In-Moment Surveys: A Smarter Way to Turn Customer Insights into Action

Gaps or lapses in data collection can be detrimental to a brand in any circumstance. But in today’s environment where the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart plays out in seconds or less, the need to collect continuous insights is more important than ever before.

Thankfully, customer data is readily available and incredibly actionable. But things can change quickly in ecommerce, including the ways in which merchants collect customer data. Let’s take a look at why the industry is moving towards in-moment surveys to ensure they are gathering the continuous insights they need, when they need them.

What Are In-Moment Surveys?

In-moment surveys are surveys or questions asked directly after an engagement has happened in the customer journey. For example, after someone purchases your product, engage your customers with a survey immediately after they’ve completed the purchase, asking them how happy they are with the checkout experience. Merchants use in-moment surveys to collect zero-party data and are a great way to engage website visitors and customers at peak moments of engagement.  

Unlike traditional surveys that lack context and create friction in the customer experience, in-moment surveys are delivered in seamless, relevant ways that maximize response rates and optimize brands’ ability to collect the insights they need in a continuous manner. One of the ways they achieve this is through a much more snackable format known as micro-surveys.

What is a Micro-Survey?

A micro-survey is simply a survey consisting of 1-3 questions. Traditional surveys can be long and intrusive, which is why 75% of customers say that customer feedback requests interrupt their online shopping experience. But with micro-surveys, customers are able to provide actionable feedback in a matter of seconds. This means that merchants can collect feedback in real-time, which enables them to put it into action more quickly in order to hone their offerings and create more effective marketing programs (more on that in a bit).

Brandon Amoroso, Founder at Electriq says: “Micro-surveys make it easier for brands to collect high volumes of relevant, real-time customer data without derailing the customer experience. This data ultimately maximizes their ability to create the hyper-personalized customer experiences that drive revenue.” 

Why Are Ecommerce Brands Moving Towards In-Moment and Micro-Surveys?

With competition at an all-time high and consumer expectations continuing to evolve, having a full view of the journeys customers are taking is critical. As such, the need to go straight to the customer for zero-party data (ZPD) is steadily rising. Naturally, surveys have become a crucial piece of gathering this type of data. 

But traditional surveys just don’t cut it anymore. Here’s why:

Most surveys are used as backward-looking tools. But the world of ecommerce moves at a blistering pace and requires in-moment insights. When you receive a survey days or weeks after a purchase, are you going to give it the level of engagement that yields accurate or relevant insights? Probably not.

Secondly, traditional surveys often lack context or targeting. Many survey delivery methods are designed based on generalized rules and triggers. 

The customer buys the product — the customer receives a survey. Customer chats with customer service agent — customer receives the survey. 

These delivery methods can fail to account for existing customer profile information and lack nuance to match the state the customer is in when they receive the survey. 

And when surveys are conducted out of context, they leave teams without clear, actionable insights. In fact, a recent McKinsey study found that only 16% of CX leaders said that surveys provide them with granular-enough data to address. That means that 84% of teams are throwing away survey data!

Last, but certainly not least, surveys are friction-filled. If your insights collection process is hurting your CX then chances are you won’t get the insights you need. And you may even hurt that relationship in the process.

What Insights Can You Collect with In-Moment Surveys?

With solutions like Okendo Surveys, in-moment surveys are highly customizable, allowing brands to tailor them to their brand and trigger them based on specific shopper actions or characteristics. From on-site surveys that yield hyper-relevant insights which are automatically fed into customer profiles, to post-checkout surveys that enjoy a 75%+ completion rate, and shareable links that allow brands to survey customers at any time across channels, in-moment surveys have many use cases, including:

Customer Experience Management

It’s no secret that customer experience (CX) is more of a priority than it’s ever been. With in-moment surveys, brands can measure brand loyalty and customer satisfaction with frictionless delivery of best-in-class frameworks such as NPS®, CES, and CSAT. And with CX being a key differentiator today, the ability to keep a pulse on the experiences you’re providing is absolutely crucial.

Marketing Attribution

With so many digital platforms being leveraged by ecommerce brands today, it can be

challenging to pinpoint which channel drove results. No brand big or small wants to burn resources on marketing efforts that are not performing which is why identifying the areas that are working vs those that are not is imperative when it comes to scaling an effective marketing program. In-moment surveys with the use of “How Did You Hear About Us?” surveys allow teams to collect continuous streams of accurate and actionable marketing attribution insights sourced directly from customers.

Profile Enrichment

With in-moment surveys, brands are able to enrich customer profiles with zero-party data, including identity, demographic, preference, behavior, and intent data. For example, if a customer is on a product page for a dog toy, the brand might trigger a survey that asks the user to select the type of breed they own. With the click of a button, the brand knows that customer owns a labrador, and can automate that information to the customer profile and use it to personalize marketing efforts going forward. With Okendo Surveys, merchants can choose from 50+ pre-defined customer properties spanning identity, demographic, preference, behavior, and intent data categories for use as profile completion questions.

Driving Momentum with In-Moment Surveys

In-moment surveys have the power to transform the way you collect customer feedback, allowing you to create more personalized offerings in non-intrusive ways. 

In doing so, you can establish greater trust with your customers. And with 55% of consumers saying that trust is a significant factor in deciding what brands to do business with, the ability to do so is game-changing. For all these reasons, it’s clear why the ecommerce industry is moving towards in-moment micro-surveys and continuous insights. 

So, what are you doing to collect continuous customer data? Book a call with our team today and we can help you easily get started.