Contact Center Feedback Questions To Get The Most from Your Customer Voice

Data is the modern language of the call center. From FCR and abandonment rates to average handling time and QWT, acronyms and numbers often tell the story of the customer experience (Okay, I made that last one up just to see if you were paying attention).

But what about the story that the customer himself is ready to tell? Are you prepared to listen to the Voice of the Customer through a well-crafted survey? If so, you may be wondering how to develop call center feedback questions that will inform your practices and improve your service. Well, look no further.

Here are a number of call center feedback questions and tips to get the most out of your Voice of the Customer.

Short ‘n’ Sweet

Some companies prefer to elicit customer responses that are either black or white. In our thumbs-up, thumbs-down quick media culture, customers have no trouble taking a moment to rate their experience as either positive or negative. Here are some yes/no call center feedback questions to ask your customers.

• Were you highly satisfied with your service experience? (yes/no)
• Did you receive the result you needed from your service interaction? (yes/no)
• Did you receive friendly service? (yes/no)
• Was our service timely and convenient? (yes/no)
• Would you recommend our service to others? (yes/no)

On a Scale of One to WOW

If you’re looking for a more nuanced data set from your customers, asking call center feedback questions that can be answered using a scale may be the way to go. Responses can be scaled in a few different ways:

• numerically (from 1 through 10, for example)
• qualitatively (from “highly satisfied” to “highly unsatisfied,” from “strongly agree” to strongly disagree,” or from “excellent” to “poor”)
• infographically (from to ☹️ and in between)

Here are some statements and questions that work well on a scale to get you started:

• I am satisfied with the service I have received.
• How satisfied are you with the service you have received?
• The service I received was timely and efficient.
• How satisfied are you with the timeliness and efficiency of the customer service response you received?
• The service I received was friendly.
• How would you rate the friendliness of our service?
• The customer service agent was knowledgeable.
• I received a desirable outcome from my customer service request.
• Did you receive a desirable outcome from your customer service request?
• The automated system was easy to navigate.
• How would you rate our automated system for ease of use?
• The website was easy to use.
• How would you rate our website for ease of use?
• The livechat interaction was professional and efficient.
• The agent with whom I interacted was professional.
• How would you compare the service you received with that of other companies?

The Almighty NPS

Introduced by Fred Reichheld in his 2003 Harvard Business Review article “One Number You Need to Grow,” Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is said to be a powerful predictor of company loyalty and customer satisfaction.

Here’s how it works. Customers are asked just one question: “How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” Customers answer on a scale of 1-10. Responses are divided into three categories:

• Promoters (rating of 9-10)
• Passives (7-8)
• Detractors (0-6)

To calculate NPS, the percentage of detractor responses is subtracted from the percentage of promoter responses to give the Net Promoter Score. Fans of NPS cite this as among the most powerful call center feedback questions for its ability to cut to the quick of customer satisfaction and predict loyalty and company growth.

Its strength lies also in its brevity; customers do not appreciate their time being eaten up by answering long, laborious customer survey questions.

Having a high quality go-to question like this means a higher response rate from customers, not to mention simple numbers that are easy to work with for management.

Still, call centers who are looking for more detailed feedback from their customers may wish to expand on this gem with other more topic-specific questions in addition.

Don’t Lose Sight of the Big Picture

While asking the right questions in your Voice of the Customer surveys is certainly at the heart of quality feedback, there are some logistical matters to keep in mind that will help to authenticate these responses.

• Ask for customer feedback in a timely manner. A quarterly or annual survey might yield more generic or even skewed responses than asking customers during or shortly after an interaction with your contact center.
• Keep your surveys brief. Customers may become annoyed with a lengthy survey, and this negativity may bleed into your responses. Even worse, customers may not take the time to complete the survey at all if they know it will take more than a few minutes of their time.
• Keeping questions consistent over time will help you to better gauge changes for the better or worse in your call center operations. Even if you may need to tweak your survey here and there over time, make sure your most important questions remain the same for the purpose of compariso.
• Don’t forget to assess all channels on which your call center operates in order to receive the most accurate and complete results.

Choosing the right call center feedback questions that align with your goals will make the time and effort expended by your company and your customers worthwhile.