Product Experience

Best Practices for In-Product Surveys

Manoj Rana
August 22, 2024
5
min read
Best Practices for In-Product Surveys
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User feedback is a pivotal element for the growth of a business.

User complaints may seem bad to business owners, but the way I see it, they are an easy way to make your product better.

With user feedback, you get to know the issue and fix it. This process becomes even faster with in-product surveys.

In-product surveys are micro surveys or pop-up questions you can ask your customers while using the app. With an average response rate of 13%, the best thing about in-product surveys is that you get organic and unbiased feedback from the users.

Yeah, it can sometimes frustrate the customers, but if done with the right strategy, it can yield the best results.

An important thing about in-product survey strategies is that the surveys need to be pitched at the right time and curated carefully.

Apart from this, several other aspects affect user feedback, which will be discussed in detail later!

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How is an In-Product Survey a Better Way to Collect Feedback?

Well, we know that there are several ways to collect feedback from users, including email surveys, video surveys, AI-generated surveys, etc.

But how does an in-product survey differ from all of them?

There are several reasons to support this claim!

  1. Customer-centric product development

A well-designed in-product survey is an excellent tool to build better products in the future.

How? Well, there can be many questions to ask about a product from the users.

The key thing while conducting an in-app survey is to pitch these questions at the right time.

An in-app survey can be of several types. You can choose from product survey examples like feature request surveys, NPS surveys, churn surveys, etc.

Based on the survey you choose, you have to choose these questions precisely.

For example, after the user has made a purchase, ask them to rate the buying process. When a new user arrives and uses a new feature, pitch them to rate the new features.

Along with this, you can create a feedback widget in the app or website for the users to punch in their feedback at any time.

With the obtained feedback, whether qualitative or quantitative, you can know what features are liked and which aren’t.

Therefore, a clear product development roadmap should be created based on user preferences, needs, and expectations.

  1. Unbiased and organic feedback

Not always, but in other survey methods, there is a possibility that the user may not deliver the exact feedback.

For example, if a person has purchased a product and if they liked it, they may rate you good, but might not provide you with more comprehensive feedback if they are not pitched at the right time.

However, as in-product surveys are presented at the right time while the users use the product, the possibility of getting unbiased and organic feedback is higher.

  1. Specific and faster feedback

A user using your product may not care about providing feedback until the product goes bad prematurely or it goes bad after working for ample time.

I sometimes forget to rate the product if it is working smoothly.

An in-product feedback is an excellent way to capture user feedback faster.

Moreover, by presenting the users with in-app product survey questions, you can capture targeted and specific user feedback, i.e., collecting feedback regarding a specific app feature.

Apps like My Disney Experience App target users with specific questions to gather user feedback.

Disneys Example for Targeted User Questions

Source

These are the reasons why in-product surveys are the best way to collect feedback.

Now, let’s move on to strategies.

Best Practices and Strategies for In-Product Surveys

Well, so far, I have been saying that pitching the product development questions at the right time is the key to collecting contextual feedback from an in-product survey.

However, this is not it.

Several other parameters play a critical role in the designing and implementation of in-product surveys.

Here are the best practices and strategies for that!

  1. Define survey objectives

The first healthy practice for conducting an in-product survey is to define your goals clearly.

In-product surveys can be expensive. Therefore, it is crucial to set your goals straight to get valuable results that are worth your investment.

Decide if you want to learn about pain points, customer satisfaction, feature preferences, or what. Based on the goal, it will be easier to choose the survey type and curate questions.

Furthermore, it is also important to target the right audience.

  1. Finalize the type of survey.

As we have highlighted, setting a goal will help finalize the type of survey.

Here, you can finalize the survey! In-product surveys can be of several types, such as

  • Demographic surveys
  • Feature adoption survey
  • Feature request survey
  • CSAT survey
  • NPS survey
  • Exit surveys

Besides these, there are many others to choose from. Make sure you pick the right one based on your goal.

For example, Slack uses an NPS survey to know about its loyal customers.

Slack NPS Survey

  1. Craft clear and concise survey questions.

Well, here is the catch point: the questions that you included in the survey.

Whether you include subjective questions or objective questions, they need to be clear, concise and easy to comprehend.

For example, if you want to ask about the app's overall experience, instead of asking what you think, ask how you feel about the app's new interface.

Furthermore, when you are asking objective questions, let’s say in an NPS survey, ask how much you would rate our app from 0 to 10, where 0 is unsatisfactory, and 10 means awesome.

Asking clear questions will help you garner actionable insights faster.

Moreover, if you add visual elements to the survey questions, they can break the monotony of the survey.

Pro-tip: You can add a sad smiley for a 0 rating and a smiling smiley for a 5 rating.

  1. Use branching logic to personalize questions.

The branching logic is an effective way to gather feedback faster and more efficiently.

For example, if when you are creating an in-product survey, you can arrange the questions in a way that they look relevant to the user.

You can use branching to divert the flow of the survey and target users with more personalized questions.

For example, if you ask your users which feature they like the most in our app, Based on the answer provided, the next question should be about that feature.

This will allow you to interpret the best features of the app. Furthermore, you can decrease survey abandonment, shorten survey length, and improve data quality.

This survey process is also known as skip logic.

Check out the in-product survey questions examples with branching logic!

In Product Survey Branching Example

Pro-tip: An AI survey tool like Converse AI can be super helpful in making personalized questions.

Survey Branching Example
  1. Design surveys for mobile

As the usage of smartphones is at an all-time high right now, you can increase the response rate of your in-product survey.

