Customer Journey Survey Strategy
Surveys belong at every stage of the customer journey, not just after a renewal. Six to use: post-sale, post-onboarding, CS, NPS, renewal, and annual surveys.
TL;DR
- Surveys serve a dual purpose: they give your team insight into opportunities for growth and make customers feel their input is valued.
- Surveys belong throughout the journey, not just after a project or renewal — six to use are the post-sale survey, post-onboarding survey, customer success survey, NPS survey, renewal survey, and annual customer survey.
- The renewal survey is especially useful because it gauges renewal interest early, giving your team time to act on risk or opportunity.
Any CSM who has spent more than a few days in the SaaS industry working directly with customer contacts understands the incredible importance and value of customer feedback. Surveys serve a twofold purpose: they give your team a better sense of understanding when it comes to areas of opportunity and growth within your organization and make customers feel as though their input and opinion is greatly valued (which it should be!).
Contrary to popular belief, surveys are not just useful after the close of a big project or after a renewal. Instead, your team should be looking across the customer success journey to identify new and exciting ways to leverage surveys for the most accurate data and actionable feedback.
Here are six winning customer journey survey strategies to introduce to your customers this year:
1.The post-sale survey. The post-sales survey collects customer feedback and input to ensure that salespeople – and the processes they use – set proper expectations during the sales process. Sales typically sets the customer journey stage with first impressions, so you want to make sure things are off to a good start.
2. The post-onboarding survey. This survey ensures that customers are set up, trained, and informed enough to use your product or service to achieve their outcomes independently. Did you give them enough tools in their arsenal to succeed?
3. The customer success survey. While seemingly straightforward, this survey provides insight into the value of the customer success organization and the whole and the insights and guidance they provide each customer. This survey gives customers a chance to provide feedback and helpful pointers on how CSMs can better serve their customers.
4. NPS surveys. The NPS survey is an industry-standard survey that allows CSMs to better understand if a customer would recommend your products, services, or company to their peers and/or colleagues. CSMs and companies of all kinds often use NPS surveys to see their recommendation rate across their customer base.
5.The renewal survey. Before renewals even happen, the renewal survey helps gauge interest in pursuing a renewal or buy-up opportunity. This survey allows your team to get ahead of renewal risk and/or opportunity to ensure that you and your internal team have enough time to run the appropriate strategies.
6. Annual customer surveys. And, finally, the bread and butter of customer surveys: the annual survey. These surveys are used to collect insights and feedback to help drive the innovation and growth of your product and/or processes.
Make the most of your customer survey strategy
How is your team asking for and collecting feedback? Regardless of where your customers are in their customer journey, you should be open to (and are expected to!) ask them to complete a short survey. Surveys are a great way to truly uncover interesting tidbits about your customers, what they are looking to achieve with your product, and how your team can help them get there.
You can learn more about building the optimal customer experience with these additional resources from ClientSuccess:
- Webinar: Creating a Smooth Onboarding Experience
- eBook: 5 Ways To Surprise & Delight Your Customers
- Toolkit: How To Build Customer Loyalty
Frequently Asked Questions
What surveys should you use across the customer journey?
Why use surveys throughout the customer journey?
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