Gathering feedback is key to identifying what your customers need most and where you can improve. But the quality of those insights (and your ability to act on them) often comes down to how you gather them. Surveys are one proactive way to access insights your team needs to get to the root of issues faster, fine tune your customer service, and collaborate effectively.
There are various types of surveys you conduct, from customer satisfaction and user experience to product and demographic. Each reveals different insights all vital to building a complete picture of customer and team preferences.
But where should you start? What questions should you ask depending on your goals, and which ones will give you the most actionable information?
We’re covering everything to know about survey questions, including a comprehensive list of examples organized by category to help you craft the best surveys tailored to your business needs.
How do you start a survey questionnaire?
Starting a survey questionnaire begins with finding a survey hosting platform that works for your business and the survey recipients. You’ll also need a mailing list of participants who you’re legally allowed to contact and ask for feedback. Most online survey tools send surveys via email, although there are other options if you don’t have a mailing list (e.g. social media surveys or a dedicated landing page).
What are good questions to ask?
Good questions to ask in a survey are ones that help you gather concrete information from participants and help you make smarter business decisions based on your goals. Understanding exactly what kind of details you’re looking to extract from the audience helps you get clear on your intention with the survey and desired outcome.
Additionally, be sure to consider the way how the survey is being delivered. For example, if you’re sending a survey to employees via email, consider asking mostly open-ended questions to gather in-depth insights, but if you’ll be collecting answers through a social media survey, consider asking mostly close-ended questions to keep things brief and increase the chances of people participating and completing the survey.
100+ survey question examples (by category)
We’ve put together a list of 100+questions for you to use in your surveys. We’ve organized them by the most popular survey categories and within each category, you’re able to click further to dig deeper.Demographic survey questions
Customer satisfaction survey questions
User experience survey questions
Product survey questions
Social media survey questions
Training survey questions
Employee survey questions
Demographic survey questions
While demographic questions can offer valuable insights into who your respondents are, it’s important to remember that these questions aren’t necessary for every survey. Not all customers or participants will feel comfortable sharing personal details, and some surveys may not require demographic data to achieve your goals. However, when relevant, gathering information like age, location, and education can help you segment responses and tailor your offerings more effectively.
Below are some demographic questions you may want to consider, depending on the focus of your survey and the level of detail you wish to gather:
What is your name?
How old are you?
What gender do you identify with?
What is your ethnicity?
Where are you located? / What is your city of residence?
What is your zip code?
Are you eligible to vote?
What education do you have? / What is your highest level of education?
What is your marital status?
How many children do you have?
What is your household income?
What type of housing do you reside in?
What is your current job status?
What is your job title?
What department do you work for?
What is the name of the company?
What industry is the company in?
How many employees work within the company?
What is the company’s annual revenue?
What is your email address?
What is the best number to reach you at?
Customer satisfaction survey questions
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) questions are a great way to gauge how happy (or unhappy) a customer is with your product or service. These types of questions should be asked after an interaction or transaction has been completed. For example, after a customer speaks to a live chat agent or customer service representative over the phone, or after they’ve received a service or purchased a product from you.
Here is a list of customer satisfaction questions you can use for your survey:
How would you rate your experience with [insert company, product, service, technician, etc.]?
Did the [product or service] solve your problem?
How likely are you to refer a friend, family member, or colleague?
How likely are you to use this product/service again?
How could your experience with [company, product, or service] be improved?
Do you have any additional comments, concerns, or feedback you would be willing to share?
Dig deeper into CSAT, why it’s important, and ways to improve it with resources from our Front support team experts:
User experience survey questions
User experience (UX) survey questions should be specific to the customer’s online experience (e.g. a website or application), specifically in regards to how easy or pleasing the software was to use.
Here is a list of user experience questions you can use for your survey:
How did you learn about the app/website?
What was your first impression when you entered the app/website?
How easy was it to navigate?
Were you able to find what you were looking for quickly?
Was anything you expected to see missing or not present?
What did you like most about the experience?
What did you not like about the experience?
What is the most important feature to you?
What is the least important feature to you?
How was your experience overall?
