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Customer satisfaction survey: 50 questions and ready-to-send templates

Build a customer satisfaction survey from 50 questions you can copy: overall satisfaction, the 0 to 10 recommend question, customer effort, service and staff, and open questions that tell you why. Below them you'll find phone survey scripts and ready-to-send invitations for WhatsApp, text and email. Add your business name and service once and every question updates. After the templates: what each type of question measures, how to write questions that get honest answers, when to send a survey and what to do with the answers.

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Overall satisfaction

The core satisfaction questions. Pick one, keep the same scale every time, and you can compare results from month to month.

  • Overall satisfaction (1 to 5)

    Overall, how satisfied are you with Oakwood Dental? (1 = very dissatisfied, 5 = very satisfied)

    The classic satisfaction question. The satisfaction score is the share of answers that are 4 or 5.

  • Satisfaction with this visit

    How satisfied were you with your teeth cleaning today? (1 = very dissatisfied, 5 = very satisfied)

  • Met expectations

    How well did Oakwood Dental meet your expectations? (Much worse than expected / Worse / About as expected / Better / Much better than expected)

  • Quality

    How would you rate the quality of your teeth cleaning? (Poor / Fair / Good / Very good / Excellent)

  • Value for the price

    How would you rate the value you got for the price you paid? (Poor / Fair / Good / Very good / Excellent)

  • Likely to come back

    How likely are you to use Oakwood Dental again? (Not at all likely / Slightly likely / Moderately likely / Very likely / Extremely likely)

  • Did we solve it?

    Did Oakwood Dental take care of what you came to us for? (Yes / Partly / No)

  • Reply with a number (for texts and chats)

    How was your experience with Oakwood Dental today? Reply with a number: 1 = bad, 2 = OK, 3 = great.

    Three options are easy to answer from a lock screen.

  • Compared with alternatives

    Compared with other places you've tried for teeth cleaning, how does Oakwood Dental compare? (Much worse / Somewhat worse / About the same / Somewhat better / Much better)

  • Got it right the first time

    How much do you trust Oakwood Dental to get things right the first time? (Not at all / A little / Somewhat / A lot / Completely)

Recommend (0 to 10)

The 0 to 10 recommend question behind the Net Promoter Score (NPS), with the follow-ups that make the number useful.

  • Recommend to a friend (0 to 10)

    On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Oakwood Dental to a friend or colleague?

    NPS: the share of 9s and 10s minus the share of 0 to 6 answers. Keep the wording and the 0 to 10 scale exactly the same every time.

  • Recommend this service (0 to 10)

    On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our teeth cleaning to someone you know?

  • Recommend to another business (0 to 10)

    On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Oakwood Dental to another business like yours?

  • Reason for the score

    What's the main reason for the score you gave?

    Ask it right after the 0 to 10 question, whatever the score.

  • What would raise the score

    What's one thing that would have made your score higher?

  • Follow-up for a 9 or 10

    Thank you! What did you like most about Oakwood Dental?

    For customers who answer 9 or 10.

  • Follow-up for a 7 or 8

    What would it take for Oakwood Dental to earn a 9 or 10 from you?

    For customers who answer 7 or 8.

  • Follow-up for 0 to 6

    We're sorry to hear that. What went wrong, and what could we do to make it right?

    For customers who answer 0 to 6. Have someone reply to these personally.

Customer effort

How easy it was to get what they needed. Effort questions point straight at the step that needs fixing: booking, reaching you, waiting or paying.

  • Ease overall (1 to 5)

    How easy was it to get what you needed from Oakwood Dental today? (1 = very difficult, 5 = very easy)

    The customer effort question, often reported as the Customer Effort Score (CES).

