Tutorial: Send Email Auto-Responder on Negative Customer Feedback

The following tutorial includes features that are available at the Personal plan level.

This tutorial includes the following features:

• Show/Hide Triggers
• Send Email action
• Rating Scale question type
• Essay question type
• Contact Information question type (First Name, Last Name, Email Address)

Getting customer feedback is a popular use of SurveyGizmo. However, simply getting the feedback is not enough; acting on that feedback is the key to improving the customer experience and turning a negative experience into a positive one. One of the best ways to do that is to not only ask the respondent for more details on their bad experience, but instantly notifying a customer support agent or department that the customer had a bad experience and providing the details necessary to follow-up with the client. The first step is to create the initial satisfaction question.

The Rating Scale question type is a perfect fit for this:

The key things to notice are that the rating scale is on a 5-point scale, with the Reporting Value set as a numeric value while the Optional Label is what the user will see and is set as Very Dissatisfied (1) through Neutral (3) and Very Satisfied (5). For good measure, the question is also required.

Secondly, you want to create two follow-up questions: An essay question asking them to explain why they had a bad experience, and a contact group for collecting their contact information.

You’ll notice in the image that the next step is already completed: Adding show/hide triggers. The trigger question is the first Rating Scale question about satisfaction, and you will want to trigger the showing of both of the follow-up questions if they select Very Dissatisfied (1) or Dissatisfied (2). Of course, you need to set the follow-up as ‘Hidden by Default’ as well so they are not seen unless triggered.

Excellent! We’re halfway there. We’ve gotten additional information about a dissatisfied customer or client. The final step is going to the Thank You page in the survey and clicking Add Action > Send Email. You are creating an email auto-responder, to notify your support staff immediately so they can follow-up directly. If you requested a phone number (the example is only an email address), you can use that to follow-up, but why not just ask for both and let the client decide which they will enter? Here is what your email auto-responder will look like:

The subject is set very clearly, “Negative Customer Feedback”. The content of the email is also simple, making use of the Merge Helper on the left side to get the merge codes for their answers to the key questions: How was their experience, what were the additional details, and what is their contact information (first name, last name, and email address in this example). The most important part of the auto-responder is near the bottom under the Send When (only sends when:) rule. You want to make sure you choose the overall satisfaction Rating Scale question from the drop-down, then in the equals box you enter the following:

/1|2/

This special code says, “Send this email When their satisfaction was either 1 OR 2.” The “|” pipe symbol is on your keyboard above the enter key (go ahead, look down). The forward slashes on the far left and right are required when using the pipe symbol and this OR method, and is described in more detail in the tooltip (blue circle with a white question mark). Make sure you leave the Send by Default setting in the Yes position, otherwise the rule will not be evaluated!

Save it, test it, and you now have a great way to improve your customer relationships!