30 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions for Ecommerce Stores

Generic satisfaction questions get generic answers. "How was your experience?" earns a shrug and a 4 out of 5 that tells you nothing about what to fix. Useful customer satisfaction questions isolate one stage of the ecommerce experience so a low score points at a specific owner and a specific fix.

Here are 30 questions organized by stage, with notes on when and where to ask. You will never ask all 30 at once. Pick the stage that's currently hurting, ask one to three questions there, and move on. For the difference between the metrics themselves, see NPS vs CSAT vs CES.

Checkout and buying experience

Ask these on the thank-you page, seconds after purchase, while the experience is fresh.

1. How easy was it to find what you were looking for? (1 to 5)
2. How satisfied are you with how easy checkout was? (1 to 5)
3. What almost stopped you from buying today? (open text)
4. Was anything confusing about pricing, shipping costs, or delivery times? (yes/no plus text)
5. Did you buy on your first visit, or did you come back? (choice)
6. How would you rate the product information on our site? (1 to 5)

Question 3 is the sleeper. Every answer is a conversion objection from someone who nearly bounced, which makes it the cheapest CRO research you'll ever run.

Delivery and unboxing

Ask these on the order status page after the carrier marks delivery, or via POS follow-up for in-store pickup.

7. Did your order arrive when you expected? (yes/no)
8. How satisfied are you with shipping speed? (1 to 5)
9. Did everything arrive in good condition? (yes/no plus text)
10. How was the packaging? (1 to 5)
11. Was the delivery experience better or worse than other stores you buy from? (choice)

Product satisfaction

Also post-delivery. Target these at orders containing the specific product you're evaluating.

12. How well did the product match the description and photos? (1 to 5)
13. How satisfied are you with the quality for the price? (1 to 5)
14. Does it fit as expected? (runs small / true to size / runs large)
15. What's one thing you'd change about the product? (open text)
16. How does it compare to what you were using before? (choice)
17. What are you mainly using it for? (choice plus other)

Question 12 is your returns early-warning system: scores below 4 on match-to-description predict return requests before they happen. The returns reduction guide shows how to act on it.

Support and service

Trigger these after a support interaction closes, not on a schedule.

18. How satisfied are you with the help you received? (1 to 5)
19. Was your issue resolved completely? (yes/no)
20. How easy was it to get in touch with us? (1 to 5)
21. How long did resolution take versus what you expected? (choice)

Loyalty and repeat purchase

Ask these of repeat customers on the order status page. First-time buyers can't answer them honestly yet.

22. How likely are you to recommend us to a friend? (0 to 10, the NPS question)
23. How likely are you to buy from us again? (1 to 5)
24. What would make you order more often? (open text)
25. What do we do better than anyone else you buy from? (open text)
26. If we discontinued your favorite product, how disappointed would you be? (choice)

Discovery and fit (bonus)

Technically attribution rather than satisfaction, but they belong in every program:

27. How did you hear about us? (choice plus other, the attribution workhorse)
28. What made you choose us over alternatives? (open text)
29. Who is this order for? (myself / a gift / someone else)
30. What should we make next? (open text)

How to actually run these

Three rules turn this list into a program instead of a questionnaire:

• One moment, one to three questions. Completion collapses on long surveys. Multiple short surveys at the right moments beat one long survey every time. That and eleven other rules are in the best practices guide.
• Target by segment. Product questions go to buyers of that product, loyalty questions to repeat customers. Segmentation is what keeps answer quality high.
• Score consistently. CSAT is the percentage of 4 to 5 answers. NPS is promoters minus detractors. Track the trend monthly and read every low-score comment the day it lands.

Every question above runs on the thank-you page, order status page, or POS with OrderSurvey, including the branching and targeting, free up to 100 responses a month.

Frequently asked questions