Mapping these touchpoints is crucial to understanding the ecommerce customer journey – and improving customer experiences. Leveraging tools that collect customer insights and data, ecommerce brands can readily gather the information they need to better serve their customers.

Not sure where or how to get started? In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What is the ecommerce customer journey?
• Why is the ecommerce customer journey important?
• 7 stages of the ecommerce customer journey
• How to learn about your customers across the ecommerce customer journey

What is the ecommerce customer journey?

The ecommerce customer journey maps the complete end-to-end experience of an online shopper’s path with your business. Beginning at the awareness stage, where the customer first learns about your brand, and culminating with the purchase decision, the ecommerce journey tells the story of how customers interact with your product. Enhancing each stage of the ecommerce customer journey can help increase conversion and engagement across your customer base.

Why is the ecommerce customer journey important?

From memorable interactions to disappointing experiences, customers formulate opinions of your brand at each touchpoint along the customer journey. Those opinions determine whether they purchase from you or take their business to a competitor. And trust us, you want that business: Statista estimates that revenue in the U.S. ecommerce market will see a $475 billion increase by 2028.

By creating an ecommerce customer journey map, you can pinpoint what’s working (and what’s not), take action to remove any friction, and ensure a smooth, holistic experience for your customers.

7 stages of the ecommerce customer journey

While each customer’s experience with your brand is unique, there are certain ecommerce journey stages a customer will go through to become a loyal customer: 

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Decision
4. Purchase
5. Retention
6. Engagement 
7. Advocacy

Let’s take a closer look at each stage.

1. Awareness

Customers can become aware of your brand in a variety of ways, including word-of-mouth referrals, search engine results, paid advertising, or influencer endorsements on social media – in fact, an estimated 106.8 million people shopped on social media alone last year.

In the awareness stage, you’ve captured their interest and your brand is now on their radar. 

2. Consideration

The next stage is consideration. This is when customers, having learned more about your product or service via your website, consider whether you meet their needs or not. Customers might compare you to competitors, or ask friends or family for their opinions on your brand. 

3. Decision 

Now that they’ve done their research, customers are ready to decide if they want to move forward with your product or service. At this stage, they’re adding to their cart – but they haven’t clicked purchase quite yet. 

One important factor that weighs on consumers at this stage? Shipping. More than half of customers say free shipping is the top reason they shop online. If a brand doesn’t offer it, customers are prone to abandon their cart. 

4. Purchase 

At this stage, customers have completed their online order, received a confirmation email from you, and will (soon) start tracking their shipment. 

You might think your job here is done – the customer became aware of your product or service, considered their options, decided yours was the right fit, and clicked buy on your website. However, retaining customers is just as important as acquiring them in the first place.

5. Retention

Now that you’ve earned a customer’s business, the next step is to retain them. Once a customer receives their product or service, this is the time to ask about their experience and satisfaction. Hearing from you – and being asked to share their feedback – can help foster trust and loyalty with customers. 

With the feedback from your customers, you uncover how to retain them: whether that be by resolving their issues, removing pain points, or otherwise ensuring a seamless experience with your brand. 

How much do customer retention and loyalty matter? They matter a lot, with 43% of customers spending more on brands that they are loyal to.

6. Engagement 

At the engagement stage, the goal is to keep the customer relationship going. You can do this by reaching out to customers with email newsletters and content relevant to their interests or past purchases, coupons or discounts, or other incentives. 

You can also engage them in audience research surveys, a tool that will help keep your brand top of mind while also garnering important insights about them as customers. 

7. Advocacy 

The final stage of the ecommerce customer journey is advocacy. When customers reach this stage, they’re loyal fans of your brand and actively telling whoever they can – friends, family, social media followers, and so on – about how much they love your product or service. 

TIP: Brand advocates are a powerful influence, so be sure to demonstrate how much you value this caliber of customers. Loyalty programs are a great place to start. 

How to learn about your customers across the ecommerce customer journey

Now that we’ve covered the 7 stages of the customer journey, let’s take a closer look at how to gather insights about your customers at each stage. 

1. Ask customers how they found out about you during the awareness stage

Find out how customers were exposed to your brand by surveying them, and use those insights to inform and increase ROI for your marketing campaigns. 

These surveys enable you to ask questions like: 

• What is your initial reaction to the ad?
• How would you rate the ad?

You can also send a How Did You Hear About Us? survey to discover how customers found your product with an industry-leading attribution survey methodology.

2. Capture customer sentiment during the consideration stage 

Using an online shopping survey, you can collect data to understand how your customers feel about your online shopping experience. 

These surveys allow you to ask questions like: 

• Did we make it easy to find what you’re looking for?
• Were you able to find all the information you need about the product?
• Were you able to find the product you were looking for?
• How satisfied were you with our online shopping experience?
• How would you rate the ease of using our site?
• Did you encounter any error or issues when purchasing via our site?
• Share any feedback on how we can improve our online shopping experience. 

Here’s why getting the online shopping experience right matters: 91% of consumers make online purchases on their phone. That means both your desktop and mobile sites need to be as user-friendly as possible. Asking for customer feedback helps ensure that customers have an easy, frictionless experience no matter where they shop. 

3. Find out how to reduce cart abandonment at the decision stage 

Nearly half (47%) of online shoppers abandon their cart when they see additional costs crop up – like extra fees, shipping, and taxes – during the checkout process. With a cart abandonment survey, you can understand why your customers are abandoning their carts and use their feedback to improve their experience.

These surveys enable you to ask questions like: 

• What’s keeping you from making a purchase?
• We noticed you left a few items in your cart. Can you tell us why?

4. Use post-purchase surveys to capture satisfaction and improve conversion rates at the purchase stage 

Post-purchase surveys allow you to measure your online shopping experience and use feedback to enhance satisfaction and ease of use. You can also find out what your customers think of their recent purchase, including the product they chose and its usage, with a post-purchase satisfaction survey. 

These surveys enable you to ask questions like: 

• How easy was it for you to check out?
• Which product did you recently purchase with us?
• What was the main factor for deciding on that product?
• How often will you use the product you just bought?
• What are you most looking forward to regarding the product you just purchased?
• What problem does this product help you solve?
• What led you to choosing our brand over other options you were considering?
• Did your expectation of our product/service match the reality?
• How satisfied are you with the delivery timing?
• How would you rate the quality of that product?
• Overall, how satisfied are you with the product you purchased?

5. Collect NPS and CSAT survey feedback during the retention stage 

At the retention stage, you can collect Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey data to measure customer loyalty. You can also use Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) surveys to find out if your delivery, return, or customer service experience satisfied customers. 

These surveys enable you to ask the questions: 

• How likely are you to recommend [company] to a [friend or colleague]?
• How satisfied were you with [company]?

TIP: Get the most out of your ecommerce customer survey program by leveraging our top ecommerce integrations. Trigger post-delivery surveys via Shopify, sync Delighted feedback to customer profiles in Gladly, HubSpot, Salesforce, and so much more. 

