Transforming Customer Experience Through Survey Innovation

Project Context

In 2019, our team faced a critical challenge: our customer experience surveys were outdated, yielding poor response rates and failing to capture actionable insights. The last major update was in 2017, prior to significant changes in our landing and product detail pages. Our surveys queried only 10% of visitors, were lengthy, and lacked focus, resulting in a mere 0.25% completion rate and ~70-80 responses per quarter. This limited our ability to understand and improve the user journey, ultimately impacting business outcomes and customer satisfaction.

Goals:

Reduce survey fatigue and increase response rates.
Capture the “why” behind user experiences at every stage of the customer journey.
Enable real-time interventions to address poor experiences.
Deliver actionable insights to drive product and service improvements.

My Role

As Lead UX Researcher, I spearheaded the redesign and deployment of our new survey protocol. My responsibilities included:

Identifying gaps in our existing research approach.
Designing and implementing new survey methodologies.
Building reusable research templates and onboarding materials.
Coaching teammates through their first research projects.
Instituting ethical and methodological guardrails.
Collaborating with cross-functional teams to integrate insights into product development.

Research Methodology

To address our goals, I employed a mixed-methods approach:

Quantitative: Short, targeted surveys using GetFeedback, querying 33% of site visitors and capturing user background data.
Qualitative: Open-ended questions to uncover motivations and pain points.
Journey Mapping: Surveys deployed at multiple touchpoints to understand experiences across the user journey.
Real-Time Intercepts: Automated triggers for unhappy customers, enabling immediate support and resolution.

Why these methods?
They allowed us to balance breadth (large sample size, robust metrics) with depth (rich qualitative insights), while minimizing respondent fatigue and maximizing relevance.

Research Process

Tooling & Tech Stack:

Transitioned from Qualtrics to GetFeedback for its ease of use, quick launch capabilities, Salesforce integration, and automated survey deployment.

Recruitment & Panel Management:

Targeted 33% of site visitors, ensuring diverse representation.
Incentivized participation with personalized follow-ups and, where appropriate, small rewards.
Maintained detailed panel records for compliance and longitudinal analysis.

Compliance & Ethical Guardrails:

Adhered to GDPR and internal data security protocols.
Ensured informed consent and anonymized data storage.
Instituted review checklists for all studies to maintain ethical standards.

Data Analysis:

Quantitative metrics tracked via dashboards (completion rates, NPS, bounce rates).
Thematic analysis of qualitative responses to identify actionable insights.

Key Findings

Response Rate: Increased from 0.25% to 33%, with ~80 responses per week.
Survey Fatigue: Reduced by shortening surveys and focusing questions.
User Insights: Identified key pain points (e.g., financing help, property management, education on out-of-state ownership).
Promoter Feedback: Users valued relevant, honest, and easy-to-understand information.
Detractor Feedback: Users wanted more personalized support and off-market deals.

Impact

Net Promoter Score (NPS): Achieved a 28.6% YoY increase.
Customer Support: Real-time intercepts reduced calls to support by resolving issues proactively.
Business Outcomes: Insights led to new product features (e.g., financing support, local property management connections).
ROI: Improved survey efficiency and actionable feedback contributed to higher customer retention and satisfaction.

Deliverables

Survey Templates: Reusable, modular templates for future studies.
User Journey Maps: Visualized pain points and opportunities across the customer lifecycle.
Reporting Dashboards: Automated metrics tracking for stakeholders.
Onboarding Materials: Toolkits and checklists for new researchers.

Reflections

This project reinforced my passion for user-centered research and the power of actionable insights. Leading the transition to a new survey protocol hammered home the importance of:

Iterative Design: Continually refining methods based on user feedback.
Collaboration: Partnering with product, engineering, and support teams to drive change.
Ethics: Maintaining rigorous standards for data privacy and participant well-being.

What I’d do differently:

Explore additional qualitative methods (e.g., in-depth interviews) for even richer insights.
Further automate panel management and incentive distribution.
Expand training resources to empower more teammates in research best practices.