Would you recommend this website/app to a friend, family member, or colleague?
Product survey questions
If you’ve developed a product, you probably know it inside and out. Sometimes, however, being too close to a product means that we can’t see what those who are new to it see.
Product survey questions are a great way to understand how your product is seen and used. This information can help with marketing, product tweaks, and future product developments.
Here is a list of product questions you can use for your survey:
How did you hear about the product?
How long have you been using the product?
How often do you use the product?
Is it an easy process to use the product?
Does the product help you achieve your goal?
What is your favorite thing about the product?
What is your least favorite thing about the product?
What product feature is the most valuable to you?
What product feature is the least valuable to you?
Is there anything you would change about the product?
What made you choose this product over our competitors?
How would you rate the product’s value?
How likely are you to recommend this product to others?
Social media survey questions
Social media surveys are a great way to capture feedback in a relaxed and informal setting. Survey questions are displayed on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. Here. you can collect market research information or ask any type of question relating to your company, product, or service.
Here are some examples of social media questions you can use for your survey:
How often have you come across this product online?
Do you prefer to shop online or offline?
Do reactions and comments on an ad influence your decisions to click on it to learn more?
To what extent does a brand’s social media presence influence your purchasing decision?
What social media channels are you most active on?
How often do you check your social media account per day?
What do you use social media for?
Which social media platform do you like the most?
Which social media platform do you like the least?
Which social media platform do you trust the most?
Which social media platform do you trust the least?
Facebook survey questions
Similar to social media surveys, Facebook surveys are a great way to capture platform-specific information.
Here are some examples of Facebook questions you can use for your survey:
How often have you come across this product on Facebook?
How many purchases have you made from a product you saw on Facebook?
Do you think Facebook is a useful tool for finding relevant products or services?
How many times a day do you check your Facebook?
Do you check Facebook reviews before making your first purchase with a new company?
Training survey questions
Customer feedback is invaluable for refining external processes, but don’t overlook the power of internal surveys.When your team succeeds, your business succeeds. Proper training is essential for employees to develop the expertise and abilities needed to do their job. Training can be the deciding factor in whether an employee succeeds in their role or not. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your training program can be determined by using the right survey questions.
Here is a list of training questions you can use for your survey:
How would you rate your training experience overall?
What was your favorite part of training?
What was your least favorite part of training?
Were there any barriers to learning?
Do you feel like you had all the necessary resources to complete your training?
Do you feel like you gained enough knowledge through the training to effectively and safely carry out your responsibilities?
What part(s) of your training have you found most useful in your role so far?
If you could add or remove anything from the training, what would it be?
Employee survey questions
Sending surveys to customers is incredibly valuable, but sending surveys internally to your staff can also help your business grow. Employee surveys help you better understand your business from the perspective of those on the inside. These surveys can shed light on circumstances you may be too far removed from to see yourself and give you valuable insights into your business’s day-to-day operations.
Employee surveys can be sent out quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. Try not to send out employee surveys more frequently than every quarter; your employees are busy (both with work and in their personal lives) so try not to bombard them with feedback requests too frequently.
Probe your employees for anything from minute details to big picture ideas. Your team will have plenty of insights to offer — especially if you make the survey anonymous.
Here is a list of employee survey questions you can use for your survey:
Do you feel this company is a great place to work?
What do you like most about working at this company?
What do you like least about working at this company?
Do you feel that you have access to resources that allow you to do your job well?
Do you feel like you know what you need to do to be successful in your role?
Do you feel supported by your manager?
Do you feel that you have good growth opportunities at this company?
How could this company be a better place to work?
What are the most important things for the company to do in the next year to set ourselves up for long-term success?
How can we better support innovation and growth?
The main types of survey questions
Survey questions can be asked in many ways but at the highest level they can be broken down into two categories:
Close-ended questions
Open-ended questions
1. Close-ended questions
Close-ended questions are those that can only be answered by selecting from a limited number of options. The answer options usually include:
One-word answers: These can include answers such as ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘sometimes’, or straight-forward, one-worded, written answers from the participant.