6. Discover how to improve customer service through post-support feedback

A post-support feedback survey helps you track customer sentiment following support interactions. These surveys enable you to ask questions like: 

• What issue were you hoping to get addressed today?
• How easy was it for you to return your purchase?
• How satisfied are you with the resolution of your issue?

The insights you receive from post-support feedback surveys highlight customer pain points so you can close the loop on their issue and improve future experiences.

7. Conduct audience outreach and marketing research to boost engagement 

Learn how customers use and feel about your product or service with a customer feedback survey. These surveys enable you to ask questions like: 

• How often do you use our product or service?
• How satisfied are you with the overall quality of the product or service?
• What is your favorite part of the product or service?
• How can we improve your experience?
• What other products would you like to see from us?

TIP: Embed email surveys in your marketing automation platform to continuously generate insights and boost engagement. Learn more about the embed platform.

8. Measure loyalty during the advocacy stage 

To measure customer loyalty and understand repeat purchase intent during the advocacy stage, ask the NPS question: How likely are you to recommend [company] to a [friend or colleague]?

Understanding who the promoters, passives, and detractors are in your customer base can help you hone in on the loyal customers who go out of their way to follow your brand and recommend your products or services. 

But you also want to pay attention to your other customer segments. While promoters are more likely to stick with you for the long haul, detractors are more likely to churn or spread negative word-of-mouth, and passive customers could go either way. The NPS data you collect helps you identify all types of existing customers so you can follow up with them to improve customer experiences.

TIP: With Delighted Autopilot, you can automatically send surveys out over a period of time for a constant stream of feedback, and make sure no one is ever over-surveyed. 

With knowledge of how the customer journey changes in the world of ecommerce, you can optimize each touchpoint for superb customer experience. Why wait? Start surveying customers in minutes with our free ecommerce survey templates and gather valuable insights.

The post Ecommerce customer journey map + template appeared first on Delighted.

From artificial intelligence to augmented reality, social media shopping to subscriptions, here are the 10 trends shaping online retail right now:

1. Artificial intelligence is transforming the online shopping experience
2. Brands are leveraging customer data for personalized experiences
3. Social commerce meets customers where they are
4. Consumers are all in on subscriptions
5. Sustainability-minded consumers lean into the resale economy
6. AI-powered chatbots are humanizing self-service experiences
7. Consumers make themselves heard with voice search
8. Loyalty programs level up with personalization
9. Consumers seek more flexible payment options
10. Brands use augmented reality to showcase products

Keep reading to learn more about how ecommerce trends are shaping the industry and get the answers to FAQs on the subject.

1. Artificial intelligence is transforming the online shopping experience

Ecommerce is one of the many industries leveraging generative AI to increase efficiency and transform retail experiences. From writing product descriptions to automating customer support queries with chatbots, the opportunities to implement AI are limitless.

Just how prevalent is AI in ecommerce? 84% of ecommerce businesses said AI is their top priority. According to Deloitte, 79% of business leaders agree that generative AI will increase efficiencies in their companies. More than half (52%) believe AI will increase growth opportunities.

It’s not hard to see why: when brands use AI for ecommerce, it drives more than a 25% improvement in customer satisfaction, revenue, and cost reduction. By 2032, the ecommerce AI market is expected to reach $45.72 billion.

2. Brands are leveraging customer data for personalized experiences

Brands collect data at various touchpoints across the ecommerce customer journey. These insights allow companies to pinpoint what’s working (and what’s not) in that journey, take action to remove any friction, and ensure a smooth, holistic experience for their customers.

But that’s not all you can do with that data. Brands are leveraging customer data to create personalized experiences. Experiences like suggesting customized product recommendations based on past purchasing behavior, offering targeted incentives based on browsing history, and syncing orders across various channels (e.g., in-store and online sales).

According to Acxiom, 83% of companies say that using customer data and predictive analytics to improve the customer experience will be a key way to earn customer advantage over the next 5 years. Over a third (36%) of CMOs said implementing systems or algorithms to enhance customer personalization is their top priority, per Deloitte. 

Why are online retailers so focused on creating customized shopping experiences? A Google and Storyline Strategies study found that 72% of customers are loyal to brands that offer a personalized customer experience. The more loyal customers are, the more they spend with your brand.

3. Social commerce meets customers where they are

Social media is now more than just a marketing channel: it can also serve as an extension of your storefront.  In fact, 67% of customers have shopped via social media this year.

What’s contributing to this rapid rise in social commerce? For one, social media levels the playing field for brands big and small, allowing them to reach new customers and markets, interact with brand advocates and fans, and share new product launches in real time.

Selling on social media also continues to evolve. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok allow users to quickly and easily purchase their favorite products directly from a brand’s account. Younger audiences in particular are the primary target for initiatives like TikTok Shop, given that adults ages 18-24 are 3.2x more likely to buy something from TikTok Shop than the average consumer. This sets the stage for more and more brands to set up shop on the social media platforms catering to online retail.

Meanwhile, influencers help boost brand advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing, encouraging followers to shop the products they love directly on their own channels. A popular form of social media advertising for influencers is adding a ShopMy or LTK link to their social profiles so users can see their product recommendations. Social media influencers also leverage referral and affiliate codes to give customers discounts on the items advertised to them.

4. Consumers are all in on subscriptions

Last year, subscriptions generated over $28 billion in revenue – a figure that doubled from just 4 years ago. Those numbers continue to climb: based on consumer demand, the subscription economy is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025.

One of the reasons consumers are all in on subscriptions is the wide variety of choice – from streaming services to retail products (like clothing, cosmetics, snacks, and even pet food) to fitness memberships to delivery services. Companies successfully leveraging the subscription service model include BarkBox, IPSY, and Nuuly.

Not only do consumers benefit from subscribing, earning loyalty points and member discounts, brands also win with subscriptions that create recurring, predictable revenue that helps them continue to grow.

5. Sustainability-minded consumers lean into the resale economy

With more consumers shopping with sustainability in mind, brands are focusing on how to cater to this cohort of customers: whether that be through selling secondhand items or simply shopping from brands with more sustainable business practices.

Just how prevalent is the resale market? More than half (52%) of consumers have purchased an item secondhand in the past year. And by 2028, the global secondhand market is expected to reach $350 billion.

Younger generations prioritize shopping from sustainable and eco-friendly brands. A study by Drapers and BigCommerce found that 57% of Gen Zers and millennials value sustainability when shopping for clothes, accessories, or
shoes – an increase of 21% from 2022.

Ecommerce brands can tap into this trend by encouraging consumers to turn in used items for a store credit (think: Apple Trade In or H&M’s garment collecting program) or opening their own online resale stores.

6. AI-powered chatbots accelerate response times

Another trend among ecommerce businesses is implementing AI-powered chatbots to help resolve customer problems and answer queries faster than humans alone. In fact, 35% of consumers prefer to talk to a chatbot versus an actual customer support agent. Instead of waiting hours if not days for a response to a customer support query, customers can utilize online chatbots to accelerate resolutions to any problem they face.

