Your Voice of Customer (VoC) market research program and outcomes are only as good as the instrument and questions you ask in your survey.
Wouldn't we all love to ask our customers 100 questions?
Unfortunately, they do not have the time, and most aren't willing to spend more than about 3 to 5 minutes answering a survey.
Therefore, it is crucial to make sure the 15 questions you choose to ask are the right ones.
The VoC questions you choose depend on a number of factors:
- Your line of business
- Whether you are B2B or B2C
- The type of product or service you sell
- Who your customers are
In this blog post, our VoC market research company shared 45 of the best questions based on your team's project objectives.
Why Customer Feedback Matters
Understanding your customer's perception of your brand, products, and services is a necessary KPI when running a successful business.
Most businesses think or assume they know everything there is about their customers.
What they like, what they dislike, their wants, their needs, and so on.
Unfortunately, making assumptions about your customers could cost you.
Here are a few statistics to support our claims:
- 78% of customers have backed out of a purchase because of a bad customer experience (Glance).
- Even worse, that one bad experience will encourage that customer to seek out a competitor's product. Roughly 50% of customers say they would switch to a new brand after one bad experience (Zendesk).
- Customers are likely to spend 140% more after a positive experience than customers who report negative experiences (Forbes).
With customer experience playing more of a role in purchasing decisions, you need to base your marketing and sales strategy on data – not assumptions.
Value of Asking the Best VoC Questions
Imagine this...
Your business decides to create a customer experience program.
As part of the customer experience program, your organization decides to conduct a customer satisfaction survey and gather data that drives decision-making.
To best reach your customers, your team creates an email linking to the survey asking for their feedback.
You hit send on the email and it is received by your entire contact list.
Online survey responses start flooding in. 😊😊😊
However, as you start to look at the results you notice the data you've collected is not helpful in answering the main objective you've set forth when creating a VoC survey.
Why is this?
Poorly designed questions result in poor insights, recommendations, and strategies.
Garbage in. Garbage out. 😡😡😡
53 of the Best Voice of Customer (VoC) Questions
Our customer satisfaction survey company understands choosing the right 15 can be a difficult task.
The options are endless but lucky for you, we've selected the best of the best and provided you a virtual menu of VoC questions for your choosing.
We've separated the questions into several categories:
- Awareness and image questions
- Communication questions
- Competition questions
- Concept questions
- Customer-specific questions
- Decision questions
- Demographics or firmographics questions
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) questions
- Lead generation questions
- Performance questions
- Testimonials questions
- Website questions
Don’t have time to read through all 50+ Voice of Customer questions? Watch this 60-second video to learn our top 3 customer survey questions.
A critical question to include when conducting VoC research revolves around the image, awareness, and perception of your company.
This style of question allows an organization to understand what is most top of mind among respondents when they hear the name of their company.
It might also help identify some common things, feelings, or words that are associated with the brand name.
By asking this, your business is able to better measure brand awareness and perception in the eyes of your current customers, potential customers, and the general public.
Don’t forget to always ask “why” as a follow-up to get insight into why something was used.
Sample image and awareness questions to utilize in your customer survey include:
- What word or phrase comes to mind when you see or hear [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT, OR SERVICE]?
- What company comes to mind first when you think of [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT OR SERVICE]?
- Where have you seen or heard information about [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND] in the past 6 months?
- What is your preference for communicating with [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND]?
- Which of the following social media platforms do you use on a weekly basis? [LIST OF SOCIAL MEDIA CHOICES: FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, ETC.]
- How does [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT OR SERVICE] compare to the competition? [INSERT COMPANY] is? [MUCH BETTER, SOMEWHAT BETTER, THE SAME, SOMEWHAT WORSE, MUCH WORSE]
- How does [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT OR SERVICE] compare to the competition on each of the following factors?
- Have you purchased any [INSERT PRODUCT OR SERVICE] from a company other than [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND] in the past 12 months?
- Which company have you purchased the most [INSERT PRODUCT OR SERVICE] from in the past 12 months?
- How appealing would each of the following be to you? [INSERT LIST OF NEW PRODUCTS, SERVICES, OR CONCEPTS]
- Have you purchased any [INSERT PRODUCT OR SERVICE] from [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND] in the past 12 months?
- Which product(s) or service(s) have you purchased from [COMPANY OR BRAND] in the past 12 months?
- Approximately how long have you been a customer of [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND]?
This will give your organization insight into the decision-making process directly from the mouths of your target audience. It can also help find areas to focus on or test to see whether or not they are aligned with your customers' needs.
- What factor(s) matter most to you when selecting a company for [INSERT PRODUCT OR SERVICE]?
- Which of the following factors matters most when selecting a company for [INSERT INDUSTRY]?
The feedback from this question should guide the marketing strategy of your brand or organization.
For example, the most popular factors mentioned by the respondents of a VoC survey conducted by a clothing store are:
- Quality of clothing
- Easy online purchases
- Reviews
If the clothing company meets these standards, the retail store should highlight these important factors in its marketing efforts, whether it be on the website, on social media, on an email campaign, etc.
If not, this feedback now serves as identifying areas of improvement for the clothing store.
