Customers increasingly expect to be part of the businesses they buy from, and a survey is one of the cheapest ways to invite them in. Surveys are popular because they are useful to companies, but they are also satisfying to take, and simply offering one can add to customer satisfaction before you have read a single answer. This article looks at the psychology behind that, and at how to build surveys that respect it. It is part of our wider guide to customer surveys that produce decisions.
Key takeaways
- People like providing their opinions because surveys let them feel heard, influence decisions and leave a record, with reciprocity and curiosity also motivating them.
- Four motives account for most participation: being heard, interacting on their own terms, influence, and reciprocity with curiosity. Each one implies a design choice.
- Treat an incentive as a thank-you, not a payment: keep it small, offer it regardless of the answer, and never tie it to a positive one.
- Open with one sentence stating why you are asking, keep the survey to a few minutes, and tell respondents what you changed.
- Closing the loop with a short note on what changed is the step most teams skip, and it keeps respondents willing to answer next time.
Why do people like giving their opinions in surveys?
Four motives account for most of it, and they often overlap in a single respondent. Knowing which ones you are relying on tells you what the survey must deliver in return.
Being heard
Anyone who has run a business knows the value of talking to customers face to face. A restaurant owner who steps out from behind the counter to ask about the meal learns something and makes the customer feel heard. That cannot happen every day or reach every customer, so a survey carries part of the same conversation at scale.
Interaction on their own terms
Customers who are unhappy, or very happy, may want to say so without speaking to anyone. They may be shy, or worried about a negative reaction. There may be nobody on the premises who can help.
Or they may want an official channel that creates a record and leads to tangible results. A survey offers distance and a paper trail at the same time.
Influence
The biggest factor is probably affirmation. A survey tells customers their experience is valuable and that their opinions will shape what the company does next, whether that is improving service or deciding on a new product. People respond to the sense of taking part in a decision.
Reciprocity and curiosity
Two further motives are common sense rather than findings from any particular study. Reciprocity: a customer who has had a good experience often feels some obligation to give something back, and a few minutes of feedback is an easy way to do it. Curiosity: some people simply like to see how their answers compare, or what a company wants to know. Both are strongest when the survey is short and the result is shared.
What about incentives?
A reward, such as a discount or a draw entry, can raise the number of people who respond. It also changes why they respond. Some will answer mainly for the prize, and may rush or give whatever answer ends the survey fastest. Our guide to why people give inaccurate answers on customer surveys covers that risk in more detail.
The practical rule is to treat an incentive as a thank-you, not a payment for opinions. Keep it small, offer it regardless of what the person says, and never tie it to a positive answer. If you can, compare the answers of incentivized respondents with the rest to see whether they differ.
How do you design a survey that respects these motives?
Each motive implies a design choice. The table maps one to the other.
| Motive | What respondents need | Design choice |
|---|---|---|
| Being heard | Proof someone will read it | Say who reads the results and what happens next |
| Interaction on their own terms | An easy, private channel | Short, mobile-friendly survey with an optional comment box |
| Influence | A visible link to a decision | State the purpose in the first sentence |
| Reciprocity and curiosity | A fair exchange | Keep it brief, thank people, share a summary |
| Incentive | A modest thank-you | Small reward, offered regardless of the answer |
State a clear purpose
Open with one sentence on why you are asking and what the answers will be used for. For example: “We are deciding how to improve our delivery times, and your answers will go straight to the team that owns them.” A purpose gives the respondent a reason to take part and gives you a test for every question. If a question does not serve the stated purpose, remove it.
Keep it short and light
The survey has to be enjoyable for the customer, or the motives above do not hold. You still need enough information to draw sound conclusions, but avoid long surveys and complicated questions. The aim is something a person can finish in a few minutes with little effort.
Here is an illustrative comparison. Assume a typical respondent needs about 15 seconds for a simple rating question and about 45 seconds for an open-ended one.
| Version | Questions | Time estimate | Arithmetic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | 8 ratings and 1 open-ended | About 2.75 minutes | (8 × 15) + 45 = 165 seconds |
| Long | 30 ratings and 3 open-ended | About 9.75 minutes | (30 × 15) + (3 × 45) = 585 seconds |
These timings are assumptions for the example, not measured data; time your own survey with a few colleagues before you launch. The short version fits the “few minutes” test. The long one asks for more than three times as much effort. Where you need detail, ask one open-ended question at the end and keep the rest quick to answer.
Close the loop
Closing the loop means telling respondents what you did with their answers. It is the step most teams skip, and it is where the influence motive is either rewarded or broken. A customer who sees that feedback led to a change is far more likely to answer next time. A customer who hears nothing learns that surveys go nowhere.
A simple pattern is “you said, we did”: send a short note to respondents with the top theme you heard, the change you are making and when. If you cannot make a change, say so and explain why. That is still better than silence.
The same discipline raises your survey response rate over time, because people stay willing to be asked. To find the top theme worth reporting back, mTab for customer experience teams offers a continuous view of satisfaction drivers, journey friction and emerging issues.
What mistakes undermine these motives?
- Asking without a plan. If nobody owns the results, you cannot honestly promise that opinions will matter, and respondents can tell.
- Hiding the length. A survey that promises “a minute” and runs for ten breaks trust. Say how long it takes, and make it true.
- Over-asking. Inviting the same customer after every interaction teaches them to ignore you. Survey after meaningful events rather than on every contact.
- Making rewards the headline. When the prize is the main pitch, you attract people who care about the prize.
- Never reporting back. Unanswered feedback is the quickest way to lose the customers who were most willing to talk.
What should you do next?
Take your current customer survey and read it as a respondent would. Is the purpose stated in the first line? Can you finish it in a few minutes? Will anyone hear back about what changed?
Fix those three things first. When answers arrive, see what drives satisfaction and loyalty by segment and journey before you pick the next change. Then look at how a well-run program uses the answers, starting with our guide to the customer satisfaction survey.