Customer feedback survey: questions and a template
A customer feedback survey tells you what customers think while there is still time to act on it. A good one is short, asks one thing per question, and is sent at a moment the customer still remembers. Here is when to ask, how to write the questions, what NPS and CSAT mean, and what to do with the answers.
Most of this guide is our view from helping small businesses collect feedback. The NPS facts come from Bain's page on measuring your Net Promoter Score, and the Google Forms facts from Google's help page View & manage form responses. We checked both on 13 November 2026.
When to ask
Ask soon after something the customer can judge, while the details are fresh:
- After a job or delivery: a day or two after the work is finished or the order arrives, once they have used it.
- After a support conversation: one question about that conversation, sent the same day.
- For ongoing customers: once or twice a year about the whole relationship, not after every invoice.
Do not survey the same person more than every few months. Too many requests teach people to ignore you.
A short survey design
Five to eight questions is enough for a small business. More than that and people stop halfway or rush. A few rules keep the answers honest:
- One topic per question. Was our team quick and friendly? asks two things. Split it, or you cannot tell which one a low score means.
- Neutral wording. How would you rate the delivery time? is fair. How happy were you with our fast delivery? pushes the answer.
- The same scale throughout. If 5 means best in one question, it should mean best in all of them.
- One open question. A single free-text box such as What is one thing we could do better? gives you the reasons behind the scores. Make it optional.
Say how long it takes at the top (about two minutes) and keep that promise. Write the questions in the same plain language you use on your site; our brand voice guidelines guide helps with tone.
Example questions by goal
Pick the goal first, then two or three questions that serve it.
Was the service good?
- Overall, how satisfied were you with the work we did? (1 to 5)
- Did we finish when we said we would? (Yes / No / Partly)
- How clear was our quote or invoice? (1 to 5)
How did they find you and why did they choose you?
- How did you first hear about us? (list of options plus Other)
- What made you choose us over other options? (open)
The answers to these feed straight into your marketing funnel: they show which channels bring people in and what convinces them.
What should you improve?
- Which part of working with us was hardest? (list: booking, communication, timing, price, other)
- What is one thing we could do better? (open)
NPS and CSAT explained
NPS (Net Promoter Score) comes from one question. Bain, which created it, asks "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?" on a zero-to-ten scale. People who answer 9 or 10 are promoters, 7 or 8 are passives, and 0 to 6 are detractors. In Bain's words, your score "is simply the percentage of customers who are promoters (those who scored 9 or 10) minus the percentage who are detractors (those who scored 0 to 6)." So it runs from -100 to +100. Bain also notes you can track it for "each business, product, store or customer-service team".
CSAT (customer satisfaction) is less fixed. A common form asks How satisfied were you with ...? on a 1 to 5 scale and reports the share of people who chose 4 or 5. It fits a single moment, such as one job or one support chat, better than NPS does.
We leave out benchmark figures on purpose. Scores depend on your trade, your customers and how you ask, so the useful comparison is your own score over time, asked the same way. With a few dozen answers, one person changes the number a lot; read the comments before you react to the score.
Consent and privacy for answers
Survey answers are personal data when they can be linked to a person. Tell people at the start who is asking, what the answers are for, and whether they are anonymous. Only collect a name or email if you need to follow up, and say so. If you want to quote someone in a testimonial or a customer case study, ask for that permission separately; agreeing to a survey is not agreeing to be quoted.
If you use Google Forms, check who can see the answers. Google's help page warns that "If you've shared a form with a collaborator, they may also have access to the form's linked spreadsheet." The same page explains that when you turn on email collection, people "will be required to enter their email address before they submit the form", so leave it off for an anonymous survey. Mention the survey in your privacy policy and keep the answers only as long as you need them; our website privacy basics guide covers what the policy must say.
Keep the survey separate from review requests
A feedback survey and a request for a Google review are two different things. Send them separately and never use the survey to decide who gets the review link. Sending the review request only to customers who scored you highly is review gating, which Google's rules do not allow. Ask every customer for an honest review the same way; our guide to Google Business Profile reviews sets out the rules.
What to do with the answers
- Reply to problems quickly. If someone left their details and described a problem, contact them within a few days.
- Group the comments. Read every open answer and sort them into a handful of themes such as price, timing, communication and quality. Count how often each comes up.
- Pick one or two changes. Choose the theme that comes up most and that you can actually change, and change it.
- Tell customers what changed. A short line in your next email or on your site (You told us our quotes were hard to read, so we rewrote them) shows the survey was worth their time.
- Ask again the same way. Keep the questions and timing the same next round so you can compare.
In Google Forms, the Responses tab shows a summary per question and each person's answers, and you can link the form to Google Sheets or download a CSV to sort comments by theme.
A template you can copy
Intro: We're [business]. This survey takes about two minutes and helps us improve. Answers are anonymous unless you choose to leave your email.
- Overall, how satisfied were you with [the work / your order]? (1 to 5)
- Did we do what we said we would, when we said we would? (Yes / No / Partly)
- How easy was it to get in touch with us? (1 to 5)
- How did you first hear about us? (options + Other)
- How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague? (0 to 10)
- What is one thing we could do better? (open, optional)
- May we contact you about your answers? (Yes, with email box / No)
Frequently asked questions
How many questions should a customer feedback survey have?
Five to eight for most small businesses. Keep one topic per question and one optional open question.
What is the difference between NPS and CSAT?
NPS asks how likely someone is to recommend you on a 0 to 10 scale and subtracts the share of detractors from the share of promoters. CSAT asks how satisfied someone was with a specific moment, often on a 1 to 5 scale.
Can I send my Google review link only to customers who gave a high score?
No. That is review gating. Keep the survey and the review request separate and ask every customer for an honest review.
Want help turning customer feedback into a better website and marketing? See our services.