02 June 2025 How to Simplify Customer Surveys without Losing Valuable Insights?
Customer surveys are critical tools for entities to analyse customer experience, measure satisfaction levels, improve service quality, and obtain necessary insights. However, today, particularly in the digital world, due to time constraints and reduced focus, long and complex surveys are either abandoned before completion or rushed through, resulting in important insights being missed and data quality potentially declining.
So, how can we ensure we do not miss out on the necessary insights while trying to simplify exhausting, lengthy and complex surveys? Naturally, the answer to this question is not simply to reduce the number of questions; the most crucial step is to prepare short and effective questions that are focused on the objective, using the right strategy. Let's examine what other methods are available and how they can be applied.
First, let's briefly outline why surveys should be short and concise:
1. Completion rates would increase: Research show that completion rates for surveys under three minutes are 30-50% higher.
2. Data with Increased Clarity and Focus: Participants provide more meaningful and consistent responses without losing focus due to the reduced attention spans brought about by digitalisation.
3. Quick Analysis and Assessment: Less complex question forms enable faster and easier analysis; it is important to remember that time is valuable.
4. Customer Satisfaction: The customers feel that their time is respected, thereby developing a positive perception of the brand and voluntarily participating in surveys.
5. Mobile Compatibility (Digital Surveys): Brief surveys are more effective for mobile users; long surveys negatively impact the user experience on small screens.
A Strategic Approach to Survey Design
In today's fast-paced and increasingly competitive landscape, the demand for reliable data to support sound decision-making is more critical than ever. Surveys have emerged as a vital instrument for entities seeking to gain deeper insights into their target audiences and to inform strategic actions. However, to yield meaningful results, surveys must be thoughtfully crafted with a strategic and purpose-driven approach.
Setting Objectives: Each survey should have a specific purpose, and any questions that are unrelated to this purpose, distract from it, or do not serve that purpose should be removed.
For example: In a survey investigating store satisfaction, a question like “How often do you use our mobile app?” is unnecessary and can be excluded.
Determining the Survey Type: Is the aim to measure the participant’s likelihood of recommending the brand to others (NPS), post-service satisfaction (CSAT), or how easy or difficult it was to complete a task (CES)? The survey type should be selected accordingly.
Question Ordering and Elimination: Analyse the data obtained from previous surveys. For instance, identify which questions were frequently skipped and which ones showed meaningful correlations. Combine overlapping or combinable questions. For instance, two separate questions such as “Were you satisfied with the product?” and “Did the product meet your expectations?” can be combined into a single question like: “To what extent did our product meet your expectations?.”
Asking easy questions at the beginning of the survey helps the customer warm up and encourages greater participation. More complex questions can be introduced afterward. It is generally more appropriate to place demographic questions (such as age, gender, and occupation) at the end of the survey.
Limiting Open-Ended Questions: Open-ended questions can be useful when deeper insights are needed. However, framing preference-based questions in an open-ended format may lead to irrelevant or inconsistent responses. Additionally, as these questions require manual review and processing, they can be time-consuming and resource intensive.
Keeping Scales Simple and Clear: Rating scales (e.g., 1 to 5) are commonly used to measure customer satisfaction. However, providing too many options can sometimes cause confusion. A five- or seven-point scale is usually sufficient to capture meaningful responses.
Smart Targeting: It is not necessary to ask all participants the same set of questions. For instance, the product satisfaction question can be skipped if a customer has not purchased the product. This approach helps personalize the survey and reduces its overall length.
Pre-Test: Before publishing, the survey should be tested to measure the average completion time and identify any unnecessary questions that can be removed.
Visual and Linguistic Simplicity: Using short, clear sentences that are easy for everyone to understand—rather than long, complex phrasing or technical sentences—helps keep the survey concise and increases participants’ willingness to complete it.
Trying to include multiple concepts in a single question can also make the survey harder to follow. For instances, instead of asking “Did you have a quick and easy shopping experience?”, it is better to separate the concepts into individual, straightforward questions.
Continuity: One way to shorten surveys is to avoid collecting all the information at once. For instance, by spreading the process across different time frames—such as a mini survey within a day after purchase or a loyalty measurement survey conducted a month later—data can be gathered in a more focused way without overwhelming the participant.
In summary, making surveys short and concise is not just about reducing the number of questions; it is also about asking the right questions, in the right order, and to the right people. Shorter surveys help you gain valuable insights while respecting the customer’s time, and they also reduce the burden of complex analysis and wasted effort. By applying the methods outlined above, we can collect meaningful insights from customers while minimizing unnecessary burden and achieving higher response rates.