Chatbots can make or break the customer experience, with 30% of customers saying they wouldn’t use a company’s chatbot again if they had a bad experience. This speaks to the need for ecommerce storefronts to utilize a chatbot service that measures up to what customers expect – not just any chatbot will do.

7. Consumers make themselves heard with voice search

Voice search devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant have changed the way customers shop online – and how brands deliver ecommerce experiences.

How popular is this ecommerce channel? 75% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by 2025, while 43% of voice-enabled device owners use their device to shop. According to LinkedIn, voice shopping accounts for over $3.3 billion in consumer spending, and is expected to be a $45 billion channel by 2028.

But for consumers, voice search is not a one-way conversation. Google reports that 52% of smart-speaker owners are interested in receiving notifications about deals, sales, and promotions from brands.

8. Loyalty programs level up with personalization 

Loyalty programs themselves aren’t a new trend in the world of ecommerce. Brands that want to differentiate their programs – and earn customer loyalty – are leaning on personalization.

According to Acxiom, 65% of consumers want to be rewarded for their loyalty, and 72% are willing to stay loyal to a brand if they offer discounts and rewards. But here’s where personalization turns loyalty into revenue: more than half (56%) of customers said they’re most likely to repurchase from a company if they receive personalized loyalty rewards.

Brands that want to reap the benefits of personalization – and loyal customers – are taking note. According to Gartner, one in three businesses without a loyalty program today plan to establish one by 2027 to shore up first-party data collection and retain high-priority customers. And 9 in 10 companies with an existing program plan to revamp it in the next three years. 

9. Consumers seek more flexible payment options

The decision stage of the ecommerce customer journey is one of the most critical. It’s when customers are deciding if they want to move forward with your product or service. They’re adding to their cart – but they haven’t purchased quite yet.

One important factor that weighs on consumers at this stage is their payment options. According to research conducted by Baymard, 13% of customers will abandon their carts if they don’t see enough payment methods available.

To accommodate these customers, more and more brands are offering flexible payment options to help entice customers to buy. These include both multiple payment types, like credit cards or digital payments (think: PayPal or Apple Pay), as well as financing plans, such as the option to buy now, pay later (BNPL). 

10. Brands use augmented reality to showcase products

Augmented reality (AR) is transforming ecommerce by helping customers visualize what a product looks like – from trying on clothes to adding new furniture to their home – with an immersive digital experience.

It’s a big hit with consumers. According to Acxiom, 78% of customers who have used AR shopping were satisfied with the experience. AR visuals can help increase conversion as well, with Google reporting products showcasing VR/AR content saw a 94% increase in conversion rate over products without such content. 

Consumer confidence is boosting brands’ outlook on the future of AR: 80% of retailers think that most ecommerce brands will have built immersive shopping experiences in the next 5 years.

Ecommerce trends FAQs

What is the future of ecommerce?

The ecommerce landscape is always evolving. New technologies and innovations continue to make online retail an exciting avenue for customers to shop with your brand. From AI, to augmented reality, to personalized recommendations, the ecommerce experience leads the way for retail brands to try out new trends, tune into customers’ preferences, build customer relationships, and iterate to meet customer needs.

Is ecommerce growing?

In short, yes. By 2027, nearly a quarter of retail purchases are expected to take place online. Statista estimates that revenue in the ecommerce market will increase by $657.8 billion between 2024 and 2029.

Is omnichannel still an ecommerce trend?

Omnichannel retail is here to stay, now a vital part of every retail strategy. Nearly three-quarters of customers say they use multiple channels to research products, compare prices, or look for discounts. Brands that master a seamless omnichannel experience across all customer touchpoints, both online and offline, will not only retain current customers, but also continue to win new ones.

How do I know if my business should adopt an ecommerce trend?

Our advice? You have to know your customers before you can know which trends to adopt. And the best way to do this is to ask them. Find out what your customers really want from their ecommerce experience with a retail survey. Or, find out what you can improve in your online shopping experience by following up with a post-purchase survey.

These insights can help you better understand who your customers are and what their preferences are when it comes to shopping (online and in-store), as well as determine which new trends might appeal to them. Ecommerce is always evolving, and your brand should, too.

Start surveying customers in minutes with our free ecommerce survey templates to gather valuable insights into the customer experience.

The post Top 10 ecommerce trends shaping online retail in 2024 appeared first on Delighted.

Here’s a brief overview of some of the latest updates:

• In Delighted Surveys, we launched a brand new Web Widget that lets you capture any type of feedback, anywhere on your website. Whether it’s product research, cart abandonment, or market research, the possibilities are endless.
• In Delighted CX, we introduced our Android SDK platform and made critical improvements to key areas of the product, including the dashboard and the customization flow.

Curious to learn more about this quarter’s product updates? Explore what’s new and upcoming, below.

Interactive demo: Explore this quarter’s product updates

We consolidated the previous quarter’s product updates into a few interactive slides – take a live tour of the Q2 updates and click the circles to experience the changes for yourself.

Easily collect website feedback using the Surveys Web Widget

Our new Web Widget in Delighted Surveys makes it easy to capture feedback from your website visitors without interrupting their browsing experience. Whether you’re running attribution surveys on a post-purchase page, collecting feedback on your website experience, or evaluating customer satisfaction with a recent product launch, Delighted’s Web Widget is ready for you to use.

The two display options for the widget include a pop-up survey or an always on, discreet tab on the side of the webpage.

Learn more and explore our list of web survey use cases to help you get started. 

Understand mobile app users with Delighted CX’s Android SDK

While our iOS SDK has been available for years, our customers shared the feedback that, to them, cross-platform support was critical – and we agreed. Having a consistent app survey experience across iOS and Android devices is extremely important for mobile-focused companies. With that in mind, we tackled our latest launch on the mobile app front, Android SDK.

Our new Android SDK survey platform allows companies to power seamless in-app experiences for Android users. As an added bonus, Delighted’s mobile SDKs (both iOS and Android) provide the highest level of customization, ensuring that the surveys look and feel native to your app.

Learn more about the SDK platform.

Customization, navigation, and display updates to Delighted CX

We made some intuitive improvements to the Delighted CX product to increase ease-of-use for our customization flow and make the dashboard more user-friendly for our customers.

Check out the updates below:

• Single page customization: No more jumping in and out of pages to customize your full survey experience. All survey customization is now consolidated into a single page.
• Additional Questions on dashboard: Additional Questions will now show on the dashboard on accounts where the comment prompt is skipped.
• Hover state for response tiles: We made it easier to take a closer look at feedback by enabling a hover state for feedback tiles on your dashboard. Hovering over tiles will now outline the response so you can view feedback easier than before.
• New colors: We’ve updated the brand colors for the CX product to better align with Delighted Surveys. That way, you can enjoy a smooth visual experience as you navigate back and forth between our two products.