Multiple-choice answers: Multiple-choice answers will follow multiple-choice questions, nominal questions, or matrix questions. They offer participants multiple answers to choose from and you can have them select one, all that apply, or all that don’t apply.
A rating scale: Rating scale answers follow questions such as rating scale questions, ranking questions, ordinal questions, and Likert scale questions. They ask participants to rank a range of items in order of importance or select the rating options that best describe their feelings towards the question.
Close-ended questions are best for sensitive questions within a survey because of their straightforwardness, simplicity, and ease of answering. It’s more likely that the participants will feel comfortable answering sensitive or personal questions if they are asked in a closed-ended format. Close-ended questions don’t just have to be yes or no questions; by creating multiple choice questions, you can gather detailed information in a quick, simple way as shown below.
Closed-ended question examples:
Multiple choice: What is the name of the company you work for?
Multiple choice: Who was your service technician?
Multiple choice: What product is your favorite?
Were you offered a discount code at checkout?
2. Open-ended questions
Open-ended questions are questions without predetermined answers. They offer an open space for participants to provide answers in their own words. Open-ended questions help you truly understand customer pain points, reduced feedback friction, and uncover issues that you could be unaware of.
Open-ended question examples:
How did you find out about our company?
What made you choose this product/service over others?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Qualitative vs. quantitative survey questions
Qualitative questions
Qualitative questions are often open-ended questions and help you understand the “why” of a customer’s experience. They give participants space to provide greater detail about their motivations and reasoning in their own words. Qualitative answers are much more difficult to analyze because they can’t be quantified using concrete numbers.
Qualitative survey question examples:
How was your experience with our customer support team?
What could we have done differently to improve your experience?
What is your favorite feature of this product and why?
Quantitative questions
Quantitative questions are usually closed-ended questions that result in answers that are easily converted into objective, numbers-based analysis. This type of survey question format can make it easy for people to participate and respond as they usually take less time to complete than open-ended, qualitative questions.
Quantitative survey questions examples:
How long did you have to wait to speak to a customer service representative?
We’re all of your concerns addressed during your live chat session today?
Would you recommend this product/service to a family member or friend?
How to write survey questions
Survey questions should be short, direct, and to the point. You should avoid double-barrelled questions that touch on more than one issue, such as “Have you ever been bullied or harassed online?” In this example, bullying and harassment are two separate ideas, so it’s best to write separate questions even if they’re open-ended, to avoid confusing the participant or congesting the answer section.
How do you ask someone to answer your survey?
You can ask someone to answer a survey by sending them an email, asking them in person, or even through an ad on social media. Be sure to introduce yourself and the survey when making an initial connection and asking participants to fill out a survey. Make it easy for them by providing a clear link to the survey with details on how long the survey will take to complete and clear instructions on how to participate.
How do you convince a customer to fill out a survey?
Asking someone to take time out of their day to fill out your survey can take some convincing. One way to do this is through incentives. For example, you can offer a discount code, free gift, or gift certificate to those who complete your survey. It can also be beneficial to tell participants why you’re conducting this survey. When people understand your reasoning, they may be inclined to help you come to a conclusion on a certain topic.
So, you have the results… now what?
By asking the right questions and analyzing the answers with care, you gain invaluable insights and are on your way to driving meaningful improvements across the org. Whether you’re analyzing CSAT scores, open-text responses, or detailed NPS feedback, the real value comes from turning data into action.
Front’s native CSAT feature is one example of how you can move from insights to implementation. It equips your team with actionable data directly in their workflow — empowering them to make customer-driven decisions without skipping a beat. And for other types of feedback, having a centralized, collaborative platform ensures every insight finds its way to the right people at the right time.
We’re continuing to explore new ways to tap into and automate the insights within your Front customer conversations. To learn more about our vision for insights, watch our recent webinar.
The key? Turning data into action that benefits your team and your customers. With the right approach, every survey becomes an opportunity to learn and grow.
Ready to turn insights into action?
Discover how Front makes it easier to gather, analyze, and act on feedback with features like native CSAT, customizable workflows, and more. Learn more about Front’s customer insight tools.
Written by Sara Shaughnessy
Originally Published: 2 July 2024