How to Use Surveys in Widgets for Ecommerce Business

From 2013 to 2022, customer acquisition costs increased by 222%. Meanwhile, 91% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that provides relevant offers and recommendations.

To attract and retain as many customers as possible, businesses need to collect data about their audience and their preferences. It’s more cost-effective for companies to make relevant offers and retain existing customers than to constantly chase new ones.

So, how can a business learn more about its audience? An effective way is to implement widgets with surveys on your website. Such forms allow you to accompany a person at different stages of interaction with the brand: ask about the reasons for abandoned carts, impressions of using the site, satisfaction with the purchase, etc. The conversion rate of widgets in the most successful companies can reach 18%.

We have collected and described the best scenarios for using survey forms that will definitely come in handy for your ecommerce business. In addition, we will analyze their advantages and ways to use the collected data.

Why You Should Use Survey Forms

When online businesses must conduct surveys, they often use emails, SMS, or call centers. While these methods are popular, they have limitations. For example, SMS and emails require prior consent for communication, which can significantly narrow the audience of potential respondents.

Here are the main advantages of the survey in the widgets on the website:

1. You can communicate with all website visitors, not just those whose contacts you have. Widgets do not require a subscription or user permission to display. This allows you to ask for feedback or additional data from both authorized and unauthorized website visitors to segment the customer base and personalize the experience. For example, ask your site visitors about their birthday to send them a special offer later.
2. Survey forms in widgets work and collect data automatically. You only need to set up the design and display conditions once, and then don't need to interfere with the process. Website visitors will be able to fill out the form at their convenience. This way, you avoid the risk of being intrusive. In addition, the human factor disappears compared to call centers.
3. You can fine-tune widget targeting to display them to visitors at certain lifecycle stages or segments based on behavioral data, browsing history, device or browser information, etc. For example, you could ask for feedback only from customers who put an item in the cart but didn't make a purchase.
4. Widgets with surveys can serve as interactive elements that engage users and encourage them to interact more with the website.
5. Using a simple mechanism for collecting and updating data about a potential or existing customer can personalize further communication.
6. Conducting surveys increases customer satisfaction, encourages repeat purchases, and increases overall brand loyalty. All you have to do is show that you have not only collected the data but also successfully used it.
7. Regular surveys help identify changes in customers' interests and preferences, allowing companies to quickly respond to new needs and improve their offers, ensuring they remain competitive.
8. Regular surveys allow us to identify customer interest and preference changes, helping companies adapt and remain competitive.
9. By using surveys to determine the reasons for purchase abandonment, you can identify and eliminate obstacles on the customer's path to completing the transaction.

A survey widget differs from standard Google Forms as it’s not designed to collect a large number of detailed responses. It’s crucial to develop a strategy that defines exactly what data you aim to collect and from which segment—this will significantly improve the widget's effectiveness.

Thanks to the survey forms for the website, you can accompany the consumer at all stages of interaction with the brand. Let's look at a communication workflow that can be built with widgets.

Optimize Customer Journey With Surveys

For surveys to work effectively, you must understand your customer's journey. Let's look at the general scheme — the stages that a potential customer goes through on the way to a purchase.

What widgets you can connect at each of these stages:

Customer Journey Stage: Recognizes the need

Segment: Website visitor

You have yet to learn about the person who visited your site (especially if it's the home page), except for the landing page and the source of the visit (search, social media, advertising). 

You need to help the visitor find what they need.

When a potential customer visits your website for the first time, you can display a popup with a survey to help you identify their needs. For example, "What is your main interest in skincare today?" with answer options such as "Acne Control," "Anti-Aging," "Moisturizing," etc. The customer's answers will be saved to the contact card, and you can use the information for further communication.

Customer Journey Stage: Studies the information

Segment: Look through the product category

When a visitor comes to a product category page, for example, "Face Creams", you can display a survey to clarify preferences "What type of skin do you have?" to suggest suitable products.

Customer Journey Stage: Compares offers

Segment: Look through the product cards

Has the potential customer gone directly to the product card or added products for comparison? Then, you can introduce the function of an interactive assistant that will recommend several optimal products based on the customer's answers to a series of questions.

For example, a survey about ingredient preferences, intended use, or previous experience "Have you used similar products before?" with the options "Yes", "No", and "Looking for an alternative".

Customer Journey Stage: Selects 

Segment: Added to cart

If a customer has added a product to the cart but is about to abandon it (exit intent), you can offer a short survey with the question "What made you doubt the purchase?" to identify potential barriers and provide additional information or discounts.

Customer Journey Stage: Buys

Segment: Bought (is on the "Thank you for your purchase" page, or the purchase was made less than 1 day ago)

Ask the customer if it was convenient for them to choose and order on your website.

