13 Types of Surveys Your Business Should Consider Using

Ready to get started? Make a customer satisfaction survey

There are many surveys you can use to determine customer satisfaction but make sure that you regularly conduct these three:

1. Direct Transaction Survey

This type of survey is typically conducted right after a transaction. You can use it to ask for feedback about your service, delivery, automated assistance, helpdesk representative, and more. It gives your customers the opportunity to rate how happy they are with what they received in this transaction. This in turn gives you valuable information about your customers’ attitude towards you and the accuracy of your offering.

Using this type of survey helps you determine whether your business is meeting your customers’ expectations. The information you gather also guides you toward the necessary product, service, or transaction process iterations so that you can better answer your customer’s needs in the future.

2. Overall Satisfaction Survey

This relationship survey helps you determine how customers feel about your company in general. Unlike the previous type, it considers past experiences and other factors as well as a recent transaction.

Assessing your overall customer satisfaction can help you create a better customer experience. You can also use results from this survey as a benchmark against competitors.

3. Net Promoter Score (NPS) Survey

An NPS survey checks how likely a customer is to refer another customer to you. When your NPS survey yields favorable results, it is a good indication that your business is on track. If not, consider how you can improve the quality of your output to raise the potential of your customers generating buzz about it.

Ready to get started? Create an NPS survey

4. User Experience Survey

User experience surveys, or as they are often called – usability surveys – can help you understand how your customers are experiencing the use of your website. Based on the feedback you receive, you can decide whether you should change anything on your interface, add information, revamp design or interactivity, etc.

These surveys can take different forms. They can include both closed-ended and open-ended questions. Some send out these surveys via email or social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, while others prefer to embed them on their website in order to receive feedback in close proximity to the use of their site.

Ready to get started? Create a user experience survey

Marketing & Product Surveys

This kind of survey provides insights into your target market, perceived product value, customer buying habits, and brand awareness. They help you better understand your target market and identify your competition.

Depending on the results of the surveys, you may need to update product offerings and pricing or raise brand awareness.

5. Market Research Survey

A market research survey is a great and cost-effective way to get to know your target audience. It’s often used before developing a new product, expanding into a new market, or trying out a new marketing strategy. In addition to teaching you about your potential customers, this type of research can also give you an idea of where you stand against your competition.

Feedback from this survey can help you continually improve your offerings, sales, and profits by giving your audience the tools and information that they need while benchmarking against similar businesses.

Ready to get started? Create a market research survey

6. New Product Concept Analysis Survey

This survey helps you see the potential of a new idea. Not only does it gather a consumer’s preferences and dislikes regarding the concept, but it also determines the chances of customers making a purchase. It’s like a type of pre-launch customer satisfaction survey.

Gathering opinions and attitudes towards a new product is very important. It allows you to make necessary adjustments before releasing something new into the market, potentially boosting sales. If you’re surveying a large portion of your target audience your concept analysis can also serve as a marketing tool by boosting brand awareness and building expectation.

Ready to get started? Create a product research survey

7. Sales Effectiveness Survey

This survey can help your sales and marketing departments investigate the impact of specific marketing strategies on sales, performance, and profitability.

Based on customer feedback, you can iterate marketing strategies aimed at specific audiences, develop new sales strategies or provide training for employees on the frontline. This can help you reach more qualified leads, improve conversion rates, and increase customer satisfaction.

8. Brand Tracking Survey

One could say that this survey, also known as a brand awareness survey, is a way to check your brand’s pulse. It determines how your brand is perceived by your market. You can use it to find out how aware your audience is of your brand, what they expect from you, whether they plan to do business with you, and what they feel about your brand. The results will help you strategize how to build brand awareness and improve brand quality. And remember that when your brand is viewed positively by your target market, it is easier to develop brand loyalty and increase referral rates.

9. Competitor Analysis Survey

Most of the survey types mentioned above focus on your business efforts. This survey offers an indirect yet effective approach. And it enables you to learn more about what your customers want and what you should be doing through your competition. Competitor analysis surveys usually look at competitors through the prism of marketing, product, and/or sales. They should be very focused and tactful because you don’t want to inconvenience your potential customers or create a bias that will slant your results.

Human Resources & Employee Surveys

When your customers are satisfied your profits increase. Customer satisfaction is usually achieved with high-quality products and services. And quality is provided by content, efficient, and motivated workers. Therefore, employee satisfaction is as important as customer satisfaction.

Human resources-focused surveys help measure employee engagement and satisfaction. You can learn how happy your workers are, what they think of their colleagues and supervisors, whether they are pleased with their benefits and work conditions, and even why they leave.

10. Employee Satisfaction Survey

This survey helps determine how an employee feels about their work, work environment, and company culture. It also covers their basic concerns and needs. Employee satisfaction is an integral factor in business growth. When you take steps to ensure that people are happy at work, you can increase their morale, efficiency, and retention.

Ready to get started? Create an employee satisfaction survey

11. Management Performance Survey

This survey helps assess the performance of a management team. It can identify problems and issues within the management and help assess company policies and procedures.

If you want an efficient company, you need to run a tight ship, which means you need great leadership. When you know how your team feels about their managers, you can provide training opportunities for managers to improve their leadership styles. Ensuring that you have a well-performing management team can also significantly boost office morale and motivation.

12. 360-Degree Feedback Survey

Also known as a multi-rater feedback survey, it’s often used by HR experts to learn about company employees and how the company can help them grow. 360-degree surveys examine employees from multiple perspectives by asking coworkers, supervisors, managers, subordinates, and sometimes customers, about their performance.

Successfully deploying a feedback survey requires great sensitivity, respect, and tactfulness. After all, the last thing you want to do is damage company culture, create bad vibes, or shame an employee you care about.  When conducted with care, they can be a key to employee empowerment and development.

Ready to get started? Create a 360-degree feedback survey

13. Exit Interview Survey

An exit interview is conducted when an employee leaves the company. It allows you to gather information about your company from a unique and important perspective. After all, ex-employees can become brand adversaries or brand advocates. So much depends on the experience you give them as your employees.  Use this opportunity to learn about your internal processes, retention procedures, compensation model, and tenure programs. You can also see it as a chance to end your partnership on a positive and productive note.

Ready to get started? Create an exit survey

Make Your Surveys Count

The bottom line is that curiosity and openness to feedback are key to growth. The more attentive you are to feedback, the faster you will learn and improve. And surveys are a great way to ask for and receive feedback, regardless of the size of your business. Just remember to approach the right people with the right questions at the right time. And make your surveys count by learning from them and implementing necessary changes in your strategies.