Implementing Post-Purchase Survey: 70+ Questions, Template & Best Practices

Don't let sales be the endpoint of your customer journey. Instead, use post-purchase surveys to kickstart a lasting relationship that transforms your customers into repeat buyers and brand loyalists.

From a business perspective, what's the most critical stage in a customer journey?

The first interaction? The part where they start taking an interest in your offering? Or when they fill in their details to become prospects? To be honest, none of that!

The most crucial stage in any customer journey for a business is the purchase. The moment a customer finally makes the payment and checks out from your site, store, or app. And it's not just critical because it gives your revenue; it's also crucial because it sets the tone for future business flow and your ongoing customer relationship.

The moment a visitor or prospect becomes a paying customer presents a remarkable opportunity for the organization to cultivate brand loyalty and convert them into repeat customers. Offer a great purchase experience, and the customer will become a patron of your brand and identify you whenever a similar need arises. Conversely, a PwC study exposes a daunting reality: nearly 32% of customers will cease business with a brand after just one negative experience.

So, how do you ensure customer retention instead of customer churn?

Simple — assess their experience with a Post Purchase Survey, with an eCommerce survey software, and use the insights to know where you're doing well and identify areas of improvement.

Fuel Business Growth with Customer Feedback 🔥

Collect real-time, in-moment feedback at all touchpoints in customer journey and leverage feedback insights to transform customer experience.

Post-purchase surveys are a non-intrusive way to gain valuable insights into your customers' perception of your brand, improve their buying experience, and proactively address any potential issues. In this blog, we will delve into the world of post-purchase surveys and explore how you can effectively implement them as a part of retail feedback to refine the shopping experience, drive growth, and deliver maximum customer satisfaction. So, let's jump right in and unlock the secrets to optimizing your customers' post-purchase journey.

Table of Content

What is Post-Purchase Survey?
Getting Started with Post-Purchase Survey
Post-Purchase Survey Questions to Enhance Customer Experience
Best Practices for Creating Post-Purchase Survey
Leveraging Post-Purchase Survey Responses
Conclusion

What is Post-Purchase Survey?

A Post Purchase Survey is a feedback mechanism businesses use to gather information from customers after they have made a purchase. It typically consists of questions or prompts to evaluate the customer's experience with the product or service they purchased and received.

A Post Purchase survey is most relevant when measured shortly after customers have completed their purchase by prompting them to take up a micro survey. Using product feedback software, businesses can initiate a post-purchase survey as soon as a visitor turns into a customer and checks out. The survey can be sent within the app, on the web page, or as an email survey after the transaction is complete.

The insights gathered from a post-purchase survey can be used effectively to improve the product, experience, service, or even its overall marketing. For instance, you can ask them about the relevance of information around the product, the check-out process, the delivery process, decision factors, product quality, and more to identify areas of improvement. If you are looking at getting customer feedback after they have purchased your product or service, here is a post-purchase survey template that can add to your website or in-app and product.

Getting Started with Post-Purchase Survey

A Post Purchase Survey gauges customer satisfaction levels with the purchasing process and overall experience with your brand. It allows you to capture valuable feedback, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Let us look at how you can get started with a post-purchase survey to reach maximum customer feedback.

Choosing the Right Survey Type and Metrics

Before implementing a post-purchase survey, you must carefully consider what you want to achieve with the survey. If you wish to collect customer feedback to measure customer satisfaction level or want to check brand advocacy or the ease of carrying out the purchase, you should choose the survey based on that metric.

Here are some of the most popular post-purchase survey questions you can ask to measure different CX metrics through surveys like Net Promoter Score surveys, customer satisfaction surveys, and CES surveys.

Questions to Measure Post Purchase Loyalty with NPS Surveys

On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?

What is the primary reason for your score?

Is there anything we could do to improve and earn a higher recommendation score from you?

Questions to Measure Post Purchase Satisfaction with CSAT Surveys

How satisfied are you with your overall purchase experience?

Did the product/service meet your expectations?

How would you rate the overall purchase experience?

Questions to Measure Ease of Purchase with CES Surveys

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement. The company made it easy for me to make a purchase?