Stay tuned for what’s next at Delighted

Q2 2024 was one of our biggest quarters ever: new distribution methods, improved user experience, powerful updates to reporting – the list goes on. But the best part? We’re just getting started.

If you’re curious about what we’re working on in Q3, take a peek at our product roadmap! We’d also love to hear what features you’re most excited to explore, what we’re missing, and what’s on your wishlist from Delighted. We deeply consider each and every piece of feedback, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

The post Delighted Q2 2024 Product Recap appeared first on Delighted.

In this post, we’ll explore our top 10 ecommerce integrations and how you can use them to transform your customer experience and ecommerce strategies. Whether it’s automating post-delivery surveys with Shopify or bringing together customer feedback data with HubSpot, each integration is designed to support your specific ecommerce needs.

1. Shopify

Delighted’s Shopify integration is an obvious choice for the #1 spot on our top ecommerce integrations list. The powerhouse ecommerce platform helps millions of store owners manage their businesses and claims a 10% share of total US ecommerce sales. 

Whether you want to measure customer loyalty with Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys or gauge customer satisfaction with Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) surveys, Delighted’s Shopify integration with Delighted CX allows you to send email surveys after a chosen delay post-fulfillment. Want to send the survey after product delivery? Match the survey delay to your average shipping time – 1 week, 2 weeks, etc. – to capture post-delivery feedback after the customer has received their order. 

COMING SOON: With our latest partnership with Shopify, you will be able to capture on-the-spot post-purchase feedback directly on your Shopify Thank You and/or Order Status pages. You can build your custom survey from scratch, or use one of our pre-built templates to discover how the customer first heard about your brand, what their post-purchase experience was like, and more.

Stay tuned for the announcement for the Delighted Surveys-Shopify checkout extension, or join our Shopify waitlist to be among the first to know of its release!

2. Klaviyo

Klaviyo’s ecommerce marketing platform is dedicated to driving smarter customer interactions through personalized email and SMS flows. Delighted’s Klaviyo integration automatically syncs survey scores and verbatim responses to Klaviyo, enabling you to make informed marketing decisions from customer feedback in one centralized hub.

TIP: You can take marketing automation a step further by embedding Delighted CX surveys into Klaviyo emails using the Embed platform. This functionality allows you to fully customize your survey emails to match your branding and manage their sending along with other emails in Klaviyo, just like the team at Ruggable does:

“Using Delighted’s Embed platform, we were able to bring our NPS surveys into Klaviyo, allowing our team to control every aspect of their look & feel, and distribution cadence.” 

• Tomek McClintock, Head of International Analytics, Ruggable

3. Gorgias

Trusted by over 15,000 ecommerce brands, Gorgias is a customer experience platform that helps you support shoppers at every stage of the customer journey by managing customer communication and service tickets in one place. Delighted’s Gorgias integration allows you to trigger post-support email surveys from Delighted CX after a ticket is updated in Gorgias. This functionality saves you time and improves customer experiences by automating the customer support process and enabling quicker action on feedback. 

Similar to Klaviyo, Gorgias also integrates smoothly with our Embed platform, allowing you to embed the Delighted survey experience directly into emails sent from Gorgias.

COMING SOON: This quarter, we’re enhancing our Gorgias integration to make it more powerful and efficient than ever. If you’re interested in receiving updates about the integration or sharing your feedback, drop your email here and we’ll be in touch!

4. Slack

Did you know that 84% of businesses that invest in customer experience and a customer-centric culture see an increase in revenue? One of the best ways to foster a customer-centric culture at your company is by sharing customer feedback widely with your team. The easiest way to do that? Send survey responses to your team communication channels like Slack. This is likely why Slack is one of Delighted’s most popular integrations, used by over 2,500 customers.

Delighted’s Slack integration, available for Delighted CX and Surveys, allows you to send a Slack notification when customers submit survey responses. These notifications include the customer’s real-time scores and verbatim response and can be sent to any Slack channel. You can even customize notifications to trigger based on certain conditions, such as sending NPS promoter feedback to a #positive-feedback channel and responses mentioning “shipping” to a #delivery channel.

5. Gladly

Gladly’s unique approach to improving customer service focuses on understanding customers through a modern messaging interface and enhanced customer profiles, rather than traditional tickets. Their platform, along with their native integrations with ecommerce solutions like Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce, consolidates all customer context into one place, enabling agents to provide personalized, next-level support. 

Delighted’s Gladly integration automatically syncs Delighted CX feedback to customer profiles in Gladly, putting the voice of the customer front and center for support agents’ reference. You can also create automatic follow-up tasks in Gladly based on survey responses, allowing agents to close the feedback loop on negative experiences quickly.

6. Zapier

Zapier is a powerful automation tool that allows you to build custom integrations with over 7,000 apps so you can streamline your workflows and avoid wasting time on repetitive tasks. Delighted’s Zapier integration has all of the connection capabilities of our REST API feature, but requires no coding, allowing you to connect the tools your team uses every day in just minutes. 

Within the integration, you can choose to trigger Delighted CX surveys after a specific event or automatically sync Delighted data with your reporting platforms. No matter how you customize your Delighted triggers or actions with Zapier, the world is your oyster in building a workflow that suits your exact needs.

7. HubSpot

There’s a reason why Hubspot has over 200,000 customers! Hubspot’s platform unifies marketing, sales, and service activities to eliminate silos and increase efficiency across your business. Delighted’s Hubspot integration automatically syncs new Delighted CX survey responses to matching contacts in HubSpot, providing context to your customer interactions and enabling your team to quickly follow up on potential negative customer feedback.

TIP: You can also send Delighted surveys directly from your Hubspot emails using Delighted’s Embed platform. Fully customize the look and feel of your emails to stay on brand, while encouraging customers to answer the survey from the email by combining these powerful platforms.

8. WooCommerce

WooCommerce, one of the most popular ecommerce plugins for WordPress, makes it easy for businesses using WordPress to sell their products and services online. With Delighted’s WooCommerce integration, you can trigger a Delighted CX email survey to be sent to customers after they make a purchase on your ecommerce site. Choose to send the survey immediately or set a customer delay so the customer has time to receive and experience the product before providing feedback.

9. Square

Trusted by four million sellers globally, Square is a widely popular business technology platform and operating software for point-of-sale transactions. Delighted’s Square integration automates the post-purchase feedback process by automatically sending a Delighted CX email survey to customers after their payment is processed, both for one-time purchases and subscriptions.

Delighted also pulls in details about the purchase, such as the customer name, location, receipt number, and more, making it easy to identify big-picture trends in your feedback and close the loop on individual purchases.

10. Zendesk

Zendesk is an all-in-one customer service solution designed to support seamless interactions between your customers and your service and sales teams. Delighted’s Zendesk integration captures support feedback by sending a Delighted CX email survey immediately or at your specified delay once a ticket is marked as closed or solved in Zendesk. After the customer completes the survey, the integration syncs the responses back to their matching contact in Zendesk.

