If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions. ~ Albert Einstein
Each category serves a unique purpose. Feel free to mix questions within a single survey. I recommend asking 6-7 questions per survey and gathering responses from approximately 250-300 participants.
Understanding customer frustrations starts with a blank page, representing the limited knowledge you have when you first begin optimizing. While you may have assumptions, concrete data is often lacking. The first step is to identify what factors could influence customer decisions.
Options for Proceeding
You have several options to move forward with:
Test everything: This approach can be beneficial in the long run with frequent testing, but it increases the risk of randomly testing factors that may not be relevant to the customer’s buying decision.
Use surveys: Surveys are a great way to identify potential areas of importance. They provide valuable insights that help you make educated assumptions about what could be most relevant for a specific shop. While responses may not always be fully accurate, testing these identified areas through A/B tests can lead to more informed decisions.
To help get started with surveys, we provide pre-written text and questions that you can easily distribute through your CRM tool.
Email Wording Template
Use this template in an email to customers who have purchased from your brand within the past 5 days, or as part of an automated flow 4-5 days after purchase.
German 🇩🇪:
Bei [Shopname] gibt es eine Sache, die uns nachts nicht schlafen lässt – und zwar die Frage, wie wir uns für dich verbessern & weiterentwickeln können.
Eins der wichtigsten Dinge, die wir im Laufe der letzten Jahre gelernt haben, ist, dass es nicht darauf ankommt, das durchzuboxen & zu entwickeln, was wir für gut hielten. Viel wichtiger ist es für uns, die Herausforderungen & Anforderungen unserer Kunden zu verstehen & dafür Lösungen zu entwickeln.
Wir wollen unseren Onlineshop - angefangen vom Portfolio und der Usability optimieren und für dich weiterentwickeln.
Möchtest du uns dabei helfen?
Dann klicke jetzt hier und beantworte ein paar kurze Fragen.
Das gesamte [Shop Team] und ich wären dir extrem dankbar dafür!
LG [Name]
English 🇺🇸:
At [company], there’s nothing that keeps us up at night more than thinking about how we can make a better product for you.
One of the most important lessons we’ve learned over the years is that what WE think is best for the product doesn’t really matter. What matters most is understanding the challenges our customers face – that’s you – and how we can better address them.
We want [product] to be as useful and easy to use as possible.
We want it to be the best [category] product on the planet. Will you help us do that?
Just click here now and answer a few quick questions.
It won’t take more than [X] minutes.
I—and the entire [company] team—would really, really appreciate it.
Survey Questions
I’ve broken the survey questions into four main categories:
Persona Questions
User Intent/Motivation
Shopping Process and Frictions
Post-Shopping Experience
Each category serves a unique purpose. Feel free to mix questions within a single survey. I recommend asking 6-7 questions per survey and gathering responses from approximately 250-300 participants.
Persona Questions
These questions are designed to help you understand the individuals visiting your site. They will help identify how they discovered your brand, their interests, and their behavioral patterns.
In one sentence, describe yourself.
What three adjectives best describe you?
Who is your role model?
Which YouTube channels do you watch regularly?
Which Instagram accounts do you follow?
Which TikTok accounts do you follow?
What sports team do you support?
What hobbies or activities do you enjoy in your free time?
How would you describe us to a friend?
What words do you associate with [brand]?
Where did you hear about us?
Who introduced you to us?
What blogs, podcasts, or books do you follow regularly?
If this product had a personality, how would you describe it?
How do you prefer to learn about new products/services?
Do you subscribe to any newsletters or magazines? If so, which ones?
User Intent/Motivation
These questions aim to uncover the initial trigger that led users to search for or purchase your product. Identifying this will allow you to hypothesize the core motivations behind their actions.
Was there a special situation or event that triggered you to look for this product?
What need were you trying to fulfill when you first looked for [product/service]?
What made you decide to purchase from us today?
What problem does [the product] solve for you?
Was there a specific event or occasion that prompted your purchase?
How long did you consider purchasing this product before making a decision?
Did someone recommend a similar product to you? If so, who?
Did you stumble upon us by chance, or were you actively searching for a solution?
What made this purchase urgent for you?
Shopping Process and Frictions
These questions explore how users navigate their shopping journey and identify any obstacles or points of friction they encountered during their decision-making process.
Did you consider alternatives before purchasing from us? How many websites did you visit?
What product features did you compare?
What hesitations or doubts did you have before making your purchase?
What convinced you to make the purchase?
Were there any questions you had that you couldn’t find answers to?
What could we have done to make your decision easier?
What was the biggest challenge or frustration during your visit to our website?
What nearly stopped you from completing your purchase?
What was the most important feature or piece of information that convinced you to buy?
Did you visit a physical store before making your purchase online?
Post-Shopping Process
These questions focus on the post-purchase experience, capturing customer feedback that can help improve future interactions.
Was there anything that pleasantly surprised you (e.g., shipping speed, packaging, or customer support)?
Did the product meet, exceed, or fall short of your expectations? Why?
How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague? (1-10 scale, with an optional "Why?")
What did you think about the unboxing experience?
What would encourage you to purchase from us again in the future?
Competitor Insights
These questions help understand how customers perceive your competitors, which can reveal opportunities for differentiation and refinement of your unique value proposition.
Which brands or products did you consider before choosing us?
What made you switch from another brand to us?
Did you find anything confusing or frustrating about our competitors?
What is one thing competitors offer that you wish we did?
How did you compare competitors during your decision-making process (reviews, price, reputation)?
What’s the biggest advantage we have over our competitors?
What would competitors need to do to win you back as a customer?