What is the primary reason for your score?

Post-Purchase Survey Questions to Enhance Customer Experience

A post-purchase survey allows you to gather feedback on various touchpoints of the customer journey, including the purchasing process, product usage, and overall customer satisfaction. By understanding and addressing customer experience through post-purchase surveys, you can strengthen customer relationships and drive long-term success for your business.

1. Post Purchase Survey Questions on Pricing

The pricing strategy of your product can be a deal breaker for most of your customers. Adding post-purchase survey questions on pricing is essential in assessing the perceived value and affordability of the products or services, which is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in the market. Customers' feedback can shed light on whether the pricing aligns with their expectations and whether they believe it accurately reflects the quality and value they receive.

Here are some questions on pricing that you can consider adding to your post-purchase survey.

How would you rate the value for money of the product/service you purchased?

Did you find the pricing of the product/service reasonable?

How satisfied are you with the pricing options available for the product/service?

Did you perceive the product/service to be worth the price you paid?

How would you rate the affordability of the product/service?

Did you encounter any challenges or confusion regarding the pricing details?

Were there any hidden costs or unexpected charges associated with the purchase?

2. Post Purchase Survey Questions on Delivery Process

To uncover any challenges or bottlenecks in their delivery process or enhance the efficiency and reliability of delivery operations, you need customer feedback on the delivery concerns like late deliveries, damaged packages, or poor communication. Feedback collected through post-purchase surveys on the delivery process provides you with valuable insights to optimize your logistics and delivery operations. You can also use email surveys or SMS surveys for delivery feedback. It can help you recognize opportunities for streamlining processes, reducing delivery costs, and enhancing overall operational efficiency to stay competitive.

Here are some post-purchase survey questions that can make the delivery process more effective.

How satisfied are you with the timeliness of the delivery of your order?

Did the delivery of your order meet your expectations in terms of speed and efficiency?

Were you provided with clear and accurate tracking information for your shipment?

How would you rate the packaging of your order in terms of protection and presentation?

Did you experience any issues or delays during the delivery process?

Were you notified on time about any changes or updates regarding your delivery?

Were there any difficulties or challenges with receiving your order?

3. Post Purchase Survey Questions on Product Quality

What sets you apart from your competitors is your unwavering commitment to product quality. Including questions about quality in post-purchase surveys helps measure customer satisfaction levels related to the product your customers received. Collecting product feedback can help assess it on different parameters and identify areas loved by your customers or where it can be improved. Post-purchase surveys allow you to proactively address quality concerns, rectify issues, and maintain a positive brand image, thereby driving customer loyalty.

Here are some post-purchase survey questions on the product quality that you can add to your survey.

How satisfied are you with the overall quality of the product you purchased?

How would you rate the durability of the product?

Did the product meet your needs and requirements?

Were there any defects or issues with the product upon receiving it?

Would you consider purchasing similar products from our company based on the quality of this product?

How likely are you to recommend the product based on its quality?

4. Post Purchase Survey Questions on Shopping Experience

Post-purchase surveys provide an opportunity for customers to share their overall shopping experience, including factors such as website navigation, product selection, checkout process, and any other aspects of the purchasing journey. By asking questions about the shopping experience, you can gather specific feedback on what worked well and what could be improved and uncover opportunities to streamline the processes, eliminate barriers, and optimize the customer experience.

Consider including these questions in your post-purchase survey to understand your customer's shopping experience.

How would you rate your overall shopping experience with our company?

Were you able to easily find the products you were looking for?

How would you rate the user-friendliness of our website/store interface?

Did you encounter any issues or difficulties during the checkout process?

Were the product descriptions and images clear and helpful in making your purchasing decisions?

How satisfied are you with the variety and selection of products available?

How would you rate the ease of browsing and navigating through our website/store?

Did you experience any technical issues or glitches while shopping?

5. Post-Purchase Survey Questions on Purchase Decision Factors

Various factors influence purchase decisions, and gaining insights into customer preferences can help you to understand what resonates well with your customer. Post-purchase survey questions on decision factors can help you find answers to what drives customers to choose your brand over competitors, what they expect in your product, and how you can personalize your offerings. Here are some survey questions based on the same.

