CRO 101: How to Pick the Perfect Survey Questions

The on-site survey can be a mixed bag, sometimes. When done right you can get a lot of extremely valuable conversion optimization information from customers , but it’s not all gold. As we all know, sometimes surveys can be bothersome or poorly timed. When putting a survey on your site, it’s important to go into it with your expectations aligned.

When and where do I put my survey?

Most survey tools will assist with the timing and placement of your survey. However, you want to be sure it’s not covering any important content on the page. Typically, the survey should go in the left or right corner so it’s not obstructing anything, and just visible enough so it can’t be entirely ignored by the people who want to engage with a brand they love. 

As for the timing, please don’t just show it to everyone who lands on your site. That is the best way to guarantee poor results. First, you need to figure out what information you are looking for, and what people are best suited to give you that information.

The Exit Survey

The exit survey is ideal for improving your user experience and shows your survey to people about to leave the site without clicking or engaging with anything. You’re identifying and showing this survey to people who are leaving your site because they likely haven’t found what they’re looking for. If you have what they’re looking for, but people can’t find it, then it’s obviously important to know this information.

 Typical exit survey questions include:

• What brought you to our site today?
• Did you find what you were looking for?
• Please tell us more about what you were looking for.
• What could have improved your experience?

The Post-Conversion Survey

My favorite, and one of the most overlooked surveys is the post-conversion survey. It's important because you’re gathering information from people who have been through your entire sales funnel and actually bought from you. They also encountered and overcame any barriers, but certainly weren’t oblivious to them. This survey is where we can gather useful information on what emotions led to a purchase, and why people choose your company over the competition. You want to use this type of survey to identify the pains that a customer is experiencing leading up to the purchase, and how your product or service resolves them. 

Great questions for your post-conversion survey include:

• How would you describe “your company” to a friend?
• Which other options did you consider before choosing our product or service?
• Why did you decide to use us?
• What nearly stopped you from buying from us?
• What was going on in your life that made you purchase our product or service?
• Before you purchased our product or service, how did you solve this problem?
• If you could no longer use or product or service, what would you miss the most?
• What’s the #1 thing you would mention to a friend or family member if you wanted them to try our product or service?

Conclusion

Start with what information you’re looking to gather from your survey. Then, identify which visitors are most qualified to give you that information. Make sure your survey is showing up at the right time and isn’t too obstructive but not completely invisible. Lastly, make sure you understand the nature of the survey game. Not every answer will be gold, but there will be nuggets if you do it correctly.