Segment: Uses the product (delivery took place 1 to 14 days ago, and there was no product return)

Ask customers to rate their experience with your brand – create a classic NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey.

Customer Journey Stage: Becomes loyal

Segment: Returned to the website

Depending on where the customer came from – a promotional campaign, advertising, or just because they want to buy something else – several scenarios can occur here. This stage involves a new chain of interaction. However, if you need new information, you can collect additional data, such as age, skincare preferences, favorite brands, etc.

Before implementing survey forms on your website, determine their purpose: who exactly you want to ask and what you want to ask them about. To make the process easier and more organized, build a table.

Put in there the next:

• conditions for displaying the widget and its targeting,
• questions,
• plans for using the information collected (for tips, see How to Use the Data),
• metrics for evaluating the success of the survey.

Survey Ideas for Audience Segments According to Customer Journey Stages

Let's take a closer look at the ideas of survey forms that an ecommerce company can use at different stages of interaction with the consumer.

User Visits a Website

Customer profile enrichment surveys give marketers more opportunities to understand their target audience. A brand can get a variety of information about customer preferences and habits. This will allow you to send content and offer products that are more likely to interest a person.

Collect Сontact Information

Do you have a visitor's email but want to communicate with him through other channels as well? Add a form to your website to help you collect additional data, such as a phone number. Remember to inform the user that you will send them newsletters and offer a bonus. Consumers usually prefer to keep contact information private, but the added benefit increases the conversion rate of widgets.

Ask About Preferences

Widgets allow you to collect various customer data: age, gender, children and pets, place of residence, etc. Use this information for audience segmentation and personalization of offers. For example:

• Age: This data will help you choose the tone of voice.
• Gender: you can offer different goods for men and women and congratulate them on certain holidays.
• Presence of children: Such data allows the company to offer parents relevant children's products or services. The company can make the most personalized recommendations if it also has information about the children's age.
• Place of residence: If a business has physical sales outlets, customers should be offered the goods and services available in their country, city, or neighborhood.
• Presence of pets: Knowing whether the user has a pet and what kind, you can recommend products for that animal and even for a specific breed.

HEYMAEVE has created a widget that doesn't just offer to subscribe to newsletters. In addition to contact information, the site visitor is asked about their preferences.

If you want more information about a customer but are hesitant because such a survey will take up a lot of space on your site and look cumbersome, choose a multi-step form.

Such a widget contains several parts, making it easier for the user to complete the survey. At the same time, the survey won't scare you off with its size. Statistics show that using a multi-step form instead of a regular one can increase the number of leads by 241%.

Get Personal Data

Another useful scenario for ecommerce companies is collecting data about a user's day or month of birth. If the brand has this information, it can send special offers for the customer's birthday. Such widget was created by BLK & Bold:

Find Out Where the Visitor Came From

Surveys will help you determine where the visitor came to your website from if your analytics show direct or organic traffic.

You can add the following answers to the "How did you find out about us?" question:

• By the recommendation of friends/colleagues
• From outdoor advertising
• TV/radio, etc.

Visitor is Viewing the Product Category

Has the website visitor navigated to a specific product category and already spent much time there? You can display a widget with the question "What is most important to you when choosing [product category]?

The answer options can be as follows:

• Quality
• Price
• Your own version

Depending on the answer the user chooses, they will be taken to the contact segment, which, for example, can be used to run a workflow. Is quality the most important thing for a person? Send a selection of products from the category with the most positive reviews. Did the user choose "Price"? Send an email with a selection of products in the category currently on sale.

Visitor Compares Offers

When a visitor navigates to a specific product card or adds something to the cart and continues to browse the product cards, you can display the "Can I help you with your choice?" survey widget.

Ask about preferences for specific product characteristics, the purpose of the purchase, or previous experience with the product.

Based on the data collected, you should recommend several optimal products to the consumer or offer a consultation with a manager.

Visitor Wants to Leave the Website

According to statistics, over 70% of visitors leave your site without making a purchase. Imagine how much profit the company will make if it can retain at least some of these people. To do this, you need to find out why the user wants to leave and eliminate obstacles to conversion. On average, exit-intent widgets help to retain 15% of visitors.

Reduce the Abandoned Сarts

Create a survey widget displayed when a visitor tries to close your site. If there are already products in the cart, you can clarify why the person left their order, for example:

• too high a price,
• lack of the required size,
• lack of information about the product,
• lack of reviews,
• long ordering process,
• lack of the required payment method.

To continue communicating with the user and not lose them, you can set up a workflow with actions that are triggered by the person's response. For example, if the user selects the option "The total amount is higher than I thought," you can redirect them to a page with special offers or offer a discount code.