The best part? The functionality works in the other direction as well – the integration can create tickets in Zendesk based on specific customer feedback from a Delighted survey. That way, you can easily follow up on negative feedback, send thank-you notes for positive feedback, or find responses that mention specific keywords. However you choose to use the integration, the automation capabilities are endless.

Whether you’re a small business owner using WooCommerce or a large enterprise leveraging Square, Delighted’s ecommerce integrations provide the tools you need to gather, analyze, and act on valuable customer feedback to support and grow your ecommerce business. 

Have a survey ready and want to start automating your customer feedback program? Choose from our full suite of integrations to begin. New to Delighted? Explore our ecommerce survey templates with pre-designed questions to get up and running today.

The post Delighted’s top 10 survey integrations for ecommerce businesses appeared first on Delighted.

How do they do this? Likely with the help of ecommerce integrations, which connect everyday ecommerce tools and centralize data to streamline operations, automate workflows, and increase efficiency.

Keep reading to uncover the definition, benefits, and types of ecommerce integrations you need to optimize the customer experience and take your business to the next level.

What is an ecommerce integration?

Ecommerce integrations connect your online business with applications that allow you to operate and manage your ecommerce platform more efficiently, with easy access to inventory, invoices, shipments, orders, and customer information in one location instead of multiple. This ranges from apps that manage payment processing when a customer purchases to how they are surveyed post-purchase.

Comprehensive integrations are essential for ecommerce companies, especially when it comes to managing the ongoing connection between a business’ front-end (like their website) and back-end (like their customer relationship management, or CRM, software). With the right ecommerce integrations, businesses streamline operations, enhance customer experience, and enable omnichannel retail.

Benefits of ecommerce integrations: Why they matter

Integrating with automation tools can make managing your ecommerce business a smooth process. Take a look at some of the top benefits of ecommerce integrations below.

Ensured data accuracy

With ecommerce integrations, there’s no longer a need for manual data entry; you can sync customer data – like purchase information or feedback – across multiple applications without lifting a finger. Relying on integrations for ecommerce operations reduces the likelihood of human error and leads to more accurate data. 

Centralized customer data

When you have a robust tech stack, it’s harder to consolidate customer information across various tools. With integrations, you can sync customer data like order history and open support tickets across multiple platforms so everyone can see the data that matters.

Increased efficiency

Syncing information across applications and automating workflows contributes to the greater benefit of ecommerce integrations: increased efficiency. When your internal team members save time on manual tasks, they can spend more time on the projects that build your business and grow your customer base. 

Improved customer experience

Having all the information you need in one place allows you to quickly resolve immediate customer issues and holistically address larger, negative experiences. 

For example, integrating survey automation into your CRM platform lets you consistently monitor feedback throughout the entire ecommerce journey. This centralized feedback helps you identify and improve problems earlier (like confusing site navigation or an inefficient checkout process) and increases the likelihood of repeat customers.

Another benefit of integrating customer data across various sales channels (e.g. online, mobile, or in-store) is connecting customers with products they are unaware of but could find useful. For instance, you can upsell related products based on their recently viewed items, ensuring they are presented with the best options available on your online store.

7 popular types of integrations for ecommerce businesses

Now that we’ve covered the benefits of integrating your tech stack, the following list can help you distill the exact integrations you might need for your ecommerce business. 

1. Website builder solutions

The heart of ecommerce experience is the quality of your online storefront. Integrating with website builders like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Squarespace lets you benefit from their sophisticated ecommerce platforms that help build your store, operate the checkout process, and keep track of customer data in the background. 

Jump into Delighted’s website builder survey integrations:

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• Squarespace

2. SMS marketing tools

When it comes to omnichannel retail marketing, many customers prefer to be contacted via text message as opposed to other channels. SMS marketing is on the rise, and integrating with tools that facilitate it is more important than ever. With an SMS marketing platform like Klaviyo or Gorgias, you can contact customers once their order is placed or delivered with a survey request or referral code. 

Jump into Delighted’s SMS marketing tool survey integrations:

• Klaviyo
• Gorgias

3. Email marketing solutions

While SMS marketing is a popular form of customer engagement, email marketing is a tried and true method of nurturing your customer base. Arguably one of the most popular types of ecommerce integrations, email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign automate email delivery based on specified points in the customer journey – from cart abandonment to product satisfaction. 

Jump into Delighted’s email marketing survey integrations:

• Mailchimp
• ActiveCampaign

4. Payment gateways 

Keep track of customer orders and invoices as they come in with payment gateway integrations like Square and Stripe. This type of ecommerce data integration centralizes customer purchase information as well as the status of each and every transaction. Once a customer has completed the checkout process, this could be an opportunity to ask for feedback on the purchasing process with an ecommerce survey integration. 

Jump into Delighted’s payment gateway survey integrations:

• Square
• Stripe

5. Customer support management

One of the most important parts of customer retention is solving customer problems as soon as they arise. To do so, you need the right platform for customers to submit tickets with their issue – like Zendesk or Gladly. These ecommerce solutions help manage high ticket volume and allow you to close the loop as efficiently as possible.

Jump into Delighted’s customer support management survey integrations:

• Zendesk
• Gladly

6. Customer relationship management

Perhaps the most valuable type of ecommerce integration is customer relationship management (CRM) software. When your online store integrates with CRM software like Salesforce or HubSpot, you can keep track of all customer interactions with your brand and keep their information readily available in their profile. 

Jump into Delighted’s CRM survey integrations:

• Salesforce
• HubSpot

7. Experience management solutions

Complete your ecommerce platform by implementing a feedback program for customer experience management. A survey solution like Delighted helps track customer sentiment from the moment they become aware of your brand to when they click “submit order” on your checkout page. Our ecommerce survey templates help kickstart your experience management program in minutes, not days.

Automate your workflows with ecommerce integrations

Integrating with the right tools can give your ecommerce business a competitive advantage in a growing marketplace. With benefits like increased efficiency and automated workflows, ecommerce integrations can enhance customer experiences and improve retention rates. 

Keep a pulse on ecommerce experience with our survey templates and integrate Delighted with your favorite ecommerce platforms mentioned above. Get started for free today!

The post What is an ecommerce integration? Benefits of integrating for online stores appeared first on Delighted.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about effectively surveying customers after a purchase with the right post-purchase survey questions. 

What is a post-purchase survey?

Post-purchase surveys are a way for businesses to gather customer feedback after a purchase. These surveys typically include a few short questions to start a conversation about the customer experience and how to improve it. Businesses often prompt customers with a post-purchase survey on the Thank you page and ask about anything from why the customer chose to buy from you to how they discovered your brand. 

Why collect post-purchase feedback?

Collecting post-purchase feedback will allow you to better understand how customers feel about the buying journey as well as your product or service.  

