Numbers are a marketer's best friend. They can tell you exactly how many people made purchases on your website or give you insight into the exact number of returning users. But there's another kind of statistic that is just as rewarding: customer satisfaction. 

Knowing your customers’ level of satisfaction allows you to make informed decisions and take action to ensure they remain happy and loyal to your brand. However, it all starts with understanding what makes them satisfied in the first place.

How do you run, analyze, leverage, and measure customer satisfaction survey data? Read our blog post to find out!

Step 1: Analyze quantitative data

This type of data is measurable, countable, and convertible into numbers and statistics. You can analyze it with a tool such as Google Analytics to get a glimpse into customer satisfaction.

In theory, you can assume that a customer that buys from you again is satisfied with your services and overall offer.

Otherwise, they would choose your competitor.

You can easily find out how satisfied your customers are with this survey:

The percentage of returning visitors and customers can be a good basic measure of customer satisfaction. The easiest way to check this is to dig into Google Analytics to see how many orders are placed by returning customers.

Keep in mind that depending on the type of business you run, repeat purchases might not necessarily be a good customer satisfaction indicator (for example, if you sell cars).

Therefore, quantitative data alone is not enough. A good qualitative analysis will fill the gaps and show you what kind of data is missing.

Step 2: Check qualitative data

Remember that customers are real people— their feelings and opinions speak better for their actions than raw numbers. Here is a very simple but powerful example:

People buy from you regularly.

This means that you should be happy, right? Business is going well, and apparently, you’re ahead of your competition and there are no negative reviews.

However, you do not know why your customers love you and purchase from you time and time again. 

What if they don’t really like you but buy from you out of necessity, as you are the only option they have? This means that a new competitor might destroy your business, and customers will not think twice about shopping with them instead. 

That’s why it’s worth collecting qualitative data. It will uncover your customers’ motivations, show you what they appreciate and dislike, what you should improve, and many other factors. 

It will help you build a strong position in the market so you can stop worrying about possible newcomers.

But most of all, it will create a lasting relationship with your customers. Adding a quantitative element to your qualitative data is always a good idea, so you can send your customers an NPS survey such as this one:

Step 3: Use targeted website surveys

Before we dive into researching customer satisfaction with targeted website surveys, let’s see what they look like.

Usually, website surveys are used to assess website experience or to research and improve website usability. However, you can do far more with them. Firstly, you use them to run a post-purchase survey that will appear on a ‘Thank you’ page. Here is a template you can use:

Secondly, you can use the fact that many (or at least some) customers will return to your website after making a purchase.

You can identify them based on their cookies and viewing history and ask about their satisfaction. You can easily set this display rule for your next survey in Survicate.

This technique is particularly useful if you don’t have expertise in email marketing. For example, when you want to run email surveys to measure customer satisfaction, you need to know how to:

• avoid spam filters
• land in the customers’ primary inbox
• write effective email copy that encourages people to give you feedback

But if you’re familiar with email marketing, you can use email surveys, which brings us to the next point.

Targeted email surveys

Email marketing is an important way to keep in touch with your customers. This is why so many companies send newsletters and promote special offers via email.

If you send out newsletters, make sure you collect feedback on their content, ideally with this survey template:

This distribution channel is a superb choice for measuring customer satisfaction. The important thing to keep in mind is that there are two different approaches.

As a first option, you can create a standard customer survey and link it to it in an email, inviting the recipients to participate in the CSAT survey. If you want to do things the old-school way, you can use Google Forms.

Keep in mind that this isn't the most efficient method, so we only suggest using it if you have time to analyze your results and if you don’t reach out to many customers at once.

The second and far better option is surveying with the first question embedded in the email. Once the user chooses their first answer, the entire survey opens up in a new tab where they can continue and complete it in Survicate.

For example, here is a survey you can use in your emails:

Even if the respondent abandons the survey, their first answer is still recorded.

Pro tip: Learn more about email surveys with our complete guide.