If the person clicks "Having technical issues," display a feedback field or open a chat with support specialists. For those who chose the "I'll be back" option, you can offer to send a reminder email or any other convenient channel.

There are many workflows. With their help, you can return some of the visitors who leave your site without placing an order.

Additionally, it’s worth asking if the store can assist with the order and displaying a field in the widget for entering contact details for follow-up.

In addition, it is worth asking if the store can help with the order and displaying a field for entering contact information in the widget.

Reduce the Abandoned Views

If a website visitor has spent a lot of time browsing products of a certain category but hasn't chosen anything and hasn't made a purchase, you can display a survey widget with the question "What information do you lack to make a purchase decision?" Answer options:

• "I need help from a consultant with the choice"
• "I didn't find the right product"
• "The price was not suitable"

If the user needs help, contact them via a convenient channel (email, messenger, call).

If a potential customer is unsatisfied with the price, motivate them with a promotional code, discount, or free delivery.

Visitor Buys for the First Time

You should implement a widget with a customer satisfaction survey at this stage. This type is similar to NPS. However, you ask a specific user about the purchase experience immediately after the purchase is made, while the impression of interaction with the company is still fresh.

In NPS, a person comprehensively assesses the attitude towards a business, including communication, product quality, and ease of interaction. A customer satisfaction survey will help you find out how convenient it is for a customer to interact with your business, for example:

• whether the website was easy to use,
• how easy it was to find a product on the website today,
• whether it was easy to place an order,
• whether the person will return for a second purchase.

For example, Urban Outfitters uses this type of survey to determine the customer's impression immediately after the purchase. They have created a widget that does not interfere with the customer's interaction with the website content. The user can choose whether to leave feedback or close the popup. Such a survey will help you discover the problems that site visitors may have had while making a purchase.

In addition, if the brand offers such an option, the customer can make a product return. At this stage, you should not leave the user alone. After completing the application, you can display a widget with a survey on satisfaction with the return process.

Customers need to know that the company cares about their experience and considers their opinions and impressions.

Visitor Became a Regular Customer

You communicate with users through various channels, create promotional campaigns, and launch new products or services. How do you know how successful your strategy is and how a customer who has been with your brand for a long time evaluates it? Ask them how likely they are to recommend you to their friends and acquaintances.

An NPS survey is an effective method of collecting reviews about your business. The classic version of such a survey is a scale with ratings from 1 to 10.

The collected assessments allow us to divide the surveyed customers into three groups: critics, neutrals, and promoters. You should interact with each of them differently: satisfied customers can be pleased with a personalized offer, neutrals can be motivated by special conditions with a short validity period, and critics should be transferred to another group with a significant bonus.

NPS surveys not only measure customer satisfaction but also show areas for improvement for your company.

For example, if you add a field for entering text feedback, you can learn about your unique advantages that attract users' attention or weaknesses. This is an opportunity to develop and attract new customers.

Of course, representatives of any business will be happy to receive positive feedback. However, negative feedback with problems is useful because it shows what exactly prevents site visitors from becoming your customers.

British American Tobacco Ukraine used surveys in emails, and the results were stored in the contact fields in the Yespo system. Based on the answers, the respondents were segmented into groups to work with customer categories with different satisfaction levels.

The same strategy can be implemented with the Yespo CDP widgets.

Why is it so important to conduct NPS surveys and analyze the results? Even small changes in this indicator can significantly impact a brand's profits and success. For example, iiNet stated that an increase in the NPS coefficient by 1% helped to increase revenues by $1.6 million.

How to Use the Collected Data

Getting customer data is only half the battle. You need to store it in a way that makes it usable for future reference. In addition, you need the tools to use the collected information effectively.

The Customer Data Platform can easily handle this task, collecting, storing, unifying, and using data from various sources. The omnichannel CDP has the functionality to create various types of widgets, including survey forms. The data collected in surveys is stored in contact cards. Let's take a closer look at how exactly.

Enriching the Customer Profile

In the Yespo system, you can build widgets using different elements to fill in the contact's profile fields: text field, checkbox, drop-down list, etc. This allows you to create surveys for different purposes and different designs.

For example, add a drop-down list so that the visitor can quickly select their pet's age. Use a checkbox to make it easy to fill in gender information. Add a text field to the widget if you need detailed feedback from the customer.

When setting up the widget, each data collection element is linked to the corresponding field in the Yespo contact card. When a customer fills out the widget, the data is immediately recorded in the card and becomes available for use.

This information can then be used for personalization, segmentation, and communications automation through our platform.