What key factors influenced your decision to purchase from our company?

How important were price and affordability in your purchase decision?

What role did product features and specifications play in your decision-making process?

Did positive customer reviews and ratings influence your decision to purchase?

Did recommendations from friends, family, or colleagues impact your buying decision?

How important was the availability of customer support and after-sales service in your purchase decision?

Did product customization options or personalization influence your decision to make a purchase?

Were there any specific promotions, discounts, or incentives that influenced your purchase decision?

6. Post Purchase Survey Questions on User Experience

Customer feedback can offer valuable insights for product iteration and improvement that can help to make informed decisions on future updates and new features. Including questions about user experience allows customers to share their thoughts on aspects such as ease of use, functionality, design, and overall satisfaction. Here are some post-purchase survey questions on user experience.

Did you find the navigation and layout of our website/app/store intuitive and easy to use?

Did you find the information or products you were looking for easily?

How would you rate the speed and responsiveness of our website/app/store?

Did you encounter any technical issues or glitches during your user experience?

Were the product descriptions and images clear and helpful in making your purchasing decisions?

Did you find the checkout process smooth and straightforward?

7. Post Purchase Survey Questions on Brand Perception and Loyalty

Post-purchase surveys allow you to gauge how customers perceive your brand after making a purchase. By including questions on brand perception, such as brand reputation, quality, and values, you can gain insights into how customers view your brand. By aligning your messaging, marketing efforts, and customer interactions, you can strengthen your brand image. Consider these questions to add to your post-purchase survey on brand perception and loyalty.

How familiar are you with our brand?

How would you rate your overall perception of our brand?

How likely are you to recommend our brand to others?

How likely are you to repurchase products/services from our brand in the future?

How does our brand compare to competitors in terms of innovation and uniqueness?

8. Post Purchase Survey Questions on General Feedback and Suggestions

Seeking customer feedback is one of the best ways to demonstrate a customer-centric approach. Inviting customers to provide general feedback and suggestions empowers them to actively participate in shaping the product or service. They often have unique perspectives that can uncover hidden opportunities for improvement. Here are some questions to seek customer feedback for a post-purchase survey.

How satisfied are you with your overall purchase experience with our company?

Is there anything specific that you particularly liked about your shopping experience with us?

Is there anything in particular that we could improve upon in our products or services?

Did you encounter any challenges or difficulties during the purchasing process?

Do you have any suggestions for new products or services you would like us to offer?

How likely are you to recommend our company to others based on your experience?

Best Practices for Creating Post-Purchase Survey

To optimize the implementation of post-purchase surveys and maximize their effectiveness and participation, it is crucial to take actions that can improve response rates and gather valuable insights. Consider the following proactive approach to enhance your post-purchase survey response rates and outcomes.

1. Tailor Survey Based on Specific Order

Customizing each respondent's post-purchase survey experience based on their order details can help gather more targeted and actionable customer feedback. For example, you can request your customers to input order numbers, based on which you can tailor the survey to show the relevant survey questions for the specific product they ordered.

How to implement tailor a survey to get personalized feedback from customers?

Determine the variables (order number, product name, etc.) you want to use for tailoring the survey.
Create a survey structure that accommodates different branching points based on order-specific variables.
Customize question paths and direct your customers to particular questions related to the order-specific variables.

2. Personalize the Survey Based on Your Customers

To ensure genuine customer feedback, it is essential to personalize the post-purchase customer survey by categorizing your customers into specific groups. It can help you create conditions that trigger the display of relevant surveys making customers more interested in giving post-purchase feedback.

For instance, say you want to obtain feedback from new and repeat customers, you can begin by categorizing the customers and displaying tailored questions relevant to each group.

For new customers, the survey can focus on understanding how they discovered the brand and their overall satisfaction with their first purchase. This information helps to identify effective marketing channels and gauge the success of the initial customer experience. The survey can skip the discovery question for repeat customers as they are already familiar with the brand. Instead, it focuses on measuring their likelihood to recommend the brand based on their overall experience, providing insights into customer loyalty and advocacy.

