15+ questions to ask your customers to know their needs and expectations

The success of your business depends on its ability to best meet the expectations and needs of your customers, and to evolve with them. 

What are your customers waiting for? What products do they need? The surveys allow you to see more clearly. 

Discover more than 15 questions to ask your customers to qualify their needs and expectations.

Qualify customer needs and expectations: what are we talking about?

Many companies are unfamiliar with their customers. Why? Simply because it is relatively rare for a client to spontaneously communicate their needs and expectations to the company. Talking customers are still in the minority.

If you want to learn more about your customers, get to know them better, you have to ask them questions. Surveys allow you to know in more detail who your customers are, but also and perhaps above all to know more about their needs and expectations. Knowing your customers’ needs and expectations will help you evolve your offer in the right direction and further customise your marketing campaigns.  

 

Before proposing a series of questions to help you design your surveys, let us recall some elements of definition. What is the customer need? What is the difference between a need and an expectation? The need is a requirement to satisfy. As philosophy teaches us, need is the revealer of a lack, of a deficiency. The products or services you market are designed to meet the needs of your customers.

An expectation, contrary to need, is not the symptom of a lack. It is something that one desires, that one wishes without necessarily having “need”. The expectation is not about a product but rather about everything surrounding the act of purchase, and in particular the quality of the relationship you have with your customers.

More generally, expectations relate to all the interactions between your company and your customers. This includes, for example, the simplicity of the shopping journey on your site, the quality of the customer service, etc.

 

Example of the Customer Satisfaction dashboard

 

Needs and expectations are two sides of the “demand”. If you want to improve the satisfaction of your customers, you must consider these two complementary and inseparable aspects. Questions about your products (and therefore the needs of your customers) are insufficient if they are not accompanied by questions about expectations.

Turning now to the question of “how”: how do you qualify the needs and expectations of your customers?

The questions you must ask to qualify the needs and expectations of your customers

Several stages surround the act of purchase itself, which goes from the birth of the need to the re-purchase. To understand the needs and expectations of your customers, we encourage you to ask them questions about the different stages of their journey: before, during and after the act of purchase.

Discover The Basics of Customer Journey Mapping

Qualify customer expectations before the purchase

• What are you looking for on our site?
• What types of products are you interested in?
• What are your interests?
• For which occasion do you want to buy this type of product? (an anniversary, a farewell party, a wedding, etc.)
• What aroused your interest in our offer?
• What prompted you to visit our website?
• Did you find the products you were looking for easily?
• Did you use the dynamic search engine to do your research? If yes, what did you think? Did you use the dynamic search engine to do your research? If yes, what did you think of it?
• What do you think of our catalogue?  

 

Qualify the customer’s expectations after the purchase and before delivery

• What made you decide to choose our offer/product? (deciding factors of the purchase decision)
• What did you think of the ordering process? (evaluation of the buying experience)
• Did you encounter any problems when placing your order? If yes, what were they?
• What is your preferred method of delivery?
• What is your preferred method of payment?  

Qualify the customer’s expectations after the purchase or for a new cycle

• Are you satisfied with your purchase?
• Does the product that you have bought meet your expectations?
• Would you renew your purchase?
• How willing would you be to recommend our products to those around you? (NPS question)
• Do you plan to buy new products in the future?
• When would you buy new products from us?

 

Of course, these questions need to be tailored to your industry and product universe. The answers obtained will enable you to qualify what your customers expect of you, their requirements and their needs.

We recommend that you use a solution like Skeepers to ask your questions at the right time and to the right people (for example: activate the question “what did you think of the ordering process?” After the validation of the order). Precise targeting of your surveys will result in the number and quality of responses collected.