How Open-Ended Questions Improve Customer Feedback and NPS Surveys?

Want to improve your services and products but not sure how? One of the best ways to grow your business is by gathering meaningful feedback from your customers. It will let you know the exact areas of improvement in your business that can help it flourish. But how do you ensure that you are truly listening to their needs?

The solution lies in open-ended questions. They are one of the best ways to get a deep insight into the thoughts of your customers. Unlike close-ended questions, these questions encourage your customers to share their honest opinions in their own words.

Now, do you want to know what makes these questions so powerful, especially in customer feedback surveys? Then, let's dive in to explore all the details.

What Are Open-Ended Questions?

These are inquiries that encourage people to give detailed responses. Through these questions, customers can freely express their thoughts in their own words. It is especially useful in customer feedback surveys as you want to gather information about your customers' experiences, preferences, and challenges.

So, in a feedback survey, instead of asking, "Did you like our service?" you can ask, "What did you like the most about our service?" It will give the respondent the freedom to give you a more thoughtful and detailed answer.

When it comes to NPS Surveys, you can add such a question after asking the primary NPS question. For example, you can first ask, "How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend?" Then, you can follow it up with an open-ended question like "What's the main reason for your score?" By doing so, you will be able to understand more about why the customer gave you a particular rating in the Net Promoter Score.

What Do Open-Ended Questions Help to Understand?

You may be wondering why such questions should be used. Until now, it has been clear that these questions can reveal your customers' motivations, preferences, and pain points. Besides, you can also get useful suggestions that may otherwise remain hidden in close-ended questions. So, these questions help you to understand-

1.Customer Sentiments:

Such questions capture the emotions and attitudes of your consumer base. They answer the question, "How do customers really feel about your services or products?"

2.Reasons Behind Actions:

Imagine that someone has rated you low on an NPS Survey. Now, by asking a follow-up question, you will be able to get actionable feedback through them. So, now you can create an action plan to deal with the detractors in your customer base. 

3.New Ideas and Suggestions:

There are many instances where customers can offer you innovative solutions or suggestions when given the chance to express themselves. This can be given in the form of such questions. 

Now that you know why you should use these questions, the next question that should arise is when you need to ask these questions exactly. So read further to know more.

When Should You Use Open-Ended Questions?

Timing is key. By asking a question at the right time, you get genuine and helpful responses. So, use such questions when you want to

●Dig deeper into feedback:

Firstly, begin by asking a close-ended question like "Would you recommend us?" Then, you can follow it up with open-ended questions like "What made you choose that option?"

●Identify specific problems:

Are you bothered by your low NPS score? Then, it is best to use these questions to reveal the underlying issues.

●Gain insights in new areas:

Looking to explore some more improvements or innovations? Ask your customers directly through these questions.

How to Create Effective Open-Ended Questions

You need to be thoughtful while creating these questions to get meaningful feedback. So, here's what you should keep in mind while asking such questions-

1.Be Clear and Focused:

Avoid unclear questions that may confuse the respondents. So, instead of asking, "What do you think of our company?" you must ask something more focused like, "What aspect of our customer service can be improved?"

2.Keep It Simple:

Do not use any complex or overly technical language. Your questions should not take too much time to be understood by the customers.

3.Encourage Detail, but Don't Overwhelm:

Use small and precise prompts like, "Please explain" or "Tell us more about." But do not overload your customers with too many questions, as it can frustrate them, and they may rather choose not to answer. Besides, one or two well-crafted questions are more than enough in a survey.

4.Be Neutral:

Your language can result in a biased response. As a result, it will interfere with the accuracy of your survey. So, try to stay as neutral as possible. For example, instead of asking, "How much did you enjoy our service?" ask, "What was your experience with our service?"

If you keep these rules in mind, your questions will generate more meaningful responses in customer feedback surveys and NPS surveys.

Examples of Effective Open-Ended Questions

Are you looking for something more practical to get a better understanding of such questions? Here are some examples that you can use in your surveys.

1.For NPS Surveys:

You can ask follow-up questions after getting yourself rated on a Net Promoter Score.

• What is the main reason for the score you gave us today?
• How can we improve your experience with our brand?

2.For General Customer Feedback:

You can ask these questions once the client has bought and used your service or products.

• What do you like most about our product?
• What changes would you like to see in our service?

3.For Product Improvement:

If you are looking to get some constructive criticism, then ask the following questions.

• What feature would you like to see in the future?
• Can you tell us about a time our product didn't meet your expectations?

Open-Ended vs. Close-Ended Questions?

To fully understand how these questions differ from close-ended ones, let's break it down:

1.Response Type:

• When you ask open-ended questions, you do it with the intention of getting detailed answers. These questions will encourage the customers to explain the thoughts behind their answers.
• In close-ended questions, you provide limited options like yes/no or a rating scale. So, the customers can only select the given options without being explained their intent.

2.Data Type:

• These questions generate qualitative data. It means that their answers are rich and give your descriptive insights.
• Close-ended questions provide quantitative data. So, you get answers in terms of numbers, ratings, or specific choices.

3.Time to Respond:

• Such questions take more time and effort from the respondent.
• Close-ended questions are quicker and easier to complete and take little to no time.

Conclusion

Open-ended questions are a powerful tool for understanding your customer's experience. Besides, they let you gather actionable feedback. Be it customer feedback surveys or NPS surveys; they help you make meaningful improvements through deeper insights.

Through these questions, your customers can give you a more genuine opinion. So, next time you are setting up a survey, you must add these questions to elevate the quality of your feedback. Last but not least, these questions will help you make better decisions for your business.