How to avoid survey fatigue on your Thank You page
By Peter Coolen · · 6 min read
Survey fatigue is what happens when people are asked for feedback so often, or at such length, that they stop answering. Some never start: the survey looks like work, so they close the tab. Others start, then drop out halfway or click anything just to get to the end. Either way you get fewer answers, and the answers you do get are worse.
A post-purchase survey has an advantage here. The customer has just bought from you and is usually in a good mood. But that goodwill is easy to waste. Below are the most common mistakes we see on Shopify Thank You pages, each with a bad and a better way to do it.
1. Asking too many questions
Every extra question costs you answers. A long form on the Thank You page also looks out of place: the customer came to see their order confirmation, not a questionnaire.
Eight questions on one page: how they found you, why they bought, their age, their job, product satisfaction, delivery preferences, NPS and a comment box.
One question you will actually act on, such as “How did you hear about us?”, plus one optional follow-up. Save the rest for a later survey.
If you really need more, split the survey into short pages. A page with a single question feels quick, so people get started, but keep the total small: answers are only sent when the last page is submitted.
2. Asking what you already know
Shopify already knows what the customer bought, where they live and whether they ordered before. Asking again wastes their time and tells them you are not paying attention.
- Yes
- No
Skip these questions. Use audiences to show a survey only to first time customers, or only in certain countries, and filter your results instead.
3. Starting with a blank text box
Open questions give you the richest answers, but they are also the most effort. Put one first and many people will skip the whole survey.
- Price
- Shipping cost
- Delivery time
- Nothing
- Other
A quick choice first, with an “Other” option for anything you didn’t think of.
4. Making every question required
Required questions protect your data, but too many of them push people into random answers just to get past. A random answer is worse than no answer, because you can’t tell it apart from a real one.
All five questions are required, including the comment box.
Only the one question you need for your decision is required. Everything else is optional.
5. Showing the same survey to everyone
A returning customer who has answered “How did you hear about us?” three times will start ignoring your survey altogether.
One survey, shown on every order, forever.
Ask new customers how they found you. Ask returning customers why they came back. Ask buyers of a new product what made them try it.
6. Wordy questions and long intros
People skim. If your question takes two sentences, half of your customers will answer a question you didn’t ask.
- Google search
- A friend
- Other
- Google search
- A friend
- Other
7. Asking in the wrong language
If you sell abroad, a survey in a language the customer doesn’t read will simply be ignored, and the answers you do get will be skewed towards one market.
An English survey on every Thank You page, in every market.
One survey per language, so each shopper sees the version that matches their checkout, with a default for everyone else.
8. Never acting on the answers
The surest way to tire people out is to keep asking a question you already know the answer to. Once the results stop changing, you have learned what you can.
Running the same survey for a year and checking the results once.
Check the summary every week or two. When the picture is clear, make a change, then replace the question with the next thing you want to know.
A quick checklist
- Can you name the decision each question will help you make?
- Is the most important question first?
- Could Shopify tell you this answer already?
- Is only the key question required?
- Does each question fit on one line on a phone?
- Is the survey shown only to the customers it is about?
For help with the most popular question of all, read how to write a “How did you hear about us?” question.
Written with AI, idea and final edit by Peter Coolen.