How to use surveys to improve the user experience/conversion of your website

User experience is a fundamental value in the current context in which we live. In addition to retaining a greater number of traffic, it will also help in conversion rate optimization. Therefore, in this article we will explain the value of surveys on a website and the direct relationship it has with the UX.

What are surveys and what are they for?

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, in addition to advancing in digital transformation, so-called web surveys also proliferated a lot. It is a fast and agile tool to know the opinions of users about our brand or some aspect of our business. The perceptions and consumption habits of our audience change over time and, therefore, user research will help us develop aligned strategies to improve the level of turnover.

Online surveys consist of a questionnaire of different questions, which potential customers can easily answer from any device. In addition, to have a greater range of participation, we can give some kind of incentive such as a discount on a purchase or some kind of advantage.

One of the main benefits of this type of action is the possibility of obtaining quantitative data from a large sample of users in a short space of time. In fact, answers can be obtained almost instantaneously. This allows us to improve the relationship with users, since we will be able to understand what the main needs you have are. Additionally, it facilitates quick decision-making, something essential in such a competitive business context.

How to improve the UX with the opinion of users

Improving the
conversion rate of our e-commerce or corporate website
is one of the main actions we have to carry out today. On many occasions,
web usability
is one of the factors we should focus on. The first step is to identify those segments of the website in which the user decides to leave it without performing any action of value for our company.

However, even if we do an audit and consult the metrics, on many occasions we may lack context to identify the problem. For this, no one better to answer our doubts than the users themselves who have experienced these setbacks. In this way, online surveys can be programmed that will allow us to understand the real feedback of the user experience. With a high degree of participation we can come to understand possibilities for improvement.

Once we have collected all the answers, we will be ready to analyze them and establish a true road plan. Subsequently, we will only have to implement all the recommendations of our audience. Once a reasonable time has passed we can compare the conversion rate after a few weeks, and also relaunch the same survey to see if the opinion has changed.

Good practices for conducting surveys

Once we know all the benefits that online surveys give us, it is time to understand the best practices to develop this type of questionnaire. Undoubtedly, this type of action has allowed us to improve the user experience of companies as important as
Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona
or the
Fundació TICSalut
. Therefore, we must be attentive to the following points:

1- Clearly define an objective

Before preparing the questions, it is of vital importance to define what you want to achieve with this survey. You have to think about the parts of the website that you want to improve, or some aspect of the product that you want to analyze. In addition, in this quantitative analysis it is essential to encompass all the audience segments that we impact.

Therefore, before thinking about the questions of the questionnaire, it is essential to have our target audience well defined to get the most out of this action.

2- Put yourself in the place of consumers

There is no better strategy to develop a survey, than to put yourself in the place of our users. This feeling of empathy is what will help design the bases of the questionnaire and will cover all the topics and points that we must deal with. A good practice would be to do the exercise of entering the website of one of our competitors.

Once there, we will identify strengths and weaknesses compared to our website. There can come many ideas of interesting questions to ask the audience.

3- Clear and brief questions

Users don’t have much time when browsing a website. In fact, most of them do it through a mobile device and mostly without being at home. Therefore, if we do not want people to stay in the middle of the survey, it is essential that it is quick and simple.

All the questions that are dealt with must be clear, and it is recommended that they be of multiple choice of answer. Having to write an open-ended response will increase the abandonment rate.

4- Encourage participation

Compensating the opinion of users is key to the level of participation is high. As we have said before, a discount on your next purchase through a code, or an added value is the best excuse to complete the survey.

Some of the star topics that should appear in any questionnaire are relatedto the loading speed or the uniformity of the website. Also, you can ask if they understand the architecture of the web, if they have a problem with some kind of process or if, instead, the navigation is clear.

In conclusion, improving the user experience is one of the main keys to optimize our conversion rate and improve our billing levels. One of the main tools we have at our disposal to gather data and ideas are web surveys. In addition, at Pasiona we are experts in web optimization through the improvement of the user experience.