Did you know that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience (PwC)? And, have you ever wondered how to truly understand your customer’s needs?
Today, customers often explore products and services on their own without speaking to anyone. For startups, these surveys highlight areas to improve or add features. Larger companies can use them to pinpoint what matters most, ensuring users aren’t overwhelmed by too many options.
Asking the right onboarding survey questions can make all the difference. This shows just how valuable customer feedback is. The right onboarding survey can be your key to delivering that experience, helping you serve customers better and build lasting relationships.
What Exactly Is a Customer Onboarding Survey?
A customer onboarding survey is a set of carefully crafted questions aimed at understanding a customer’s initial experience with your product or service. These surveys are typically sent shortly after a customer starts using your product, ensuring you gather feedback while the experience is fresh in their minds. The goal is to learn about any challenges they faced, what they liked, and areas where they think improvements could be made.
Customer onboarding surveys help businesses:
- Identify friction points in the onboarding process
- Understand whether the product or service meets initial customer expectations
- Discover features or services that customers feel are missing
- Gain insight into the overall satisfaction level during the early stages of usage
By collecting this valuable data, companies can make informed decisions about how to refine their onboarding process and improve the overall customer experience.
Who Needs to Use Customer Onboarding Surveys?
Essentially, every business that interacts with customers, whether it’s a startup, an established company, a SaaS provider, or an e-commerce platform—can benefit from customer onboarding surveys.
These surveys allow businesses of all types and sizes to understand customer’s initial experiences, address any pain points, and improve their product or service from the very start. Regardless of the industry, onboarding surveys help businesses create a smoother, more personalized experience that leads to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Also read: A complete guide to instant/quick survey
Customer Onboarding Survey Questions Format
Sample Survey Questions Based on Types of Customer Onboarding
Customer onboarding varies depending on the complexity of the business and the type of service or product offered. Let’s look at the key types of customer onboarding and the kinds of survey questions that can be asked to gather feedback from users:
- Self-Service Onboarding
This type of onboarding is ideal for businesses with simple, easy-to-understand products or services. Customers are able to sign up and start using the product on their own, typically aided by tutorials, FAQs, and automated guidance. It’s widely used by SaaS companies and mobile apps.
Sample Survey Questions:some text- Was the sign-up process clear and straightforward?
- Did you find the in-app tutorials helpful?
- Were you able to locate the information you needed without assistance?
- How satisfied are you with the self-guided onboarding experience?
- Low-Touch Onboarding
For products that need a bit more explanation but still don’t require hands-on help, low-touch onboarding works best. Automated emails, chatbots, or in-app messaging are often used, alongside resources like webinars and video tutorials. This is common in subscription services, online platforms, and e-commerce businesses.
Sample Survey Questions:some text- Did the automated guide help you understand how to use the product?
- Were the emails or tutorials helpful in setting up your account?
- Is there anything you struggled with during the onboarding process?
- How useful was the information provided by the chatbot or support articles?
- High-Touch Onboarding
High-touch onboarding involves more personalized support, including one-on-one sessions, demos, or dedicated customer success managers. It’s used by companies offering complex, high-value products, such as enterprise software or premium services.
Sample Survey Questions:some text- How helpful was your onboarding specialist in guiding you through the product setup?
- Did the one-on-one demo meet your expectations and explain all the key features?
- Do you feel confident using the product after receiving personalized assistance?
- What additional support would make your onboarding experience better?
- Onboarding for Complex Products
When a product is highly technical or involves multiple stages of setup, onboarding becomes an ongoing process. This type often includes in-depth training, dedicated support, and follow-up sessions to ensure the customer fully understands the product.
Sample Survey Questions:some text- Was the training session comprehensive enough to cover all aspects of the product?
- Do you feel you have the support you need to continue using the product effectively?
- How would you rate the follow-up assistance you received after the initial onboarding?
- Is there any part of the product you still need help understanding?
Each onboarding type benefits from gathering feedback to continuously improve the process and meet user expectations.
Customer Onboarding Survey Questions Based on 6 Focus Areas
Getting to know your customers starts with asking the right questions. Here are six key areas to focus on, along with plenty of onboarding survey questions you can use:
1. Basic Information:
This section collects the essential details about your customers so you can personalize their experience and communicate effectively. Keeping it simple helps reduce friction and ensures you get the key data you need.