  • Easy to handle my request (agree scale)

    Oakwood Dental made it easy for me to handle my request. (Strongly disagree / Disagree / Neither agree nor disagree / Agree / Strongly agree)

  • Booking

    How easy was it to book your appointment? (Very difficult / Difficult / Neither easy nor difficult / Easy / Very easy)

  • Reaching us

    How easy was it to reach us by phone or message? (Very difficult / Difficult / Neither easy nor difficult / Easy / Very easy)

  • Answered the first time

    Was your question answered the first time you contacted us? (Yes / No, I had to contact you again)

  • Waiting time

    How reasonable was the wait before someone helped you? (Too long / A bit long / About right)

  • Paying

    How easy was it to pay? (Very difficult / Difficult / Neither easy nor difficult / Easy / Very easy)

  • Had to repeat information

    Did you have to give us the same information more than once? (Yes / No)

Service and staff

Questions about the people and the details of the service. Use the ones that match what you actually offer, and skip the rest.

  • Friendly and respectful

    How friendly and respectful was our team? (1 = not at all, 5 = extremely)

  • Understood your needs

    How well did our team understand what you needed? (Not at all / Slightly / Moderately / Very well / Extremely well)

  • Explained prices and next steps

    Did we explain things clearly, including prices and next steps? (Yes / Somewhat / No)

  • Started on time

    Did your appointment start on time? (Yes / It was a little late / It was very late)

  • Phone call with us

    How would you rate your phone call with us? (Poor / Fair / Good / Very good / Excellent)

  • WhatsApp replies

    How helpful were our replies on WhatsApp? (Not helpful / Somewhat helpful / Very helpful)

  • Cleanliness and comfort

    How would you rate the cleanliness and comfort of our location? (Poor / Fair / Good / Very good / Excellent)

  • Delivery on time and as described

    Did your order arrive on time and as described? (Yes / No, it was late / No, something was wrong)

  • Did what we said

    Did we do what we said we would do? (Yes / Mostly / No)

  • Problem resolved

    If you had a problem, how well did we resolve it? (Not resolved / Partly resolved / Fully resolved / I didn't have a problem)

  • Preferred language

    Were you able to talk with us in your preferred language? (Yes / No)

  • Recognize someone on the team

    Is there anyone on our team you'd like to thank? Tell us their name and what they did.

    Share these answers with the team. They're often the most read part of a survey.

Open questions

Open questions tell you why behind the scores. Ask one or two, and put them last so the scale questions get answered first.

  • What you liked most

    What did you like most about your experience with Oakwood Dental?

  • One thing to do better

    What's one thing we could do better?

    If you can ask only one open question, ask this one.

  • What almost stopped you

    Was there anything that almost stopped you from choosing Oakwood Dental?

  • A service you wish we offered

    Is there a service you wish we offered?

  • Describe us in a few words

    How would you describe Oakwood Dental to a friend, in a few words?

  • Anything that surprised you

    Did anything surprise you, good or bad?

  • Why you chose us

    Why did you choose Oakwood Dental over other options?

  • How you heard about us

    How did you hear about Oakwood Dental?

  • The hardest part

    What was the hardest part of working with us?

  • What you'd change first

    If you ran Oakwood Dental for a day, what would you change first?

  • Anything else

    Is there anything else you'd like us to know?

  • Permission to follow up

    May we contact you about your answers? If so, what's the best way to reach you?

    Ask before you follow up on an answer, and then follow up.

Phone survey scripts

For surveys by phone. Keep them to three questions or fewer, ask permission first and read the scale out loud each time.

  • Opening and permission

    Phone script

    Hi Maria, this is Sam from Oakwood Dental. You were in for your teeth cleaning recently, and we're asking a few customers how it went. It's three quick questions. Is now an OK time? If yes: Thank you. First, on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague? If no: No problem. Is there a better time to call, or would you rather answer by text?

  • The three questions and the close

    Phone script

    Question 1: On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Oakwood Dental to a friend or colleague? Question 2: On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is very easy, how easy was it to get what you needed? Question 3: What's one thing we could do better? Close: Thank you, Maria. That's everything. Your answers go straight to our team.

  • When the score is low

    Phone script

    I'm sorry to hear that, Maria. Could you tell me what happened? After they answer: Thank you for telling me. I'll share this with our manager today. Would you like someone to call you back about it? Is this the best number to reach you?

    Promise a callback only if someone will make it.

  • When the score is high

    Phone script

    That's great to hear, Maria, thank you. Would you be willing to leave us a short review online? If so, I'll text you the link right after this call.

