favorite customer feedback questions

PS. A large portion of your answers will be junk, especially for the on-site polls. But when you filter it out you’ll have invaluable data, straight from the most important people – your current and potential customers.