Metrics of Success:

28.6% YoY increase in NPS
33% survey completion rate (up from 0.25%)
~80 responses per week (up from ~80 per quarter)
Reduced support calls and bounce rates
Tangible ROI through improved customer retention

Transforming Customer Experience Through Survey Innovation

Project Context

Goals:

Reduce survey fatigue and increase response rates.

Capture the “why” behind user experiences at every stage of the customer journey.

Enable real-time interventions to address poor experiences.

Deliver actionable insights to drive product and service improvements.

My Role

As Lead UX Researcher, I spearheaded the redesign and deployment of our new survey protocol. My responsibilities included:

Identifying gaps in our existing research approach.

Designing and implementing new survey methodologies.

Building reusable research templates and onboarding materials.

Coaching teammates through their first research projects.

Instituting ethical and methodological guardrails.

Collaborating with cross-functional teams to integrate insights into product development.

Research Methodology

To address our goals, I employed a mixed-methods approach:

Quantitative: Short, targeted surveys using GetFeedback, querying 33% of site visitors and capturing user background data.

Qualitative: Open-ended questions to uncover motivations and pain points.

Journey Mapping: Surveys deployed at multiple touchpoints to understand experiences across the user journey.

Real-Time Intercepts: Automated triggers for unhappy customers, enabling immediate support and resolution.

Why these methods?They allowed us to balance breadth (large sample size, robust metrics) with depth (rich qualitative insights), while minimizing respondent fatigue and maximizing relevance.

Research Process

Tooling & Tech Stack:

Transitioned from Qualtrics to GetFeedback for its ease of use, quick launch capabilities, Salesforce integration, and automated survey deployment.

Recruitment & Panel Management:

Targeted 33% of site visitors, ensuring diverse representation.

Incentivized participation with personalized follow-ups and, where appropriate, small rewards.

Maintained detailed panel records for compliance and longitudinal analysis.

Compliance & Ethical Guardrails:

Adhered to GDPR and internal data security protocols.

Ensured informed consent and anonymized data storage.

Instituted review checklists for all studies to maintain ethical standards.

Data Analysis:

Quantitative metrics tracked via dashboards (completion rates, NPS, bounce rates).

Thematic analysis of qualitative responses to identify actionable insights.

Key Findings

Response Rate: Increased from 0.25% to 33%, with ~80 responses per week.

Survey Fatigue: Reduced by shortening surveys and focusing questions.

User Insights: Identified key pain points (e.g., financing help, property management, education on out-of-state ownership).

Promoter Feedback: Users valued relevant, honest, and easy-to-understand information.

Detractor Feedback: Users wanted more personalized support and off-market deals.

Net Promoter Score (NPS): Achieved a 28.6% YoY increase.

Customer Support: Real-time intercepts reduced calls to support by resolving issues proactively.

Business Outcomes: Insights led to new product features (e.g., financing support, local property management connections).

ROI: Improved survey efficiency and actionable feedback contributed to higher customer retention and satisfaction.

Deliverables

Survey Templates: Reusable, modular templates for future studies.

User Journey Maps: Visualized pain points and opportunities across the customer lifecycle.

Reporting Dashboards: Automated metrics tracking for stakeholders.

Onboarding Materials: Toolkits and checklists for new researchers.

Reflections

This project reinforced my passion for user-centered research and the power of actionable insights. Leading the transition to a new survey protocol hammered home the importance of:

Iterative Design: Continually refining methods based on user feedback.

Collaboration: Partnering with product, engineering, and support teams to drive change.

Ethics: Maintaining rigorous standards for data privacy and participant well-being.

What I’d do differently:

Explore additional qualitative methods (e.g., in-depth interviews) for even richer insights.

Further automate panel management and incentive distribution.

Expand training resources to empower more teammates in research best practices.

Metrics of Success:

28.6% YoY increase in NPS

33% survey completion rate (up from 0.25%)

~80 responses per week (up from ~80 per quarter)

Reduced support calls and bounce rates

Tangible ROI through improved customer retention

Why these methods?
They allowed us to balance breadth (large sample size, robust metrics) with depth (rich qualitative insights), while minimizing respondent fatigue and maximizing relevance.