With that feedback, you can: 

• Strengthen customer satisfaction: Your customers have made it this far in the customer journey, so it’s time to double down on keeping them satisfied. A post-purchase survey helps you discover even more data-based insights about who your customers are, what their needs are, and how to meet those needs better than competitors.
• Personalize your marketing efforts: Your product might appeal to different customer types, so it’s helpful to be able to collect data and segment feedback by who you want to market to. With this intel, you can develop marketing strategies that target your ideal buyer persona. 
• Identify pain points: A post-purchase survey will help pinpoint the issues your customers faced during their experience buying from you so you can effectively close the loop on those issues and correct the experience for future customers.
• Boost customer loyalty: Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, as well as tell their family and friends to purchase from you, too. 

Post-purchase survey questions

Feeling ready to reap the benefits of sending post-purchase surveys to your customers? Here are 34 post-purchase survey questions to help you get started gathering customer feedback. You can tweak the questions as needed to fit your specific goals and what’s most relevant to your audience. 

Conversion rate optimization questions 

If customers are experiencing friction in their online or app checkout process, you need to know about it. Use these conversion rate optimization questions to find out how to improve this moment in the customer journey. 

1. Did you experience any difficulty making a purchase on our website [or app]?
2. What would make your experience shopping on our website [or app] easier? 
3. How easy was it to complete your purchase on our website [or app] today? 
4. If you could change one thing about shopping on our website [or app], what would it be? 
5. Would you recommend making a purchase on our website [or app] to a friend? 

Personalization questions 

Asking demographic survey questions will help you better understand who your customers are, as well as how to segment customers to personalize your marketing efforts. 

1. What is your gender identity?
2. How old are you?
3. What is your employment status?
4. What is your annual household income?
5. Where do you live?

Marketing attribution questions 

Learning about the channels that are driving customer conversions can help you augment the marketing strategies that are working – and take a closer look at the ones that aren’t. 

1. What led you to choosing our brand over other options you were considering?
2. How did you hear about us? 
3. Did positive customer reviews influence your purchasing decision?
4. Did family, friends, or colleagues recommend our product (or service)?
5. How long have you known about our brand? 
6. Where did you first learn about us? 

TIP: Check out our “How did you hear about us?” survey template here.

Product questions 

Asking product-related questions can help inform your product roadmap and where to focus your development or design efforts. 

1. What problem does this product help you solve?
2. How often will you use the product you just bought?
3. What are you most looking forward to regarding the product you just purchased?
4. What problem does this product or service help you solve?
5. How would you rate the overall quality of this product?
6. What feature(s) are you most looking forward to using? 
7. Based on the quality of the product you purchased, would you recommend it to a friend? 
8. How satisfied are you with the quality of product you received? 

TIP: Try some of our product-specific survey templates for in-depth product feedback here.

Customer satisfaction questions

Customer satisfaction questions get at the heart of how happy your customers are with their recent purchase and with your brand overall. 

1. How satisfied are you with your purchase today? 
2. How satisfied are you with your overall experience purchasing from our brand? 
3. How likely are you to recommend us to a friend? 
4. Is there a new product or service you wish we would offer? 
5. What one thing would improve our product or service? 

TIP: Measure how satisfied customers are using Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) surveys.

Pricing feedback questions 

Pricing can be a key differentiator in a competitive market. Ask these questions to gain insights into how your product fares compared to competitors. 

1. How satisfied are you with the value of this product relative to its price?
2. Do you think the price of this product is reasonable? 
3. Based on its price, would you recommend this product to a friend? 
4. Do you consider this product to be worth the price you paid? 
5. Does this product’s price align with your expectations for quality and value? 

TIP: Ask customers how they feel about your pricing with our pricing sensitivity survey template here.

Post-purchase survey examples by industry

If you’re unsure what a post-purchase survey could look like for customers in your industry, here are three examples of surveys, plus some questions specific to those customer experiences. 

1. Ecommerce brands 

When customers shop online, they can experience pain points in the process. Ask these questions to uncover the insights you need to smooth out the online shopping experience. 

1. Did you experience any technical issues when shopping on our website [or app]? 
2. Did the images and description match the product you received? 
3. Were you satisfied with the product you received?
4. How would you rate the checkout page experience? 

2. Brick-and-mortar retail stores  

Asking about the retail store experience is a unique opportunity to learn more about your customers. Retail brands can ask customers about their in-store experience, impressions of customer service, and much more. Here are some retail survey questions to consider: 

1. How easy was it to find what you were looking for in our store?
2. How would you rate the helpfulness of our team? 
3. Were you satisfied with your in-store shopping experience today? 
4. What one thing would improve your experience in our store?

3. Subscription services 

Subscription services, from streaming platforms to Software as a Service (SaaS), have become a mainstay in the market. Here’s what to ask these customers about their recurring purchases on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis.

1. Does the price of this subscription match your expectations for quality and value? 
2. Would you recommend [your subscription service] to a colleague or friend? 
3. What features of this service do you find most valuable? 
4. How could we improve?

Channels to send post-purchase surveys 

1. Email surveys 

Email surveys are a great way to collect post-purchase survey feedback. The key is to ensure your emails are sent in a timely manner, so customers can provide accurate feedback while their purchase is still top of mind. 

To support your survey response rates, automatically send surveys after a purchase. You can also personalize subject lines and intro messages to give customers additional context and incentivize them to respond. 

TIP: Display your survey directly in your customer’s inbox using Delighted’s email surveys.

2. In-app surveys 

Mobile app surveys are another effective way to gather post-purchase feedback. You’re meeting customers where they already are, and at a time when they’ve proven comfortability using your app (i.e., after they’ve completed a purchase).  

With in-app surveys, you can ask customers specific questions about the app experience, garnering insights you otherwise wouldn’t from other survey types. 

3. Website surveys 

There are many instances when you’d want to send website surveys, such as after a customer abandons their cart or cancels a subscription. For collecting post-purchase feedback, a transaction completion page survey is especially useful. 

Whether the customer has checked out, subscribed, or scheduled an appointment, now’s the time to collect feedback about their website experience. You can also include a free-response question so customers can tell you more about their experience in their own words. 

TIP: Delighted’s new Web Widget allows you to ask customers anything directly on your website. Learn more about it here.

4. QR code surveys 

QR code surveys allow customers to quickly scan a code with their smartphone and complete a post-purchase survey. Consider including QR codes on printed receipts, on signage located around your store or event, on assembly instructions, or even directly on your products. 

TIP: With our link surveys, you can generate a QR code survey for free.

Post-purchase survey best practices

Knowing the types of survey questions to ask is just the start. Check out these survey design best practices to help you maximize the effectiveness of your surveys and collect valuable customer feedback. 

1. Use a post-purchase survey template to get started 

A post-purchase survey template can take the guesswork out of how to design your survey, especially if you’re just getting started. 

TIP: Jump directly into our post-purchase survey template here to start gathering customer feedback for free. 

2. Optimize your survey for all device types 

Make it as easy as possible for customers to respond to your post-purchase surveys by offering compatibility across multiple device and browser types. For example, if you’re creating in-app surveys, be sure they’re compatible with both iOS and Android phones. 

