In Part 1, we discussed the survey experience, and the importance of creating an exceptional experience for each and every survey you do with customers. Surveys are yet additional touchpoints that impact customers’ overall relationship and their brand experience. Below, we’ll look at two options that can help increase survey productivity while decreasing potential customer friction.

Reduce the amount of customer time and effort when collecting feedback.

Customers are looking for low-effort experiences, and surveys are no exception. As professional schedules and workloads are increasing, the amount of time customers have to provide feedback is decreasing, and they will not waste their time jumping through hoops to complete a survey.

Much like designing a stellar UI that reduces the number of clicks needed to accomplish a task, surveys can be designed to maximize efficiency. Partnering with a survey vendor that provides a mobile-friendly, responsive design is a good first step. (For example, the Support, Specialist, and Services surveys were recently migrated to GetFeedback, a company that prides itself on its simplicity and visually pleasing UI.) Limiting the amount of scrolling required to read or answer a question (especially horizontal scrolling or zoom) is paramount.

Furthermore, removing extraneous introductory pages and embedding the first survey question in the invitation as a direct “call to action” can make the survey experience quicker and easier. In fact, research performed by SurveyMonkey shows that embedding the first question increases both the click-through rate and completion rate for a survey- by up to 22% and 19%, respectively. The Customer Experience team is implementing this change for all Customer Success Surveys as of February FY19, with other Success Cloud surveys following shortly after.

Ensure feedback is timely and relevant to customer needs (at the moment of interaction).

While designing surveys that are short, low effort, and deployed in a manner that is sensitive to survey fatigue is important, it’s even more vital to provide a survey experience that is relevant to customers (based on their current needs, lifecycle stage, or interactions with the company). Still, most companies send surveys that are primarily self-serving in that they provide no direct or immediate benefit to their customers. Instead, why not also use surveys to provide guidance for customers in that moment? In that way, every engagement with our customers is an opportunity not only to collect feedback, but to share helpful information.

Our team is iterating on this idea, and we’ve developed an initial framework for using feedback as a mechanism to deliver both value to customers through automated interactions and also gain a deeper understanding of customers. These “Input Action Loops” are wizard-style interactions that can be utilized almost anywhere to create an engaging, interactive experience. Customers are asked a series of discovery questions that ultimately direct them to relevant content — all while providing the business with valuable insight into customer needs. These types of interactions transform surveys from a “check the box” activity (a one-way interaction with no real benefit to customers) to a meaningful, scalable conversation with our customers. Look for the launch of Input Action Loops in FY19.

By following these best practices, the Customer Experience team has both improved our customers’ survey experience and leveraged the core principles that guide our work: continuously improving the customers’ experience by adapting to their evolving needs, reducing friction or effort, and thinking in customer-centric ways.

This is Part 2 of a series. For the first part, click here.