As handling a laptop or desktop cannot be possible at all times, make sure you optimize your in-product surveys for mobile and other handy devices like tablets, laptops, etc.

  1. Make it Easy for Customers to Leave Feedback.

When it comes to making the survey easy, there are several strategies that you can employ. Here are some of the best ones!

  • As mentioned above, use emojis to help users deliver feedback. Add a smiley, frowning, and neutral face to leave feedback.
  • You can use color coding to distinguish questions and their respective answers.
  • Avoid any unrelated questions.
  • Keep your survey page or pop-up survey user-friendly and comprehendible.
  1. Execute Surveys at the Right Time

Besides the types of questions, timing is the second primary element of in-product surveys. You need to be surefire about the time at which the question needs to be probed to the users.

For example, you can probe a popup microsurvey after a customer completes a certain step in the app or product, i.e., after making a delivery of the product or after the customer interacts with a particular feature in the app.

These are known as trigger events.

User Events

Source

Besides, you can trigger the survey based on a certain time delay, page visit, or manually.

For more insightful feedback, you can add a follow-up sequence.

  1. Offer Rewards in Exchange for Completing the Survey

Rewards are a great way to make the users actively participate in your in-app survey. 

As per stats, monetary rewards can boost the survey response rate by 19%, whereas non-monetary rewards can surge it by 8%.

Hence, to ensure that your survey receives a higher response rate, go for rewards, such as discounts on product subscriptions, reward points, gift cards, etc.

Choosing the Best Tool for In-Product Survey

No matter how much I keep talking about in-product surveys, there is no benefit for you as long as you don’t have an in-product survey tool.

An in-product survey tool can make your survey process a lot easier. Here are some of the best in-product survey tools!

ToolsQwary SurvicateQualaroo Refiner
Features - A bunch of SDKs for seamless integration.

- Trigger-event-based microsurveys.

- Real-time insights.

- AI support for survey creation
- AI survey creator for faster survey creation.

- Advanced targeting and triggering features.

- Superior integrations with a number of external apps.
- Faster customized surveys with Quarloo Nudge features.

- AI-powered dashboards for advanced analysis like emotion identification, feedback mining, etc.

- Seamless data flow and analysis with CRM integration.
- Pre-made templates for several types of research.

- Advanced segmentation options in dashboard settings.

- Best for enterprise-level research.
Capterra Rating4.8/5 4.5/54.7/54.8/5
PricingStarts from $199/month $99 to $299 per monthFree to $39.99 per month $79 to over $199 per month

Qwary

Qwary distinguishes itself as a great tool for in-product surveys.

Packed with a bunch of stunning features, Qwary is a one-stop solution for all your survey needs.

  • Seamless installation with ready-to-use SDKs for Android, React Native, iOS, Javascript, etc.
  • Target users with micro surveys based on trigger events.
  • Real-time insights with interactive dashboards and reports.

Survicate

Survicate is the next tool in line for conducting in-product surveys that can easily automate the process of survey feedback collection and analysis.

Here are some of its features!

  • Create pop-up micro surveys within minutes with the help of an AI survey creator.
  • Make your in-product survey highly contextual based on the advanced targeting and triggering features.
  • Get the facility to integrate several applications, such as Slack, Amplitude, Mixpanel, and Productboard.

Qualaroo

This is a tool that is widely popular for in-product surveys. Primarily, this tool is famous for its Qualaroo Nudge feature.

Let’s read ahead and find out about its features!

  • With the Qualaroo Nudge feature, you can create customized surveys where you can use ready-made templates or different new product survey questions examples.
  • The tool provides an AI-backed dashboard that seamlessly handles feedback mining, emotion identification, semi-automatic feedback loop closing, etc.
  • Qualaroo also supports integration with tools like CRMs to ease the process of data flow and analysis.

Refiner

The Refiner is a SaaS-oriented survey platform that has a number of survey question types that you can use to conduct several types of research.

Here are some of Refiner's primary features!

  • The tool offers your pre-made templates for product research, growth marketing surveys, customer success, etc., to make the survey-building process easier and faster.
  • It comes with an analytics dashboard with advanced segmentation options. The tool also enables you to integrate an analytics tool for deeper insights.
  • The tool is the best fit for enterprise-level processes.

Conclusion

As long as you implement these strategies for in-product surveys, I can assure you that you will get the most unbiased and organic feedback.

Not only this, but a strategized in-product survey can also boost the response rate while sustaining user interest.

Anyhow, I know that the process of conducting such a product survey can be challenging.

But, as long as you have a survey platform like Qwary, everything will be a cakewalk. Packed with several innovative and industry-level features, it can be your perfect research companion.

FAQs

  1. How do you create a good product survey?

There are several crucial parts to creating a good product survey, such as setting the survey goal, creating clear questions, making it personalized, keeping track of results, branching the questions, keeping it relevant, offering incentives, etc.

  1. How in-product surveys can help sell a product?

In-product surveys can help you pinpoint the bad features or areas of the product, leading to faster product improvement and more sales.

  1. How can I convince customers to take the survey?

Offering your customers valuable incentives and promising absolute data security and privacy are the best ways to convince them to take the survey.

  1. How do we leverage product feedback from customers?

Leveraging product feedback includes several things, such as turning words into action, creating a closed feedback loop process, and focusing on continuous improvement.

  1. What are the benefits of in-product surveys?

In-product surveys come with several benefits, including a higher response rate, targeting the right audience, better user insights, improved products, better ROI, etc.