How to write a customer feedback questionnaire ?

Writing a Customer Survey: Identify Your Goals

Before you even start thinking about what questions you want to ask customers, survey professionals say you should ask yourself: What am I trying to learn, and what am I going to do with that information?

"If customers are happy, you really want to know that. If they're not happy, you can't hide," says Howard Deutsch, CEO of Quantisoft, a survey and consulting company. "You need to know why and you need to take action, or you're going to go out of business."

Deutsch says growing companies should strive to conduct a customer survey once or twice a year.

Don't ask customers a question without a plan for how it will be used to provide insight for you company's stakeholders, says Gina Pingitore, the chief research officer for J.D. Power and Associates, a global customer satisfaction research firm best known for its automotive quality rankings.

"What's the impact of being a yes or no on satisfaction scores?" she says. "You should have a very clear understanding of how you're going to analyze the data."

Deutsch says companies usually turn to two types of surveys. Self-service questionnaires through web services such as Survey Monkey, through which a company can write its own questions and then be presented with the raw data. The second type is to go through more individualized professional survey services that have their own survey methods and present you with analyzed data, charts, graphs and detailed comment reports.

Experts say common goals of surveys include:

• Measuring customer loyalty

• Helping human resources departments train staff or execute new staff initiatives

• New product development

• Direction for new financing

• Gauging customer service effectiveness

Dig Deeper: Best Customer Service Practices

Writing a Customer Survey: Crafting Quality Questions

Designing a questionnaire is a more complicated science than most people think, Pingitore says.

"People get their Ph.D.s in it," she says. Every aspect of the survey can affect the outcome, including the phrasing used to pose the question, the order the questions appear on the survey and the options for how to answer, such as whether respondents are asked a yes-or-no question, or to rate their response along a scale.

Professionals say to keep these tips in mind:

• Don't write questions that are ambiguous. Make them as specific and targeted as possible.

• Don't write "double-barrel" questions, such as asking, "How easy and timely" an experience was. "They're two different constructs," Pingitore says.

• Use scalable questions that ask customers to rank their responses on a numerical or qualitative spectrum. The ASCI uses a "multiple indicator" approach that creates scores based on responses to three different questions that relate to customer satisfaction. By asking customers, for instance,1) how satisfied they were with an experience,2) to what degree did their experience exceed or fall short of their expectations; and3) how that experience compares with their ideal, the results create a weighted three-dimensional picture, VanAmburg says. The ASCI uses a10-point scale for its qualitative questions as well, which allows for more grey area than a more narrow scale, he says.

• Ask a lot of questions. "The more questions that you ask, the more facets of it you get at, the more you minimize the margin of error, the more you minimize the noise in any survey," VanAmburg says.

• If repeating a survey, make sure to keep the questions identical from year to year so the results can be compared.

• Include at least a few open-ended questions. They allow for broader feedback you may have left out of your survey. "If a question is worth asking, it's worth putting a comments field in after each section," Deutsch says. "They'll pour their guts out in many cases."  Open-ended questions are tricky because the answers often aren't specific, Pingitore says. But as coding software even for large-scale surveys has improved, these kinds of questions help round out your survey and add more flavor to the outcome.

Dig Deeper: Who's Reading Your Customer Feedback E-mails

Writing a Customer Survey: Choosing the Best Format

Figuring out how to distribute your survey depends on your type of business. Phone surveys used to be the standard in the industry back when all customers had land lines, but in the era of the cell phone and do-not-call list, it's less reliable. When Vovici recently tried to do a national phone survey, halfway through the survey process the company realized it hadn't reached a single person under the age of24. If phone surveys are your only option, keep the questions short and make it clear right away that you're not trying to sell anything, Pingitore says.

Online surveys are now the preferred method because they are the most cost-effective, efficient means of producing data quickly, experts say. They also eliminate the human error from a surveyor keying in data over the phone. 

If you only have customers' mailing addresses, it's more cost-effective to mail a postcard directing people to an online survey rather than send the whole questionnaire, Pingitore says.

Some stores also have success handing out a survey at the register or printing a link to a survey on the receipt, Deutsch says.

Dig Deeper: How to Use Online Tools for Customer Surveys

Writing a Customer Survey: Work Toward Getting a Great Response Rate

It's a good idea to plan ahead for a survey and start building a database of customer contact information.

"If your list isn't good it doesn't matter how good your survey is," Pingitore says. It might even be smart to send out a test e-mail to your contact list to see how many addresses bounce back before investing in a survey.

Surveying by e-mail also means you'll have to format it so it doesn't get marked as spam, or disregarded as e-mail marketing. Survey companies can help you tailor the keywords in your subject line and body of the message so that the purpose is "simple, clear, and motivating," she says. 

If you're doing a snail mail survey, trade up a bit: Anything that distinguishes the survey from direct marketing will increase your success rate. First-class postage is more expensive but also more effective than third-class, Pingitore says. Use a laser printer to make the address look hand-printed. Make the form attractive with white space, large fonts and a clear description of how the information will be used. Allowing respondents to remain anonymous also helps, but if personal information is collected, you should clearly describe how it will be used.

Picking a random sample is important to make your survey credible, Henning says. "If you have true randomness, then you only need to talk to400 to represent population in the millions," he says. Smaller companies have a harder task: if you only have100 customers, you'll need to talk to80 of them to get a significant confidence level," he says.

Many stores are able to get contact information through club card or frequent buyer program:40 percent of people will usually give their address when asked at the register, Henning says.

"I actually think that justifies having a loyalty program alone," he says.

Dig Deeper: How to Build Personal Relationships With Customers 

Writing a Customer Survey: Interpreting the Results

One sure way to annoy your customers or clients is to ask for their opinion but then do nothing with the feedback.

It's simple, make sure what's the purpose of the questionnaire. Remember3S, i.e; make the questions and answers simple, short and straight. In this modern world, no one have enough time for even his own family. So no one will waist the time. Find the prospects who are interested from the first set of questionnaires and contact them for more opinion via email or other media.

Thank you!

It really depends on what the type of information you want to get from the process. The type of service and the feedback you want are crucial in determining the form and questions to raise. Mainly try to be as concise as possible. Asking closed end questions as opposed to open end ones. Best is to go with multiple choice as it simplifies the statistical review later on and will allow you to categorize the data. E.g. If we're talking of in store service: "How would you rate the helpfulness of our in store representatives?" And put4 to5 grades from Very Helpful to not helpful at all.

I have not so much experience with questionnaires, but I believe you should always start by defining the purpose of the questionnaire and express your appreciation for customer's cooperation.

Besides, assure the confidentiality of the information.

Further make your questions as short and clear as possible. Remember that people usually don't like open questions, therefore use multiple-choice questions instead.

Try to avoid specific and personal questions.

Always end with a Thank You

A customer feedback questionnaire should contain short and direct questions.

yes / no type of questions is preferred to be used.

Finally it depends on what kind of information you are gathering. 

you will ask whether he or she is good with your service? like Are you through with my sale

Focus on the main purpose of the questionnaire and ask relevant questions.

Don't write loading questions, never assume things while writing questions and try to ignore jargon and double-barreled questions. 

Mr Vinod has provided enough details about that ... Thank You