Demographics or firmographics questions
- Which of the following categories best describes your age? [LIST AGE GROUPS]
- Which of the following genders do you most identify with? [LIST GENDERS]
- Which of the following best describes your total annual household income from all sources? [LIST HHI RANGES]
- Which of the following best describes your total annual company revenue? [LIST REVENUE RANGES]
- Which of the following best describes your title at your company? [OPEN-ENDED OR LIST OF TITLES OR ROLES]
- Which of the following best describes the industry you work in? [OPEN-ENDED OR LIST OF INDUSTRIES]
- Which of the following best describes your marital status? [LIST STATUS]
- Which of the following best describes your ethnicity? [LIST ETHNICITIES]
- What is the highest level of education you have achieved? [LIST LEVELS OF EDUCATION]
- What is your 5-digit ZIP Code of residence? [OPEN-ENDED WITH 5 CHARACTERS]
- What is the 5-digit ZIP Code where your company is located? [OPEN-ENDED WITH 5 CHARACTERS]
- How many people work at your company or organization? [LIST RANGES]
- Which best describes your job role? [OPEN-ENDED OR LIST OF TITLES OR ROLES]
- What is your area of responsibility? [OPEN-ENDED OR LIST OF RESPONSIBILITIES]
Recommended Reading: 18 Demographic Survey Questions [With Examples]
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) questions
No organization loves to receive negative feedback from customers or the general public. However, when conducting VoC research or any other type of market research for that matter, negative feedback is more important to evaluate than positive feedback.
You may also consider using a Net Promoter Score (NPS) to evaluate different customer types in order to filter out feedback.
Taking feedback from promoters and passives may be more helpful for certain topics or outcomes than detractors. You might also want to try a follow-up “why” question to dig even further into their opinions of the brand.
- How likely are you to recommend [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT, OR SERVICE] to a friend, family member, or colleague?
- How easy is it to do business with [INSERT COMPANY]?
- How likely are you to switch to another company when purchasing [PRODUCT OR SERVICE] in the next 12 months?
- How likely are you to purchase another [PRODUCT OR SERVICE] from [COMPANY or BRAND] in the next 6 months?
- How satisfied are you with [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT, OR SERVICE]?
- How satisfied are you with each of the following factors with [INSERT COMPANY]?
-
What do you want to be improved about [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT]?
Realistically, not all improvements can be made instantaneously. Create a business plan to rectify the most mentioned improvements first. You may also find areas to expand upon for follow-up questions.
Make sure to update your customers and non-customers once these changes have been made.
This will show your company takes customer feedback seriously and will make any necessary improvements to best meet their needs and expectations.
When it comes to lead generation, asking the right questions in your Voice of Customer (VoC) survey can provide valuable insights to optimize your strategies and improve conversion rates.
Here are some example lead generation questions you can consider including in your VoC survey:
- What made you decide to submit an inquiry or request more information?
- Would you like a follow-up from [INSERT COMPANY] for any reason?
- What do you like best about [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT, OR SERVICE]?
- What do you want to be improved about [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT, OR SERVICE]?
- How would you rate your satisfaction with each of the following at [INSERT COMPANY, BRAND, PRODUCT, OR SERVICE]?
- How would you rate your dissatisfaction with each of the following at [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND]?
VoC surveys are a great opportunity to ask questions that prompt customers to provide specific feedback and share their positive experiences.
Here are some example questions you can include in your survey to gather compelling customer testimonials:
- Would you be willing to provide a testimonial for [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND] for marketing purposes?
- Can you share a specific example of how our product/service has solved a problem or improved your life/business?
- How has our product/service helped you achieve your goals or objectives?
- Can you share any measurable results or achievements you have experienced since using our product/service?
- Have you visited the [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND] website at www.[COMPANY].com in the past 3 months?
- How would you rate the [COMPANY OR BRAND] website on each of the following?
- What are the most important types of information you are looking for when you visit a website like [COMPANY OR BRAND]?
- What type(s) of blog content would you be most interested in reading on the [INSERT COMPANY OR BRAND] blog?
Final Thoughts
Effective Voice of Customer programs are invaluable assets for businesses aiming to enhance customer satisfaction, improve products and services, and drive overall growth.
However, the success of such programs heavily relies on the quality of the questions asked. Crafting the best VoC questions requires a deep understanding of the customers, their needs, and their pain points.
In this blog, we have explored a range of exemplary VoC questions that can provide valuable insights and empower businesses to make informed decisions. These questions span various stages of the customer journey, from initial awareness to post-purchase feedback.
By tailoring your questions to each stage and incorporating them into different feedback channels, you can gather comprehensive and actionable information.
Contact Our Voice of Customer Research Firm
Drive Research is a national Voice of Customer (VoC) firm located in Upstate New York.
We work with a variety of clients across the country to assist with VoC design, implementation and consulting.
Our team custom creates and manages VoC surveys that address your key objectives.
Ways to contact Drive Research:
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Emily Rodgers
A SUNY Cortland graduate, Emily has taken her passion for social and content marketing to Drive Research as the Marketing Manager. She has earned certificates for both Google Analytics and Google AdWords.
Learn more about Emily, here.
