How to collect customer feedback? 4 best ways to gain insights

So, you crafted your product, hit some revenue targets, and started noticing some patterns. Some are promising, while others are downright frustrating—and a mystery to understand. Well, the next natural step is to gather customer feedback straight from the source. And, hopefully, start answering some of those questions you have.

Why is collecting customer feedback the obvious next move? Because it lets you tap into the full potential of your product or service. Real customers, even ones who are unsatisfied or even recently churned, can provide valuable insights.

Let's look at the 4 best methods to collect customer feedback and make informed decisions about your product.

Customer surveys

Setting up a customer survey with a dedicated tool is the easiest way to gather customer feedback, so we'll start by exploring the various survey formats you can use.

Here's a simplified customer feedback process with the use of a survey tool:

1. Choose the best survey tool.

When choosing a survey tool, ensure

• it supports the channels you wish to use
• it's within your budget
• has a simple pricing model
• can be easily integrated into your tool stack

With Survicate, you can send surveys by email or link, embed them on your social media or website, and include them in your support chats. Survicate also integrates seamlessly with tools you already use, including HubSpot, Intercom, Zendesk, and Braze.

2. Create an account and integrate the software into your workflow.

A good survey tool will make the onboarding process easy. Things to look for include

• an easy interface
• simple implementation
• professionally-designed templates
• a comprehensive Help Center and chat support

Survicate continually receives praise from customers and third-party review sites for ease of use and ease of implementation. There are also 400+ templates designed to boost survey completion rates. You can find tutorials and guides on our YouTube channel and Help Center. We also have human, live chat support with an average response time of 2 minutes.

3. Create your first survey.

As mentioned above, it is easiest to start with a template. If you use Survicate, you can tweak each aspect of the survey, including questions, answer options, appearance, survey logic, and more.

4. Start collecting quantitative and qualitative feedback from customers.

Install the mobile SDK or the website tracking code, embed surveys in your emails, or get a link to your survey. It all depends on the distribution channel you choose. Then, publish your survey with one click.

5. Analyze results and complete the feedback loop.

Once responses start flowing in, it is time to examine customer insights. Survicate will generate charts, graphs, and a word cloud to facilitate analysis.

Then, close the feedback loop by acting on your customers' ideas or fixing their frustrations.

6. Automate your customer feedback collection process.

You can survey your audience through email, your website, in your app if you have one, or inside your support chat to get instant insights. Set up survey frequency for recurring questionnaires, like NPS.

Customer satisfaction surveys

Customer satisfaction and loyalty surveys aim to determine whether your customers are happy with you, your product, and your service. They are also great predictors of customer retention and overall business growth.

If your product is selling well and you get a good score, you might also find out how you can sell more or how much you can safely raise your prices.

If your product is selling poorly, and you get a bad score, you might find exactly why–and it may be an easy fix you wouldn't have thought of.

Of course, your product may sell poorly, but then you get a great score! Open-text answers to follow-up questions will give you great insights into why that's happening. Perhaps you should open yourself to new markets? Introduce services in other languages?

Well-crafted customer satisfaction surveys will give you a number to track and open-text responses with context for the scores. That's why businesses love to use the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) surveys.

But how can you ensure that your survey is "well-crafted"? Use templates designed by professionals. The wording, format, and number of questions were specifically chosen to boost response rates and yield unbiased, reliable results.

In-app user satisfaction surveys

In-app surveys are quick questionnaires embedded directly within an app. The goal is to gather feedback during or immediately after app usage.

They help capture user sentiment while the experience is still fresh in the user's mind. The responses are also highly context-specific. You can even supplement surveys with app performance management tools. Those can work like pop-ups that users can summon by doing things like shaking their devices.

But in-app surveys don't have to just ask about app experience. You can ask users about their satisfaction with your products and services just as well.

Think of the last time you were in an Uber. Didn't you have to give a rating out of five stars as soon as the car door shut behind you?

The convenience of answering questions without leaving the app also yields high response rates.

Website surveys

You can also collect customer feedback on your website by embedding a survey.

Website surveys include pop-ups, feedback widgets, slide-ins, or static forms. They can collect customer satisfaction data, like with an NPS survey, but also feedback about the website experience. These surveys can identify issues with navigation, content, or user flow on your site.

Website surveys appear on landing pages, checkout pages, or as pop-ups after events like a finalized purchase and a visit to the pricing page.

The biggest benefit is that they can be highly targeted based on user behavior. They reach the widest audience (anyone who stumbles upon your site – unless you limit that to logged-in status or something else). But for that, you'll need a dedicated survey tool, like Survicate.

Website surveys can also be triggered with delay or when you suspect users are about to leave the site.

Make sure you use the right survey software to catch customers before they actually leave the site. Nevertheless, for things like cart abandonment, you may want to use email surveys—but that only works if you have your customers' addresses. Reminding customers what they almost purchased is a common practice, especially for clothing stores.