Whether you choose targeted website surveys or email surveys, there are a few features you should look for in customer satisfaction and survey software. There are many customer satisfaction survey tools on the market, so choose one with all these crucial features:

• Skip logic (or question/conditional branching): This feature allows you to change the flow of the questions based on customers’ responses.
  For example, instead of asking “What car do you drive, if you own one?” just ask “Do you own a car?”. If the respondent answers yes, the following question can ask to specify the model. Also, asking one question at a time is better for your survey completion rates and overall user experience.

• Custom design: customer surveys are a part of your overall customer experience. This is why they should follow the overall branding of your website and product. Apply your company colors and logo on customer surveys proudly. Ensure that the survey software you use offers custom CSS to give you control over the design.
• Multiple survey question types: The simplest survey tools probably limit you to asking single-choice questions or open-ended questions. In this case, remember that good survey software will provide you with unlimited survey question types. Star ratings, smiley face scales, ticks, sliders, and matrix questions are just some of the question types that you can use.

Define what to measure

Now, you know how to start measuring customer satisfaction with targeted website surveys, email surveys, or a combination of both.

If you’re looking for inspiration, consider using this survey template:

It allows you to measure how satisfied customers are when it matters: just after they completed a purchase.

It’s time to define what exactly to measure. Customer satisfaction is an umbrella term, and you must narrow it down to several survey questions you will ask your customers.

If you ask “How satisfied are you with our company?” don’t expect high response rates. Your respondents will not know what you mean and what kind of answer you expect. In such cases, survey results won’t be very actionable.

Instead, we recommend using two closed-ended questions.

Net Promoter Score: ask an NPS question

‘How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?’

Next follow-up with a 'Why' question.

‍Pro tip: If you want to learn more about NPS take a look at our Net Promoter Score Guide.

Free-to-use NPS survey template

You don’t need to spend hours creating an NPS survey. All you have to do is grab our NPS survey template below. It’s free to use and takes minutes to set up on your website or email campaign.

Likelihood of returning

‍The loyal customers who buy from you repeatedly are key to your business's profitability.

That’s why you should ask new customers how likely they are to buy from you again. Ask them a question such as this one:

‘How likely are you to buy again from us in the next 3/6/12 etc. months?’

Do you like this survey idea? Use our post-purchase survey template right away (or at least try it free)!

Free post-purchase survey template

This is an ideal survey to use right after a customer has completed their order. You can use it today for free just by adding this template to your website or email sequence.

These two survey questions work best if you want to measure overall customer satisfaction and then transactional customer satisfaction. They will get you some meaningful insights to analyze.

Of course, there are also other survey questions worth asking your customers to examine customer satisfaction, but numbers are easier to track and help you spot some trends.

We highly encourage you to learn more from our complete guide about customer satisfaction metrics to track this year.

How to combine qualitative and quantitative data

Now, we’ll show you how to combine qualitative and quantitative data. You will need Google Analytics and good survey software such as Survicate that offers native integration between the tools.

‍Here’s the trick:

1. Integrate Survicate with Google Analytics.
2. As a result, your survey responses will feed Google Analytics data as events.
3. Create an advanced segment to observe user behavior. For example, monitor who gave you certain CSAT scores or answered customer satisfaction surveys in a certain way.
4. Now, you can see how survey responses translate into actions, such as visits to your website and purchases!

After a while, you’ll be able to observe some meaningful trends and see how survey responses translate into user behavior.

For example, you’ll see that 50% of people who say they will purchase again actually do it. As a result, you will be able to cut the guesswork and start calculating metrics such as lifetime value more accurately and allocate marketing and sales budgets better.

‍Pro tip: Learn more about Survicate's Google Analytics integration.

Start analyzing your customer satisfaction survey data today

To get started with measuring customer satisfaction survey data, all you need is good survey software that integrates with your favorite email marketing tool.

Armed with the right data, you’ll be able to collect customer insights that will ultimately help you stay ahead of your competition. With Survicate, you can create surveys in minutes and analyze all the results in your detailed dashboard. Thanks to our range of native integrations, sharing data with third-party tools is a breeze.

You no longer have to guess what your customers are thinking. Start collecting real, actionable feedback: sign up for a free trial and enjoy unlimited feedback!