Presenting them with surveys that align with their interests or characteristics creates a more personalized and meaningful interaction, resulting in higher engagement and more insightful feedback.

3. Display at an Appropriate Time

To capture accurate feedback and ensure its relevance, choose the appropriate time to show the post-purchase survey to customers.

For example, imagine a customer has just received their online order and is excited to unbox the product. At that moment, if they are prompted with a survey to provide feedback on the packaging quality, delivery experience, and overall satisfaction, they are more likely to provide specific and detailed responses as their emotions and impressions are fresh, leading to a higher quality of feedback. On the other hand, if the survey is displayed days or weeks later, the customer's memory may have faded, and their responses may be less accurate and less valuable for improving the customer experience.

By timing the survey appropriately, you can gather feedback that reflects the customer's direct experience, leading to actionable insights and better opportunities for addressing any concerns or areas of improvement.

4. Add Closed & Open-Ended Questions

It is essential to include both open-ended and close-ended questions in a post-purchase survey to gather comprehensive, balanced, and meaningful feedback from customers.

While closed-ended questions provide structured and quantitative data, allowing for easy analysis and comparison, open-ended questions encourage customers to provide detailed and qualitative feedback in their own words.

Here are some closed-ended questions and open-ended questions that you can add to the post-purchase survey:

Closed-ended Questions:

On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with the quality of the product you purchased?

Which of the following factors influenced your purchase decision the most?

Price

Product Features

Brand Reputation

Customer Reviews

Other

Would you recommend our product to others? (Yes/No)

Open-Ended Questions:

Please share any suggestions or improvements you have for our product or service.

Describe your overall experience with our customer support team.

Is there anything else you want us to know about your purchase experience?

5. Create Device Responsive Surveys

Creating device-responsive post-purchase surveys is vital for an effective and user-friendly feedback collection process. By optimizing your survey for various devices, you improve participation rates and reach a broader customer base.

You can use a responsive design that adjusts to different screen sizes with reduced questions and clear instructions. Before sharing the survey, ensure to test on multiple devices and browsers so that your customers do not face any friction while attempting the post-purchase survey.

6. Place the Post-Purchase Survey Right

The right placement of a post-purchase survey is crucial to make it more effective and garner responses. Ideally, since a post-purchase survey comprises a few questions, placing it right on the after-purchase thank-you page is the most effective strategy. A full-page pop-up form, slider pop-up, or simple banner form asking for their feedback is recommended.

Leveraging Post-Purchase Survey Responses

After gathering post-purchase survey responses, it's essential to transform the feedback into actionable improvements. This phase holds significant potential to enhance your products, services, and overall customer experience. Here are some key strategies to effectively leverage the survey responses.

1. Identify Problem Areas

Identifying problem areas through post-purchase customer feedback involves analyzing the survey responses and looking for recurring themes or patterns. Whether it is delivery-related concerns or customer service shortcomings, here’s how to identify customer issues.

2. Analyze Survey Responses

Analyzing post-purchase survey responses can get you insights that can open doors for improvements. For example, you may find that many customers complain about long shipping times or difficulties in the checkout process. These insights prompt you to focus on streamlining your shipping operations and optimizing the customer experience on your website or app.

By identifying this trend, you can take specific actions to address the issue. Here's how:

Streamline your Shipping Operations: Evaluate your current shipping processes and look for areas where you can optimize efficiency. This may include working closely with your shipping partners to minimize delays, improving packaging and labeling processes, or exploring faster shipping options.
Enhance Checkout Process: Simplify the process by reducing the required form fields, offering guest checkout options, or implementing address auto-fill features. Ensure that your payment options are secure and hassle-free.
Optimize Website Performance: Monitor the performance of your website or app to ensure smooth navigation and fast loading times. Identify and address any technical issues or bottlenecks that may contribute to a poor customer experience during the checkout process.
Gather Feedback and Iterate: Continuously collect feedback from customers through post-purchase surveys or other channels to assess the effectiveness of your improvements. Use this feedback to make iterative changes and refine your shipping and checkout processes further.