For best results, customize your survey to your branding. If you have a sleek, classic color scheme and layout, you don't want a brightly colored survey adorned with Comic Sans.

Website surveys can also take the form of a feedback widget or button. These usually produce more qualitative, actionable feedback, as visitors have to take a proactive approach to ultimately enhance their own experience. But you will probably get fewer responses.

Customer support feedback

You can also use software to have a survey in chats to improve customer service.

Chat surveys are a great way of collecting customer feedback about support. Think about it—they are evaluating the experience they just had with your support team. The experience is fresh in their minds, and since they're in the chat, they might as well spend another few seconds giving you insights.

Customer journey feedback

Customer feedback surveys can also provide information about customer churn, retention, pricing, and feature requests. It's a good idea to have a welcome survey for new customers to find out how they found you and which of your competitors they considered.

One of our own customers, Medscape, were able to discover why their feature adoption as so low. Customers had no idea the features existed! So they took action to improve their messaging.

Customer reviews and ratings

You can also collect feedback on review websites. If your product or service is gaining traction, you likely already have some reviews on third-party websites like G2 or Capterra.

Detailed feedback from happy customers boosts your brand’s credibility and provides valuable insights into what you're doing right, helping you replicate success across other business areas. Reviews and ratings are visible to potential customers who are researching the market–which makes them a great source of social proof.

The downside here is that negative feedback immediately becomes public, too, and there is often not much you can do to take it down. The best practice is to reach out to unhappy customers and try to resolve the issue. They may then amend or even take down their review.

Social media

You can also track your social media channels to find actionable insights. This is less about "collecting" customer feedback and more about seeing what's being said about your product or service.

But some customers just don't like to speak directly to brands. They may prefer leaving comments and discussing their experiences with peers. Often, they provide feedback without even knowing it–but only if you're listening.

Looking for customer insights on social media, especially outside your official accounts, can help identify areas of frustration and misunderstanding. You'll be able to recognize what part of your messaging leaves something to be desired. What's clear to you might not be so for your audience.

The downside is that you don't get to ask the exact questions you need answers to. You'll have to use what you can get. And, this is qualitative data, which is harder to analyze in bulk.

You can use Survicate's Insights Hub to avoid processing all this manually. The tool will generate actionable insights based on customer input with AI–and you'll be able to track each insight back to its source with a single click.

Focus groups and customer interviews

Customer interviews are direct conversations with customers, either in person, over the phone, or via video conference. They are the best source for qualitative feedback that helps understand the "why" behind customer behavior and provides rich, nuanced insights.

Real-time conversations allow you to ask follow-up questions that may have been impossible to prepare before the interview. You will get emotional context, like the tone of responses. It's also a great way to strengthen relationships with important customers.

And, interviews are not only a good way to collect customer feedback. They are great source material for customer stories, which in turn provide social proof and provide deeper insights.

But there are some downsides. Out of all the ways to collect feedback, interviews are the most time-and labor-intensive for you and your customers. You have to research the customer, prepare guiding questions, and schedule a time that works for both (or all, if more people are taking part) of you. Also, this may not work with new customers.

When to collect feedback

Collect customer feedback at different stages of the customer journey to get the full story. Fresh website visitors will have different customer needs and pain points than repeat customers.

Prospecting customers

Potential customers who just started researching your brand may give you great insights about your messaging.

If you can gather addresses before signup, you can send this survey by email. Otherwise, stick to a pop up on your website on key pages.

New customers

Those who recently purchased your service can tell you what they think about your onboarding process. Whether you use a survey or simply ask them for input, keep it brief. Customers likely want to start using the product right away.

Moreover, it's too early to ask about using your product, as respondents need a chance to get results first. Ask them about their role and how they found you.

Post-purchase satisfaction

Right after a purchase is a golden moment to ask for feedback. The customer experience is fresh, and they’re more likely to remember details about what delighted them—or what could have been better.

A post-purchase survey asking about ease of checkout or delivery expectations can yield rich insights. But it may be too early to ask about product satisfaction.

Loyal customers

Loyal customers are an informed group that can help you get ideas to improve your product. They will give you relevant feedback about which customer needs should be your primary focus. This group will have valuable insights about which features to prioritize in your product development and marketing efforts.

Asking existing customers for feedback also shows you care about their opinions. This can boost satisfaction and increase your chances of recommendations.

Recently churned

Customers who recently decided to stop using your services can let you know why. More often than not, they are still willing to fill out a short survey. Ask which competitor they moved on to or whether they just no longer need your product or service.

Support chat feedback

Just after a support interaction is another ideal moment to collect feedback. If a customer has just had an issue resolved, asking them to rate their satisfaction or share how they felt about the support experience ensures their emotions and reflections are still raw and unfiltered.

