Chatbot Surveys vs Traditional Surveys: Smarter Customer Feedback Tools

  • Post author:
  • Post last modified:May 27, 2024
  • Reading time:13 mins read
You are currently viewing Chatbot Surveys vs Traditional Surveys: Smarter Customer Feedback Tools
Table of Contents
    Add a header to begin generating the table of contents

    Chatbots are a potent tool to collect customer feedback. These have been deployed by various industries all over their mobile applications and websites. Chatbots can be deployed seamlessly, and are conversational in nature. Since this technology improves and upgrades over time, it is easy to see why marketers should use chatbot surveys to conduct market research.

    In this blog, we discuss the vantage points of chatbot surveys over traditional methods of seeking customer feedback.

    What is a Chatbot Survey?

    A chatbot survey is powered by artificial intelligence to collect customer feedback after a certain touchpoint. These touchpoints include post-purchase surveys, customer feedback surveys, in-app purchases, or after a conversation with a customer support. Chatbots allow businesses to interact with customers in real-time and gather feedback in a conversational way. 

    However, traditional surveys are time-consuming and impersonal. Chatbot surveys provide a more convenient and personalized experience for respondents. Additionally, chatbot surveys can be conducted on multiple channels such as social media or messaging apps. This makes them accessible and cost-effective for businesses of all sizes.

    These surveys can be easily deployed at touchpoints across industries of e-commerce, FMCG, automotive industries, BFSI and D2C etc. They play an important role in capturing fast business insights from customers (who are also your end users across industries). You can now use AI for surveys and collect feedback. 

    Share customer feedback surveys via Facebook bot and WhatsApp bot

    Messenger survey tools are highly responsive in nature. People are constantly on their phones. Consider using Merren to create your own WhatsApp messenger bot and Facebook messenger feedback bot.

    6 Benefits Of Using A Chatbot To Collect Customer Feedback

    Here are some of the most useful new age benefits that are worth noting.

    1. Ease the workflow for people across industries

    Chatbots are not usually a direct replacement for human customer representatives. However, a well trained artificial intelligence can perform many functions that can emulate human interactions. This can save time and resources since a human may not always be available around the clock. Using this feature, organisations can allocate resources for other marketing efforts- all while deploying an efficient bot to interact with customers.

    2. A bot will be available for your queries round the clock

    When brands reach a global audience, customers expect them to be available all around the clock. A full-time availability is not always practical when it comes to a human agent. This can simply be replaced by a live chat bot that can attend to customers instantly. Bot personas can be deployed for in-app feedback ratings, websites, collecting responses on customer feedback forms etc. The survey bot can enhance experience for users, offer special assistance or immediately redirect users to specific resources.

    3. Faster response will bring a high response rate

    Nothing denotes speed than an AI doing its job with great efficiency. When bots deploy customer satisfaction surveys instantly, it becomes easier for respondents. People can answer surveys on the go. Survey bots are also compatible across brand applications, websites and mobile/ tablet devices / desktop. This will bring in real-time feedback and in-moment responses for faster analysis. Businesses can detect an unhappy customer and immediately attend to close any feedback loop.

    Messenger survey tools

    4. Personalization is the key to retain brand loyalty

    Customers are more likely to prefer brands that personalize their experience. Survey chatbots can offer customized product recommendations, target notifications, and push ads for exclusive deals. This boosts customer retention and engages them by making them feel valued. By analyzing the history of customer purchase, chatbots can highlight necessary products and services which are in line with their interests.

    5. Chat bots can handle larger feedback data

    Chatbots can handle large volumes of customer feedback. This allows companies to collect feedback from a larger number of customers and analyze the data quickly. Implementing chatbots is a practical solution for businesses of all sizes. Ability to attend to customers instantly, gather real time customer feedback, and handle large volumes of data is an efficient way to engage with customers. Companies can take their customer service and marketing efforts to the next level, ultimately driving growth and success.

    6. Automation can remove manual errors

    Manual handling of data is prone to errors. To avoid this issue, create a survey chatbot that runs on efficient automation. The seamless working of the chatbot technology can promise a better customer experience throughout every touchpoint. Automation can collect instant data via conversational surveys, offer a refreshing user experience and bring a high customer engagement overall.