Filter & Group Survey Responses

Upon receiving post-purchase survey feedback, it is important to filter and group the responses to identify common concerns efficiently and facilitate prompt action. For example, after conducting post-purchase surveys, you may notice a cluster of responses highlighting issues related to product quality.

By filtering and categorizing these responses under a "Product Quality" category, you can easily identify the specific areas that require attention and improvement. By taking swift action to enhance product quality, you demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction and improve the overall shopping experience for your customers.

Filtering and grouping post-purchase survey responses enable you to pinpoint problem areas accurately, strategize appropriate solutions, and continuously enhance your products and services based on customer feedback.

3. Collaborate with Relevant Team Members

When you have survey responses collected, you need to bring your team together to work on the issues suggested by the customers. For example, say your post-purchase survey has hinted at customer dissatisfaction based on product quality. In that case, you can set up an automation to notify your product team about the concern, and your quality assurance team can test the product for defects once it has been reworked.

Once the product has been improved, you can share an email with your customers acknowledging their feedback and informing them that the issue has been addressed.

4. Take Action & Implement Changes

When it comes to taking action and implementing changes based on post-purchase survey responses, it involves making substantial modifications to your products, services, or processes to address the identified issues and improve the overall customer experience. It is essential to carefully evaluate the survey responses, prioritize the most critical issues, and allocate resources and efforts accordingly.

Here are some key areas where you can bring in changes based on the post-purchase survey responses received.

Implementing Product Enhancements: If the post-purchase survey feedback indicates specific product-related issues, such as a malfunctioning feature or a design flaw, you can work on implementing product enhancements. This could involve refining the design, improving functionality, or addressing any performance issues.
Enhancing Customer Support Processes: If customers express dissatisfaction with the support they receive post-purchase, you can focus on improving your customer support processes. This could involve streamlining response times, enhancing communication channels, or providing better training to support agents.
Optimizing Website or App Experience: If the survey responses highlight usability issues or difficulties navigating your website or app, you can prioritize optimizing the user experience. For example, if customers frequently report challenges finding relevant product information on your website, you can restructure the product pages, improve search functionality, or provide more precise product descriptions to enhance the user experience.
Refining Service Delivery: If the survey feedback indicates service delivery issues, such as shipping delays or poor order tracking, you can focus on refining your service processes. This may involve working closely with your logistics or fulfillment team to streamline operations, improve tracking systems, or enhance customer communication regarding order status updates.

5. Close the Feedback Loop

When you take corrective actions, resolve problems, and make improvements to enhance the customer experience, your customers see that their feedback has been taken seriously and acted upon, which increases their satisfaction and confidence in your brand. By closing the feedback loop, you gather valuable data and insights to inform future strategies, product development, and service enhancements. It enables you to stay ahead of the competition, adapt to changing customer preferences, and foster a customer-centric culture.

It encourages customers to remain engaged with your brand and participate in future feedback initiatives. This ongoing engagement helps to retain customers and turn them into brand advocates who actively promote your products or services.

Here’s how you can close the feedback loop to enhance customer engagement.

Share a summary of the feedback and actions taken with customers.
Follow up with personalized messages for customers who provided detailed feedback or expressed specific needs.
Inform customers about updates or enhancements made based on their feedback.
Invite customers to participate in follow-up surveys to gauge satisfaction after addressing their feedback.
Provide multiple ongoing communication and feedback channels, such as email, chat support, and social media platforms.

Conclusion

Implementing post-purchase surveys is a powerful strategy for gathering valuable customer feedback and improving the overall customer experience. By designing effective surveys, measuring key metrics, and leveraging feedback for improvements, you can enhance customer experience, foster loyalty, and stay ahead in a competitive marketplace.

To streamline creating post-purchase surveys and analyzing the outcomes, you should use feature-rich Customer Feedback Software such as Zonka Feedback. This software not only facilitates feedback collection but also enables you to take prompt action and effectively close the feedback loop. By leveraging such a tool, you can elevate your post-purchase customer feedback process and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial at Zonka Feedback and experience the power of quick survey creation and streamlined feedback management.