- What’s your name? (Short Text)
- How should we contact you? (Email, Phone, SMS) (Multiple Choice)
- What’s your job title? (Dropdown)
- Which department do you work in? (Dropdown)
- How did you find us? (Multiple Choice)
- Which city are you based in? (Dropdown)
2. Purchase Intent:
Understanding why a customer chooses your product helps you tailor their experience to meet their needs. These questions get to the heart of what they’re hoping to achieve.
- What problem are you solving with our product? (Open-Ended)
- Why did you choose us? (Open-Ended)
- What are your main goals with this product? (Open-Ended)
- When do you plan to start using it? (Dropdown)
- How soon do you need to see results? (Dropdown)
3. User Experience:
This section helps you figure out if the customer had a smooth onboarding experience. It’s important to know if anything feels confusing or frustrating, so you can fix it.
- How easy was it to get started? (Rating Scale 1-5)
- Did you face any issues during sign-up? (Yes/No)
- Was the onboarding process clear? (Yes/No)
- How fast was the onboarding process? (Rating Scale 1-5)
- How would you rate the platform’s usability so far? (Rating Scale 1-5)
4. Product Expectations:
These questions help you understand what the customer expects from your product and how it fits into their needs. It also lets you see how you stack up against their past experiences.
- What features are you excited to use? (Multiple Choice)
- What’s the top benefit you expect from this product? (Open-Ended)
- Have you used similar products before? (Yes/No)
- If yes, what did you like or dislike about them? (Open-Ended)
- What would make this product perfect for you? (Open-Ended)
5. Onboarding Satisfaction:
To make sure your onboarding process is effective, it’s important to get feedback directly from the customer. These questions help you gauge how satisfied they are and what could be improved.
- How would you rate your onboarding experience? (Rating Scale 1-5)
- Were the steps easy to follow? (Yes/No)
- Was the support team helpful? (Yes/No)
- Would you recommend our onboarding process to others? (Yes/No)
- What could we have done better? (Open-Ended)
6. Feedback and Suggestions:
This section gives your customers the chance to share any ideas or improvements they’d like to see, helping you make the product even better.
- How can we improve your onboarding experience? (Open-Ended)
- Any features you think we’re missing? (Open-Ended)
- Is there anything else you’d like to share with us? (Open-Ended)
- What additional resources or help would have made onboarding easier? (Open-Ended)
Top 3 Strategies to Maximize Responses to Your Onboarding Survey
To get the most valuable feedback from your onboarding survey questions, it’s essential to maximize response rates. Here are three effective strategies to encourage customers to complete your surveys:
1. Timing Is Everything
Send your survey at the right time. The best moment to ask for feedback is when the onboarding experience is still fresh in the customer's mind. Consider sending it:
- Right after they complete the onboarding process
- After they've used the product for a short period (e.g., one week)
- After achieving their first success or milestone with the product
This increases the chances of them responding, as they’ll have more to share and remember details clearly.
2. Keep It Short and Simple
Customers are more likely to complete your survey if it’s quick and easy to understand. Limit the number of questions to only what’s necessary and use clear, straightforward language. Use a mix of multiple-choice and short, open-ended questions to gather focused feedback without overwhelming the customer. A survey that takes less than 5 minutes to complete is ideal.
3. Offer Incentives or Rewards
To motivate customers to complete your survey, offer an incentive. It could be a discount on their next purchase, access to exclusive content, or entry into a prize draw. Rewards make customers feel appreciated and give them an extra reason to provide their feedback.
By applying these strategies: sending the survey at the right time, keeping it brief, and offering incentives, you’ll increase your chances of getting insightful and actionable feedback from your customers.
Conclusion
Onboarding surveys are essential for understanding your customers and improving their experience from the start. Asking the right questions helps you make better decisions and keep users engaged long-term.
With Nudge, you can easily create personalized onboarding experiences that guide your customers smoothly through the process.
Curious how Nudge can help? Book a demo today and see how we can enhance your onboarding and boost customer engagement!
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