“To find ideas, find problems. To find problems, talk to people.” This quote by Julie Zhou, former VP of Product Design at Facebook, underscores the importance of understanding your audience’s pulse before transitioning to product design and development. While UX teams have an array of research methods, including usability tests, A/B testing, and user interviews at their disposal, surveys provide a microscopic view of the user’s pain points, motivations, and perceptions.
In other words, surveys help teams validate assumptions and quantify user sentiments. Therefore, it becomes imperative to create surveys that not only collect data but also offer precious insights that simplify decision-making, and for that, it is equally important to ask the right questions. Seems pretty straightforward, right?
Well, in reality, UX and product teams often fail to realise whether their thoughtfully crafted survey questions are likely to give them surface-level feedback or a deep understanding of their users. Did you know that around 99% of UX researchers run a survey at least occasionally? Yet, many teams fail to derive meaningful insights from them because they are not applied correctly.
In this blog, you will learn how teams can create surveys that are much more than just a box-ticking exercise and turn them into valuable discovery tools. We will also discover the art of asking unbiased and relevant questions in surveys to understand the “why” behind user behaviours.
Let’s refresh what we mean by a UX survey.
What is a UX survey?
A UX survey, as the name suggests, is a survey primarily designed to gather qualitative and quantitative data about user perceptions, interactions, and experiences with a digital product.
The survey is paired with other UX-related findings, including heatmaps, A/B tests, and usability tests, to ensure product decisions are backed by trustworthy UX data and precious insights.
Types of UX surveys
Before running surveys, teams must first define the objective of running a survey and also understand the different types of UX surveys.
This section explores the different types of UX surveys typically used by teams to gain meaningful insights from users.
Customer effort score surveys (CES)
CES surveys typically evaluate how easy it is for your users or customers to complete specific tasks assigned to them by your team. This could either be a simple survey that aims to uncover the ease of using a certain feature, navigating a section of the website or application, or the quality of assistance from your service team. In short, it is a scorecard for evaluating the effort utilised by users to finish the designated task or action.
Here are a few questions you can include in your CES surveys:
“How easy was it to place an order through our website?”
“How easy was it to make a payment from our mobile application?”
“Was it simple to find the product/service you were looking for?”
The multiple answers users can pick from:
- Very easy
- Easy
- Moderate
- Hard
- Very hard
Customer Satisfaction Surveys (CSAT)
Customer satisfaction surveys of CSAT are designed to understand how satisfied and happy your users are while and after engaging with your company’s product or service. Answers typically span from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied).
These surveys uncover insights related to individual experiences and interactions by tracking their satisfaction levels over a specific time period. With this survey, teams can also segregate users based on their satisfaction levels and incorporate targeted improvements to enhance certain touchpoints in the customer journey.
For example, an evident dip in the CSAT score after a customer support interaction indicates the need to improve response times, improve support interactions, and revamp self-help resources.
Net promoter score surveys (NPS)
Net promoter score surveys are the most straightforward type of UX surveys since they typically include a single question, such as “On a scale of 0-10, what are the chances of sharing your product/service experience with your friends and family?”. Then, teams can segregate the responses and users into three main categories, including promoters (9-10), passives (7-8), and detractors (0-6).
The promoters are on board with your product or service and most likely to recommend your product to others. While the passives find your service/product satisfactory and are likely to use it again, you may need to put in more effort to convert them into loyal customers. The detractors? They are unhappy and disappointed with your product/service, and could potentially even write a negative review. And in today’s day and age, even a single negative review can hinder your brand’s credibility.
Closed-ended questions for quantitative research
Close-ended questions are generally easy to answer, typically allowing users to choose from a range of predefined alternatives, including radio buttons, checkboxes, and scales. These surveys aim to gather objective data for quick analysis and detect notable patterns in user behaviour. These insights can then be incorporated into redesign efforts.
Here are some examples:
- How easy was it to complete the intended task using our product? (Very easy / Easy / Neutral / Difficult / Very difficult)
- How helpful are the new arrows while navigating our product? (Very helpful / Somewhat helpful / Neutral / Not very helpful / Not helpful at all)
- How likely are you to recommend our product to others? Very likely (5) Highly unlikely (1)
- Did you spot any errors or glitches while completing the given task? Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / Always
Open-ended questions for qualitative research
While closed-ended questions offer a pre-defined list of answers to pick from, open-ended questions allow users to provide detailed and free-form answers. The questions are framed to get detailed written responses from survey participants to get a micro-level understanding of how users feel and expect from your product/service.
The best example of this is the free-format survey, which enables users to express their thoughts without any limitations. Free-format surveys are different than the typical structured question formats and include various prompts that aim to uncover unmet user needs, varying user behaviours, and more. Free-formats are typically used during the discovery phase when teams are trying to get a grip on the nature of user problems and also validate early concepts of a product.
Some examples include:
- What part of your experience using the product did you enjoy the most, and why?
- Can you describe a moment when the product didn’t work as expected? What happened?
- What specific improvements would make the product easier for you to use?
- If you could change one thing about the product to improve your workflow, what would it be and why?
Characteristics of a good UX survey
So, what does a good survey look like? Well, while we understand every survey caters to unique objectives and goals in the product development journey, there are a few characteristics of a good survey.
1. Keep it short and quick
Remember, time is money and precious, so do not create extensive and time-consuming surveys. Keep the survey short and simple to ensure respondents do not get overwhelmed and can focus on all the questions.
Pro tip: Try limiting the survey to 10 questions only.
2. Ask relevant questions
Good surveys always stick to the point without deviating from the main goal. Avoid straying off-topic and asking questions that do not extract key insights.
3. Avoid bias
Biased questions can hinder your survey’s credibility, and unfortunately, we humans tend to introduce bias without realising it. A good survey includes questions that get unbiased responses. Use neutral language and review it with a few other team members before publishing your survey.
4. Mix things up – include different types of questions
Your survey should include different types of questions. While multiple-choice questions are great for collecting numerical data, open-ended questions allow you to collect diverse and deep insights. The survey should include a perfect blend of different types of questions to capture accurate customer sentiments.
Final thoughts
It is worth noting that the most impactful surveys focus on asking the right questions that are thoughtfully included. The goal is to create surveys that offer an in-depth understanding of what your users think about your product/service, details that are rarely mentioned in a usability test.
Further, the survey should be short, relevant, and unbiased, allowing UX teams to use it as a discovery tool and improve decision-making at every stage of the product development cycle.
Create tailored UX surveys that help you get closer to your target audience and improve your product’s offerings based on in-depth customer feedback.
Take your research to a whole new level with surveys.
Contact us to get started for free.
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