Automation of Communication

In Yespo CDP, you can create an automated omnichannel workflow that will be launched after the widget is filled in. If a contact fills out the survey form, an event will be sent to the system to update the contact's fields. After that, a workflow will be launched — for example, with an email or a message in another channel with a thank-you text and a bonus.

You can set up a simple workflow with one email or a more complex one with different conditions and messages. For example, three emails should be sent to three groups of customers who have filled out the NPS. Critics, neutrals, and promoters require different approaches and communication.

Segmentation and Personalization

Marketers report an increase in email revenue by 760% due to personalization and campaign segmentation. Yespo CDP allows you to segment customers based on their behavior and preferences. Widgets are an additional opportunity to get this data.

You can create a survey form with questions about the customer's favorite brand, city of residence, marital status, etc. The Yespo platform collects and stores this data in the contact's profile. The system then allows you to use the collected information as a prerequisite for forming contact groups.

This allows you to make targeted offers in all communication channels with the client and recommend relevant products to him. For example, a cinema chain can create a widget asking about the user's city of residence and whether they have children. Such data allows a marketer to create many contact segments for different email campaigns, for example:

• Different announcements or discounts for watching movies in cinemas in Kyiv, Lviv, and Dnipro should be sent to subscribers from these cities.
• You can create cartoon collections for customers with children, as users without children are less likely to be interested in such an offer.

You can also create segments based on user behavior in widgets:

Segmentation and personalization of communication based on user behavior and preferences help to make relevant offers to users. This not only improves the customer experience but also increases the likelihood of purchases and company revenue. In addition, it helps to manage marketing costs, as promotional activities are launched to the exact customer segments in the channels convenient for each of them.

How to Make Surveys Effective

Customize the Display

To ensure that your survey collects as many relevant responses as possible, you must take care of its display settings. In Yespo CDP, you can choose for each widget:

1. General rules of display:

• Countries, regions, cities
• Device type (desktop or mobile)
• Frequency (once per hour, etc.)
• Conditions (inactive for 1 minute, etc.)
• Pages to display

2. Display based on targeting. This type allows you to customize the display of the survey form for specific user segments based on:

• User's browsing history
• Purchase history
• Preferences

Alternatively, you can choose any ready-made contact segment created in Yespo CDP.

Analyze

To understand how effective your widgets are, it’s essential to monitor their open and click-through rates. In CDP Yespo, performance data is displayed in the reports section, updated every minute, and stored in a convenient format for each widget individually.

You can also integrate your account with Google Analytics to transfer information about widget display results. Additionally, Yespo allows you to configure revenue tracking for each widget, enabling you to measure performance not just in clicks but in monetary terms.

Теst

There is no perfect solution that will always work. Customer expectations and preferences change, so it's important to improve the widgets on your website: create new designs, set up new display conditions, choose new types of widgets, etc.

Different hypotheses are worth testing for survey forms on the site, and A/B testing will come in handy here. In Yespo CDP, you can conduct such an experiment right in your account and get detailed results for the desktop and mobile versions separately.

The winner is automatically determined by the percentage of conversion actions: clicks, subscriptions, and confirmations.

Results

To ensure that a company always offers relevant products to customers and provides a high-quality customer experience, it is necessary to study potential customers' habits and preferences. This is easy to do with widgets — these survey forms allow you to collect various information and accompany a person at all stages of interaction with the brand.

We have analyzed how survey widgets can be implemented at the following stages of the funnel when a person:

1. Realizes the need — visits the website.
2. Studies the information — looks through the product category.
3. Compares offers — views product cards and reviews.
4. Selects — adds to cart.
5. Buys — completes the purchase process.
6. Uses — ready to leave a review, find out the details of using the product, and look for additional products.
7. Becomes loyal — ready to make another purchase.

We also looked at how the data collected in the surveys can be used:

• Communication automation — set up trigger workflows that will be launched after a specific customer response.
• Segmentation and personalization — use the collected data to form user segments and create relevant offers for them.
• Website optimization — create website usability surveys to troubleshoot issues and improve user experience.
• Strategy building — find out what customers think about your business to adjust your marketing strategy.

Thanks to survey widgets, businesses can improve the experience of website visitors and respond to comments. Customer satisfaction and loyalty have a significant impact on business profits.

When implementing survey forms, consider the balance between collecting data and providing a comfortable and unobtrusive user experience. To do this, you should customize the detailed conditions for displaying widgets. For example, in Yespo CDP, you can set both general display rules and targeting to individual segments of website visitors. In addition, it is easy to test different forms of surveys and track performance indicators and generated revenue.

Implement survey forms on your website to improve your business and customer experience. If you have any questions about how to do this most effectively, book an online meeting with Yespo CDP specialists. We will be happy to share our experience.

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