3. Ask both close-ended and open-ended questions

Asking a mix of questions allows you to gather complementary feedback: quantitative feedback (via close-ended questions) that allows you to tally and track metrics over time and qualitative feedback (via open-ended questions) that provides a story behind the data. 

4. Personalize your survey based on your customers 

One of the benefits of collecting customer feedback is a better understanding of your customer base. Tailor your post-purchase surveys to your customer type to avoid asking redundant or irrelevant questions. 

For example, you don’t need to ask repeat customers how they heard about your brand (hint: you’ve likely already asked them in a previous survey). Instead, ask them specific questions relevant to their experience, such as “How satisfied are you with your overall experience purchasing from our brand?” or “Is there a new product or service you wish we would offer?”. 

TIP: Delighted’s ecommerce integrations allow you to sync feedback back to your ecommerce platforms, like Klaviyo, HubSpot, Salesforce, and more. That way, you already have the customer information and context you need to automate your post-purchase surveys. 

5. Get the timing right 

Similar to asking questions based on customer type, you also want to personalize the timing of your surveys based on your customers. 

For some customers, it makes sense to include a post-purchase survey on the Thank you page to gather real-time feedback. For others, it would be better to wait to ask for product feedback until the item’s been delivered to the customer’s home (for instance, when you’re asking, “How satisfied are you with the quality of the product you received?”). 

Fortunately, ecommerce integrations like Delighted + Shopify make it easy to automatically trigger post-purchase surveys after customers have placed an order or after an order has been delivered. Don’t use Shopify? Our Best Practices for Sending Surveys guide has you covered with tips and tricks for optimized survey timing.

Start surveying with post-purchase survey templates

Ready to start sending post-purchase surveys to your customers? Choose from one of our many survey templates or jump directly into our post-purchase survey template here. 

The post Post-purchase survey questions you can ask customers after checkout appeared first on Delighted.

Our new Web Widget for Surveys makes it unbelievably easy to set up a native pop-up survey. And it’s ready for you to try.

With our Surveys Web Widget, you can have a web survey that looks native to your brand up and running in 5 minutes. Configure who is surveyed, how they’re intercepted and what questions they see, all right in Delighted’s UI. Once your engineers have deployed our code, update, disable or launch completely new surveys on your own, instantly.

Any business with a digital experience, whether SaaS, ecommerce or other, can now scale completely bespoke feedback and research programs in their native environments. Gone are the days of invasive, clunky, long-form website surveys. Let’s build smarter micro-survey programs, serving up targeted questions, to the right folks, at the right time.

Jack Gerli, Product Manager at Delighted

Keep on reading to learn how customizable and effortless our Web Widget is. 

Follow these 5 steps to configure your Web Widget

You have control of every aspect of the web survey experience.

1. Customize your survey 

Ask any questions, in any order. Don’t want to craft your survey from scratch? AI Recommended Questions and ready-to-use survey templates for popular use cases get you off to a great start.

2. Choose the survey experience

Display surveys as pop-up widgets and always on feedback tabs. You also have the option of showing a progress bar so users know how long your survey is.

3. Decide where your survey should show

Target a subset of pages, or show surveys on all.

4. Configure triggering behavior

Trigger surveys to show on page view, when a visitor scrolls, or when they start to navigate away from the site. 

5. Deploy the Web Widget snippet on your site

Even after you’ve added the Web Widget snippet to your code, you’ll be able to tweak existing surveys or launch new ones, right in Delighted.

Head to our Help Center for all the setup details, and see these surveys in action in our Surveys web playground.

Web surveys for all use cases

Collect feedback on specific pages, user flows, or features on your site. No matter your role or industry, web surveys make it easy for you to uncover customer preferences and pain points, and validate your product roadmap.

Marketers: Collect zero-party data and refine your marketing strategy

As third-party cookies get deprecated, it will be critical to maintain your own source of customer data. 

With the Web Widget, you can learn about your audience’s demographics, preferences, and interests for targeted marketing campaigns. Get a clearer picture of marketing attribution by asking customers how they heard about you, and use that information to double down on your top channels and campaigns.

You can also use web surveys to evaluate the quality of your site experience. Learn if your website provides the information your user is looking for, in the formats that they prefer.

Product managers: Validate new features and build your roadmap

Get customer input along the entire product lifecycle: what new features you should build, what pain points exist for your current product line, and whether your product roadmap resonates with your target audience.

Complement your existing NPS and CSAT web surveys

Layering these highly specific web surveys into your existing feedback program will give you key insights into improving the quality of high-priority customer touchpoints.

• Ecommerce companies can trigger cart abandonment surveys when exit intent on the checkout page is detected
• SaaS companies can trigger churn surveys to discover what’s preventing customers from realizing value in their platform

See our comprehensive list of 50+ ready-to-use surveys based on our most popular use cases. Once you add these to your existing NPS or CSAT program, you’ll have a complete picture of customer sentiment and the actions you can take to improve it.

Ready to get started? Sign up for a free Delighted account, or head straight into our Surveys platform to set up your Web Widget survey.

More resources on setting up Web surveys

• Web Widget Help Center documentation
• Surveys web playground
• 20 website survey questions to ask your customers

The post Introducing the Delighted Surveys Web Widget: Set up a web survey in 5 minutes appeared first on Delighted.

Understand your mobile app users at all stages of the customer journey, whether it’s the first time they log in, after they make an in-app purchase, or every three months, just to check in.

Delighted’s SDK makes it super simple to blend surveys seamlessly into your app experience, collecting feedback in a way that feels more like an extension of your app rather than an interruption. 

You’ll unlock a degree of contextual feedback that is miles beyond what would historically be possible with traditional email surveys – meeting customers in your app, where they’re most likely to be interacting with your brand on a regular basis.

Display any of the Delighted CX survey types, NPS, CSAT, CES, 5-star, Smileys, Thumbs, PMF, and eNPS, right in your iOS and Android apps. The SDKs were designed with a fully native, liquid-smooth interface to feel like part of your app.

What’s more, the SDK supports our Additional Questions, so you can go beyond the initial CX metric to capture key drivers, response context, or further details from your users.

Survey anonymous app users or signed-in customers, with the ability to capture respondent information that makes analyzing your feedback a breeze. Let Delighted handle the survey cadence with our adaptive sampling, or take the reigns with full developer controls.

The best part: the Delighted SDK can be configured with minimal engineering support. Once the SDK is installed in your app, any adjustments to your questions, colors, or display cadence can be made in the Delighted platform, without developer assistance.

We hope to see the Delighted SDK in apps of all kinds. Learn more about the iOS and Android SDKs on our Help Center.

New to Delighted? Get started today.

The post Introducing the Delighted Android SDK appeared first on Delighted.

What is an onboarding survey?

An onboarding survey, also known as a new hire survey, assesses the experiences of new employees – from their feelings during the recruitment process to when they first start in their role. By asking new hires about their early experiences at your organization, you can discover ways to improve the onboarding process, helping them adjust to their roles quickly and increasing the likelihood that they will stay with your company long-term.

