Customer satisfaction survey: 5 questions for a small shop

A customer satisfaction survey for a small shop needs five questions, not fifty. Ask how satisfied they were, what they liked, what to fix, whether they'll come back and whether they'd recommend you. That fits on a half-sheet of paper, or a one-page Google Form a customer finishes in about a minute.

Short is the point. The Harvard Business Review article that introduced the Net Promoter Score warns that adding questions lowers response rates. You want answers from people holding a tray, a baby or a bag of laundry, so stop at five.

Use these as your customer feedback form template. Print the English and the Taglish side by side, or pick the one your customers use. For a printable form, fit the five questions on a half-sheet or quarter-sheet slip and copy it 2 or 4 to an A4 sheet before you cut.

• 1. "How satisfied were you with your visit today? (1 = not at all, 5 = very satisfied)" / "Gaano po kayo ka-satisfied sa visit niyo ngayon? (1 = hindi talaga, 5 = sobrang satisfied)"
• 2. "What did you like most?" / "Ano po ang pinaka-nagustuhan niyo?"
• 3. "What is one thing we should fix?" / "Ano po ang isang bagay na dapat naming ayusin?"
• 4. "Will you come back? (Yes / Maybe / No)" / "Babalik po ba kayo? (Oo / Siguro / Hindi)"
• 5. "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend? (0 = not at all, 10 = definitely)" / "Irerekomenda niyo po ba kami sa kaibigan o kapamilya? (0 = hindi talaga, 10 = siguradong oo)"
• Optional: "Name and number, only if you'd like us to get back to you." / "Pangalan at number, kung gusto niyo pong balikan namin kayo."

Keep the five questions and add tick boxes to question 3, so customers can point at the problem without writing much.

• Feedback form for a restaurant or carinderia: lasa (taste), dami ng serving (portion), bilis (speed), linis (cleanliness), presyo (price), staff.
• Café or milk tea shop: sweetness, waiting time, seating, wifi. Add "Tama po ba ang tamis?" (Was the sweetness right?)
• Salon or barbershop: "Did we follow the cut or colour you asked for?" / "Nasunod po ba ang gusto niyong gupit o kulay?"
• Laundry shop: "Was your laundry complete and on time?" / "Kumpleto at on time po ba ang labada niyo?"
• Online seller: "Did your order arrive in good condition?" / "Maayos po ba ang dating ng order niyo?"

Each has a job, and you can use both: a paper slip with the form's QR code printed at the bottom.

• Paper slip: anyone can answer, including customers with no data or no smartphone. Put a box with a slot by the door and a pen on a string. You count the answers yourself.
• Google Form with a QR code: free, adds up the answers and draws the charts for you. Customers can answer on their own phone after they leave. Fewer people answer, but you don't have to count anything.
• In chat: if you take orders on Messenger or Viber, send the form link once the order is delivered.

It takes about 15 minutes, and you need only a Google account.

• Go to forms.google.com, click Blank form, and name it, for example "[Shop] feedback" (Google Forms Help).
• Add the five questions. Use Linear scale for questions 1 and 5, Paragraph for 2 and 3, and Multiple choice for 4 (question types).
• Make only question 1 required, so nobody gives up halfway.
• Click Publish, give access to anyone with the link, then copy the responder link and tick Shorten URL. Leave email collection off so answers stay anonymous (publishing and sharing).
• Turn the short link into a QR code (Chrome's built-in Create QR code is free: see how to make a QR code), label it "Feedback", and print it on your slip or a counter sign.
• Answers appear under Responses, in a Summary tab with charts. Click Link to Sheets if you want a spreadsheet (viewing responses).
• Scan your own QR and send one test answer before you print a hundred slips.

Ask at the end of the visit, when the customer has the whole experience in mind: with the bill, the change, the receipt or the bag.

• Ask everyone for one full week, not just the customers who look happy or upset.
• Choose a normal week. The Christmas rush or fiesta weekend tells you about the rush, not your usual service.
• At the counter: "Could you answer five quick questions? It takes a minute and helps us improve." / "Pwede po bang pakisagutan ito? Limang tanong lang po, isang minuto lang. Para po mas gumanda pa ang serbisyo namin."
• In chat: "Thank you for your order! If you have a minute, here are 5 quick questions: [link]" / "Salamat po sa order! Kung may isang minuto po kayo, pa-sagot naman po ng 5 tanong: [link]"
• Make the name optional, so people can be frank.
• Don't offer a prize for answering. You want honest answers, not answers written for a freebie.

Every Monday, take the week's slips or open the Responses tab, and work out three numbers and one fix. Write them in the same notebook each week; the trend matters more than any single week.

• CSAT (customer satisfaction score): answers of 4 or 5 on question 1 ÷ all answers. Example: 34 of 40 = 85%.
• Come-back %: "Yes" on question 4 ÷ all answers. Example: 30 of 40 = 75%.
• Recommend score: the Net Promoter method from the HBR article: % who gave 9 or 10, minus % who gave 0 to 6. Example: of 40 answers, 22 gave 9 or 10 (55%) and 6 gave 0 to 6 (15%), so the score is 40.
• The fix list: read every answer to question 3, group the repeats, and pick one to fix this week. Tell your staff the numbers and the fix.
• Customer feedback examples and what to do: "Ang tagal ng order" means time your orders for a day to see where it slows. "Lumiit yung serving ng rice" means check the scoop. "Ang bait ni kuya sa counter" means tell kuya, in front of the team.
• If a slip describes a real problem and leaves a number, call back within a day. How to handle angry customers has the scripts.

A private feedback form is fine. Using it as a filter is not: sending happy customers to Google and keeping unhappy ones on the form is called review gating. Google's policy says merchants may not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers" (Google Business Profile Help).

So don't print "If you gave us 5, please review us on Google" on the slip, and don't send your review link only to people who scored you 4 or 5. Ask everyone for feedback, and separately ask everyone for a Google review with your direct review link. A slip can carry both QR codes side by side, as long as every customer gets both. How to ask customers for Google reviews has the wording, and the numbers from your survey feed straight into measuring customer retention.