    4 Best Practices to Implement AI Chatbot Surveys

    Implementing chat bot surveys can be an effective way to collect customer feedback. Once fully functional, a lot of this technology can be in a self-service mode. It is advisable to switch to chatbot technology due to its operational efficiency, superior user interface and its ability to handle a massive number of queries. Here are some of the things we can note prior to creating a full-fledged chatbot survey.

    1. Keep it simple and relevant

    Customer feedback demands that we keep questions simple and relevant. Avoid overwhelming them with too many questions or irrelevant information that may cause survey fatigue. Instead, focus on asking goal-oriented questions that are directly related to their recent interactions with your business. This way, you can ensure that your chatbot surveys are user-friendly and easy to navigate, bringing more accurate and insightful feedback from your customers.

    2. Provide clear instructions

    Clear instructions are essential for any survey especially when the attention spans are dropping. This is also needed if marketers are looking for genuine and authentic customer feedback data to avoid survey fatigue, skewed or manipulated responses. To ensure that customers understand the questions and can provide accurate responses, it’s crucial to use simple language and avoid jargon or technical terms especially with online surveys.

    Survey rewards

    3. Offer survey rewards

    Providing incentives is a great way to encourage customers to complete surveys and have a high response rate. Customers are more likely to participate in surveys if they feel that their time and effort are being rewarded. Incentives could be in the form of discounts, freebies, or other rewards that align with your business goals. However, ensure that the incentives provided are relevant to the customer and clearly communicated before the survey starts. It’s essential to follow through on delivering the promised incentive promptly to maintain customer trust and loyalty.

    4. Test and optimize chatbot for surveys

    Technical glitches can deter participants. Prior to launching bot surveys, test them thoroughly. Testing can also rule out compatibility issues across devices. Sometimes, the response can also be affected by technical errors. By testing the survey with a small group of respondents, businesses can identify any issues or challenges customers may encounter while completing the survey. Optimizing can improve user engagement and completion rates.

    4 Major Limitations of Traditional Surveys 

    Low response rate and limited insights is a problem for CX professionals. To tackle this, we have to understand the limitations of traditional surveys. Here are some important pointers that we can identify.

    Marketers cannot use messenger app survey templates

    Bringing up question forms is still a pen-and-paper approach. A lot of the data can be lost if not stored well. If questionnaires are not curated correctly, they can be intimidating and far from being conversational. This can discourage respondents from participating or force them to give a skewed response just to finish the survey. Manipulated data cannot help businesses make clear decisions.

    To avoid this, messenger bot customer feedback form is a new age approach. Traditional surveys lack the modern day approach to bring faster insights.

    Browser based interface is slow and outdated

    Major brands are still using browser or web based customer feedback systems. This directs respondents into an external browser that is not related to the application. This is much slower compared to an AI that can generate highly responsive and customized surveys in a few clicks. Traditional survey bots do not have this facility.

    Minimal accessibility for intended target audience

    Traditional surveys (phone surveys or in-mail static surveys) may only be accessible to a certain group of people (people with a landline or customers check their mail frequently.) Even if they are deployed, most people do not access their emails frequently, especially if they are busy professionals. Added to that, the feedback forms are lengthy and time consuming to fill. Due to this, you miss out on reaching the intended target audience like young respondents who mainly use messenger applications for daily use.

    Limited scope of seeking candid feedback

    Due to the rigid nature of mediums of traditional surveys, there is no scope to bring candid customer feedback. It usually relies on a set of predefined questions and no scope for open ended feedback. Added to this, there is no multimedia support to upload and share media rich feedback in traditional survey bots. Since human experience cannot be black and white, a chatbot survey can close this limitation gap and be a much better alternative from 2024 onward.

    How To Create Your Own Chatbot Survey?

    Sign up for a 14 day free trial with Merren. We do not need any credit card commitments. Here is a step by step guide on how to create your first chatbot survey. Try your first free survey with an AI chat bot using Merren.

    Conclusion

    Chat bot feedback forms are a potent way to gather customer data. Trends are passing by and businesses need data to create better marketing strategies. Having real time customer data is a great way to leverage internal customer support strategies and improve on multiple touchpoints. While analytics is what makes organisations improve on products and services, the AI chatbot can be curated to emulate human conversation. It is highly interactive in nature akin to instant messenger platforms such as WhatsApp messenger surveys and Facebook messenger surveys. Traditional surveys may have certain use but if we want to reach out to customers where they are, chat bot is a wiser offer.

    To understand how a bot can supercharge your feedback collection method, read more about the use of AI in surveys collection here.