Why are onboarding surveys important? 

Onboarding surveys lay the foundation for enhancing the employee experience and demonstrate to your employees that you are listening and value their feedback from the very beginning.

Employee onboarding surveys also help you:

• Retain talent: Employees who’ve had a good onboarding experience tend to stay in their new jobs, so understanding what’s working and what’s not in the onboarding process can help you fix any issues before they negatively impact your employee retention rate.  
• Meet new hires’ expectations: During the interview process, candidates get a preview of their new job and the organization. On day one (and every day after), they assess whether their expectations of said role and company are being met. Onboarding surveys help you understand those expectations so that you can meet them – and keep employees happy and engaged.
• Determine your ROI: Recruiting new employees can be costly. If a new employee leaves soon after joining your organization, it’s difficult to recoup the cost of attracting and hiring another employee and restarting your search. Asking employees about the onboarding process can help uncover potential reasons for early turnover.
• Boost employee advocacy: Employees who’ve had positive experiences at your company are more likely to refer to your organization as a desirable place to work. In turn, glowing reviews make it easier for your organization to attract more top talent.

What happens if you don’t prioritize the new employee experience? According to a recent study conducted by Qualtrics, new hires have the lowest intent to stay at their organization. Moreover, employees who have been with their company for less than 6 months also scored the lowest compared to their peers in areas such as engagement, well-being, and inclusion. 

Yet many organizations don’t prioritize onboarding programs. Another report by Qualtrics found that while 50% of CHROs identified talent attraction and hiring as focus areas, only 41% considered onboarding a priority. This lack of emphasis on ensuring employees are well-prepared from day one partly explains why they tend to leave – an issue that underscores the importance of surveying new employees about their onboarding experience. 

31 employee onboarding survey questions 

Now that you have a good idea of why onboarding surveys are important, let’s discuss which questions to ask to make your surveys as effective as possible.

Be sure to include various types of employee survey questions, such as close-ended questions, open-ended questions, and rating scale questions. This will help you gather both quantitative data you can tally and track, as well as qualitative data for greater context behind the numbers. 

Take a look at these sample questions, broken down by category, as you’re building your survey. Tweak them as needed to fit your employee onboarding program.

Or, jump directly into our pre-built employee onboarding survey template to start surveying.

Employee recruitment onboarding questions 

Recruitment questions cover a new hire’s experience during the interviewing and hiring stages. Survey responses will reveal what’s working and what’s not in your candidate experience. 

1. How well was your role explained to you during the recruitment process? 
2. How would you rate the level of communication from your recruiter/HR during the recruitment process?
3. How would you rate the level of communication from your manager during the recruitment process?
4. Were you able to have all of your questions answered during the recruitment process? 
5. What one thing would have improved your hiring experience? 

Week 1 onboarding questions 

Ask these employee onboarding survey questions while onboarding is ongoing – and thus, fresh in their minds. 

1. Overall, how well do you understand your role and the responsibilities of your job? 
2. Are you satisfied with the onboarding process thus far?
3. What aspect(s) of your new job excites you?
4. What aspect(s) of your new job concerns you? 
5. What one thing stood out to you on your first day? 
6. Did the onboarding process meet your expectations? 
7. What obstacles have you encountered so far? 
8. How satisfied are you with the training that you received for your new role?

TIP: Find out how your employees feel about your company using our company satisfaction survey template.

Month 1 onboarding questions

Now that a new hire has had a month under their belt, it’s a good time to gauge whether the employee feels their needs and expectations are being met. 

1. Do you feel like you belong at this organization? 
2. Do you feel like you can make meaningful contributions in your current role? 
3. Do you feel your role and responsibilities match the job description?
4. Has your manager given you a clear overview of your career path at this organization? 
5. Have you been given sufficient training to be successful in your role?

TIP: Measure manager effectiveness with our free manager feedback and 360 feedback survey templates.

Remote employee onboarding survey questions

For employees working remotely, you’ll want to adjust your onboarding survey questions so that they’re relevant to the remote working experience.

1. Are you clear on our company’s remote working / WFH policy?
2. How satisfied are you with our company’s remote working / WFH policy?
3. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced working from home?
4. If you work from home, how satisfied are you with your working situation?
5. What other feedback do you have about our company’s remote working / WFH policy?

TIP: Send remote work surveys using our remote work survey template.

Employee engagement onboarding questions 

Employee engagement questions help reveal how happy, satisfied, and of course, engaged your new hires feel. They also give you insight into how to boost engagement if levels are low.

1. How interested are you in your current role? 
2. How welcome has your new manager made you feel? 
3. How welcome has your team made you feel? 
4. What could make you feel more welcome? 
5. Do you feel set up for success in this new role? 
6. How happy are you with this company as a place to work? 
7. How can we make this a better place to work?
8. How likely are you to recommend working at this organization to a friend? 

TIP: Send employee engagement surveys with this ready-to-use template.

Employee onboarding best practices 

As you prepare to design (or revamp) your employee onboarding program, here are some best practices to help you make the most of it.

1. Send employee onboarding surveys in a timely manner

Make sure to send employee onboarding surveys to your new hires after important milestones during the beginning of the employee lifecycle, such as after employees’ first week and first month, as well as following unique new employee experiences, like orientation or training sessions. 

The key here is to send surveys while the answers are fresh in employees’ minds – and while there’s still time to address any issues that might have come up.

2.  Keep surveys short, simple, and direct 

Here are some quick tips for getting the most out of your onboarding surveys:

• Keep your questions short, simple, and direct so that respondents can answer quickly and without any confusion.
• Ensure survey results remain anonymous and encourage employees to answer truthfully so that any issues they’ve encountered can be addressed and future experiences can be improved. 
• Allow employees to skip or select “Prefer not to answer” to questions that they don’t feel comfortable answering. Doing so encourages employees to complete the survey – helping improve your survey response rates.

3. Analyze the results 

Once you’ve received feedback from new employees, analyze the results for insights and trends. You may find out that new hires loved their interviewing experience, but their first day fell short because their workplace technology wasn’t ready for them. Or, that their team members made them feel welcome, but their manager has been too busy to meet with them. 

You can also use survey results as a benchmark for employee sentiment at the start of the lifecycle, and compare the results with data you gather at other critical milestones. For example, asking engagement questions after one week and again after one year can help you identify employee experience gaps. 

You might also be able to segment feedback, gaining insight into how varying onboarding experiences impacted important metrics like employee satisfaction, engagement, and tenure.

4. Take action – and tell your employees about it 

Like with any survey, you want to turn insights into action – employee onboarding surveys are no different. With the intel you’ve gathered, take action to improve aspects of the onboarding process – and communicate to the broader team what you’ve done based on employee feedback. Doing so builds trust and encourages employees to keep sharing their experiences with you. 

Start surveying employees in minutes with our free survey templates to gather valuable insights into the employee experience.

The post 31 effective employee onboarding survey questions to ask new hires appeared first on Delighted.