The same goes for a negative customer experience with a support agent. If a recurring issue goes unsolved, you want it to stick out like a sore thumb so you can implement changes. You don't want the message to get lost between multiple customer support specialists.

Milestones

Consider milestones, too. For long-term customers, anniversaries or subscription renewals are excellent opportunities to ask your customers about their overall experience, whether they feel valued, and what could be improved to maintain their loyalty.

Finally, seasonal or event-driven moments can work well. For instance, gathering feedback after a major product update or during a big sale event can help you understand how customers perceive changes or how effective your promotions are.

By identifying these opportune moments, you can ensure that the feedback you collect is timely, relevant, and actionable.

How to get quality customer feedback?

Scattered and unorganized feedback will not yield actionable insights and will be difficult to analyze and turn into growth. You need a customer feedback strategy to ensure a return on your investment.

Define your desired research outcome

Collecting customer feedback just for the sake of it wastes your resources and customers' time. Think about what you want to achieve in your research. Here are some research topics to get you started:

• Are my customers satisfied overall?
• What are the most important customer needs in my niche?
• Are there any pain points I should address?
• Are key features missing from my product?
• Why are customers churning?
• What can I do to increase customer retention?
• Am I reaching the right audience through my marketing channels?

Use the right channels

Request feedback wherever it makes the most sense. You'll reach the right audience for relevant feedback and make responding easier. In return, you'll enjoy higher response rates and gather honest options.

For example, if you get many website visitors, your best chance of getting a lot of responses is running a website survey. If, however, you need quick feedback from customers or logged-in app users, you may want to consider an email survey or feedback widgets on your app.

Collect customer feedback at the right time

Many businesses have trouble with response rates or even customer interest in their research efforts. This is likely because they are not collecting customer opinions at a time when it is easy.

For example, imagine you are having trouble with a recent purchase. You are scouring the Help Center and reaching out to customer support to get a solution. But... you can't get to any real information, because you are bombarded with requests for feedback.

First, you will be annoyed and may even decide to rescind your purchase. Second, you may give negative feedback about something irrelevant.

If you find that customers leave responses like "You keep interrupting my workflow to ask for feedback," then you should work on your timing.

Avoid collecting customer feedback:

• during a high-stress transaction

Asking for feedback while a customer is trying to resolve a payment issue or navigate a buggy checkout process can further frustrate them. They’re focused on completing their task, not reflecting on their experience.

• during peak busy times

Asking a retail customer for feedback during a holiday shopping rush or a restaurant diner at peak dinner hours is unlikely to result in thoughtful or detailed responses.

• immediately after signup*

Bombarding a new customer with a feedback request when they sign up or register can feel intrusive and premature. They haven’t had enough experience with your product or service to provide meaningful input.

*The only question worth asking at this time is: "How did you hear about us"? But you have to wager whether this is a good idea. Some customers want to start using your product as soon as possible, and a welcome survey may frustrate them. They may give random answers to get it over as soon as possible. Make sure your welcome survey is skippable to avoid frustrating your customers, and to make sure you get accurate results.

• at odd hours

Sending a feedback request in the middle of the night or early morning (especially if it’s via email or SMS) risks annoying the customer and diminishing the perceived thoughtfulness of your brand.

• right before a major event completion

Asking for feedback before a webinar has finished, a shipment has arrived, or a service has been fully rendered can leave the customer feeling the request was premature or irrelevant.

Close the feedback loop

To make the best of the time and effort you spend on customer research, you need to close the customer feedback loop. It will

• Show customers their feedback matters
• Build trust and stronger relationships with your brand
• Improve customer loyalty and satisfaction
• Encourage customers to leave direct feedback in the future
• Turn feedback into actions that drive growth

Make sure you follow this process:

1. Collect customer feedback.
2. Take action based on the feedback.
3. Communicate the changes or updates to the customer.
4. Use the process to improve your product or service.

Why is collecting customer feedback important

Customer feedback provides objective insights you might not see otherwise. Why? Because you and your team are too close to the product. You know the ins and outs, the whys behind all features and updates. Customers take the product for what it is and can, among other things, point out how intuitive it is (or isn't).

The customer experience is often different from what was planned. Sometimes, a product is designed to do one thing, but users start to use it differently. And that can be a great thing!

Getting valuable feedback from customers can speed up a product's reinvention, steer remarketing efforts in the right direction, and yield higher profits.

Start collecting customer feedback in the next 10 minutes

To recap - how to collect customer feedback? The best way is to start, see what channel works best, and go from there. Seriously, here is the most commonly used survey in the Saas world - NPS. Do you know the Fortune 1000? Well, two-thirds of them are using NPS.

Just click "Use this template" and you might find yourself with some feedback to analyze before the day is out.