How do my users find their way around the website and do they like it at all? Every shop owner should ask himself this question. But how do you find out how satisfied the users are with the respective website? The magic word: onsite surveys.
They help webshop operators to obtain feedback from as many site visitors as possible within a short period of time. For this purpose, they are integrated directly on the website – in order to address only users who actually are part of the web shop’s target group. Onsite surveys then help to map user satisfaction and analyze it scientifically. But they can do even more: demonstrably increase user engagement on the website.
Why use onsite surveys?
What should a user survey actually achieve? And on what topic should users be surveyed? These questions have to be answered before the survey can begin because depending on the type of survey, the target group, as well as the placement of the survey, can vary greatly. For example, should only shopping cart abandoners be surveyed? In this case, it doesn’t make any sense to place the survey directly on the home page, it should only be displayed once the user really “leaves” the filled shopping cart.
How is an onsite survey designed?
Whether just a single question or a larger catalogue of questions – the survey design can vary greatly. If you only want to ask if the user is satisfied with the service, the setup of the survey is quite simple and quick.
How is the target group selected for an onsite survey?
Not only the design of a survey is of importance, but also the target group. Ultimately, in order to get to know its own users even better. For example, surveys can be used to quickly and easily collect socio-demographic data such as gender or age. In the same way, the exact requirements and expectations of different user groups can be collected.
Depending on the customer group or user segment, the answers can be quite different. But there can also be other challenges resulting from surveys – for example, if a large user group cannot find its way around the website. One possibility would then be to display some customer-specific adaptations (e.g. by user group).
Getting to know the users better via onsite surveys
It is not only the satisfaction of the users that has to be queried. Onsite surveys can also be used to find out more about one’s own customers and to adapt the page or shop to the respective customer accordingly. For example, the answers from the survey can be used to display better recommendations (e.g. by knowing the preferences of your users). The advantage of playing out surveys via trbo: Results and answers of surveys can easily be saved as a data record with trbo. Then the customers can be addressed again in a more targeted and individual way based on their preferences.
NPS®* Surveys as a Special Form of Onsite Surveys
The Net Promoter Score℠ (NPS®) represents a very special type of survey. It can be used to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty to a brand, shop or product. The NPS® is calculated on the basis of answers of the users to only one question: How likely would recommend the company/product/service to friends/family/colleagues?
The answers to this question are measured on a scale from zero to ten, after which the NPS® is calculated. The customers are then divided into three groups: Promoters, undecided and detractors.
Promoters have assigned a high score (nine or ten points) – so they are very positive towards the product or company and are happy to recommend it to others. The group of undecided customers (seven or eight points) is largely satisfied, but behaves passively – they would not advise against the company or the products, but would also not recommend them independently. The detractors are critical of the company – they would not recommend it to others or buy the product again.
For companies, the NPS® is only calculated on the basis of the promoters and detractors using the following formula:
(number of promoters – number of detractors) ÷ (number of all respondents) x 100.
If the value is above 50, the result is already positive. However, comparisons should always be used (e.g. own industry benchmarks). Only then the NPS® will become truly meaningful.
Careful, tripping hazards!
Some tripping hazards should be taken into account when conducting onsite surveys. Especially shop operators should avoid “forcing” answers. Many companies increase the participation of the users by using e.g. vouchers. But be careful: some users will only fill out the survey to get a voucher and simply click on any answer.
Additionally, you should make it as easy as possible for users to fill out the survey (as in the entire webshop). Avoid long questionnaires, use ready-made answer options via radio button and free text fields only where necessary. Don’t disturb your users! If a user is currently in the buying process, a survey may distract him too much.
You should also pay attention to the timing of the survey. If you play out a general survey during Christmas, you might get corrupted data. This is because an extremely large number of users suddenly come to the shop who otherwise do not shop there (and may not continue to do so on a regular basis).
So do onsite surveys make sense?
Obviously: Yes. They give the customer the feeling of being valued and of being able to play an active part in shaping the future of the shop. Webshop operators can easily obtain important information about their users through onsite surveys. These can then be used to continuously adapt the site to different user interests.
Would you like to learn more about onsite user surveys or include them on to your website? Then contact your Account Manager or info@trbo.com!
We are looking forward to the exchange!
*Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter Score℠ and Net Promoter System℠ are service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.