This article outlines best practice for structuring survey questionnaires.
Surveys capture real guest experiences. Compared to a mystery visit questionnaire, the purpose of a survey is to measure sentiment rather than monitor service standards.
Well-designed survey questionnaires make it quick and easy for guests to complete, while still producing results that are clear, meaningful, and actionable for clients.
1. Structure the questionnaire with the guest's user experience in mind
Each section in the questionnaire creates a new page in Dynamic Survey. Questions should still follow the guest journey, but consider how many clicks the guest needs to make to navigate it and submit. Fewer clicks means a smoother completion experience.
For example:
- Visit Details – order method/feedback category
- Feedback – NPS and KPIs
- Product Feedback – product rating questions
- About You – demographic questions
A shorter survey is easier to drive engagement for. We recommend a survey should be around 10–12 questions.
2. Use clear rated questions
A survey should always measure NPS, followed by a few KPIs, e.g. service, cleanliness, speed, food and drink quality, and value for money.
- NPS is a standard rating out of 10
- KPIs are rated out of 5
When wording your question, consider what the rating key would be. For example:
"How satisfied were you with the following aspects of your visit?"
1 = very dissatisfied, 2 = dissatisfied, 3 = neither dissatisfied or satisfied, 4 = satisfied, 5 = very satisfied
3. Use the NPS influence question
The NPS influence question helps identify the main reason for a guest's score, whether this is a detractor, neutral or promoter score. The standard influence question to use:
"Great to hear, please select the main reason you’d recommend us." (logic for 9-10 scores)
"Thank you, please select the main reason you didn’t score us higher." (logic for 7-8 scores)
"Sorry to hear that, please select the main reason you wouldn’t recommend us so we can improve." (logic for 1-6 scores)
- Quality of food/drink
- Speed of service
- Team friendliness
- Team attentiveness
- Price of food/drink
- Cleanliness
- Atmosphere
- Payment process
- Other
The NPS influencer needs to have the analysis tag "NPS Influence". This ensures the data pulls into the NPS > NPS Influencers report in the Hub.
4. Use follow-on influencer questions for ratings 3 or below
As with the NPS influencer, follow-up influencer questions make reporting more valuable and provide clear insight into why guests are dissatisfied with an element of their visit. These should be single-choice, for example:
"Please tell us the main reason you were less than satisfied with the food quality?"
- Taste
- Temperature
- Presentation
- Freshness
- Quality of ingredients
- Portion size
All influencer questions need to have the analysis tag of "Influence Factor". This ensures the data pulls into the Feedback > Influences report in the Hub.
5. Use logic to control question visibility
Consider the order method and how this changes the guest journey. For example, a delivery order will not be able to answer questions on service or cleanliness.
Ensure you have the correct driving questions in place to manage this. For example:
"Please select your order method"
- In restaurant
- Via app
- Click & collect
- Delivery
This will also impact what answer options should appear on influence questions. For example, a click & collect order can rate their service, but not all key service points will be applicable if they rate 3 or below. Add logic at an answer option level if needed.
N.B. that not all driving questions need to be added to the questionnaire for surveys.
Keeping the guest's user experience in mind, use comment boxes sparingly in surveys.
- Always include a comment box on the NPS question, and make it forced.
- Do not add comment boxes to other rated questions, as these add unnecessary length to the survey.
- Where an influencer question has an "Other" option, use a forced comment box so the client can still gain insight.
- You may want to use an "any other comments" text-only question on Product Feedback.
Quick Best Practice Checklist
When designing a survey questionnaire, ensure that:
- The structure minimises clicks and follows the guest journey
- The survey is kept to around 10-12 questions
- NPS and KPI questions use clear rated scales with defined rating keys
- An NPS influencer question is used for all ratings and tagged with "NPS Influence"
- Follow-on influencer questions are used for ratings of 3 or below and tagged with "Influence Factor"
- Logic controls visibility based on order method and prior answers
- Comment boxes are used strategically - forced on NPS, and on "Other" influencer options