    Ask every customer the same way, not only the happy ones, if you ask for reviews at all.

  • Voicemail when nobody answers

    Voicemail

    Hi Maria, this is Sam from Oakwood Dental. We're calling to ask how your recent teeth cleaning went. No need to call back: we'll text you a short survey you can answer when it suits you. Thank you!

    Send the text only if the customer agreed to receive texts from you.

WhatsApp, text and email invitations

Short invitations that ask one question in the message itself or link to a longer survey. Send them the same day, while the visit is fresh.

  • WhatsApp: one question in the chat

    WhatsApp

    Hi Maria, thanks for choosing Oakwood Dental! How was your teeth cleaning? Reply with a number from 1 to 5, where 5 is excellent. Your answer goes straight to our team.

  • Text: the 0 to 10 question

    SMS

    Oakwood Dental: Hi Maria, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend, from 0 to 10? Reply with a number. Reply STOP to opt out.

  • Text: link to the survey

    SMS

    Oakwood Dental: Thanks for your visit, Maria! Tell us how we did in 3 quick questions: example.com/survey. Reply STOP to opt out.

  • Email invitation

    Email

    Subject: How was your teeth cleaning? Hi Maria, Thank you for choosing Oakwood Dental. Could you tell us how your teeth cleaning went? The survey has three questions: example.com/survey We read the answers ourselves, and they shape what we change next. Thank you, Sam Oakwood Dental

  • Thank-you after an answer

    WhatsApp

    Thank you for your answer, Maria! If there's anything else you'd like to tell us about your teeth cleaning, reply here anytime.

What a customer satisfaction survey measures

A customer satisfaction survey asks customers how a purchase, visit or conversation went, in a way you can compare over time. Most surveys mix three kinds of scale questions with one or two open questions.

  • Satisfaction (CSAT): how satisfied the customer is, usually from 1 to 5. The score is the share of customers who answer 4 or 5.
  • Recommendation (the question behind the Net Promoter Score, or NPS): how likely they are to recommend you, from 0 to 10. NPS is the share of 9s and 10s minus the share of answers from 0 to 6.
  • Effort (CES): how easy it was to get what they needed. It points to the step that needs fixing.
  • Open questions: why they gave the score. They're slower to read but they tell you what to change.

How to write questions that get honest answers

The wording of a question changes the answers you get. Neutral, specific questions with a clear scale give you numbers you can trust and compare.

  • Ask about one thing per question. "How friendly and fast was our team?" is two questions.
  • Keep the wording neutral: "How satisfied were you…" rather than "How much did you love…".
  • Label both ends of every scale, and use the same scale every time you ask.
  • Put the scale questions first and the open question last.
  • Don't ask what you already know, such as the date of the visit or the service they bought.
  • Keep it short: three to five questions in a written survey, three or fewer on a call.

When to send a satisfaction survey

Ask while the experience is fresh, and don't ask so often that customers stop answering.

  • After a visit, a delivery or a support conversation: the same day, or the next morning.
  • After a problem is solved, to check that it really is.
  • For ongoing clients, a short relationship survey once or twice a year.
  • Not after every single interaction with the same customer: space surveys out.
  • During business hours, so a reply that needs attention reaches someone.

Phone, WhatsApp, text or email

Use the channel your customers already use with you. The shorter the survey, the more channels it fits.

  • Phone: more people finish a short survey on a call, and you can ask a follow-up. Keep it to three questions, and check the calling rules before any automated calls.
  • WhatsApp: good for one or two questions right in the chat. On the WhatsApp Business Platform, a message you start more than 24 hours after the customer's last message must use a template approved by Meta, and Meta charges for it.
  • Text: one question per message, with your business name first and a way to opt out.
  • Email: the place for a longer survey behind a link.

What to do with the answers

A survey is only worth sending if someone acts on it. Decide who reads the answers and what happens with a low score before you send the first one.

  • Reply personally to low scores, ideally the same day or the next, and fix what you can.
  • Thank the customers who gave you high scores, and ask them for a review if you ask everyone.
  • Read the open answers every week and group them by topic.
  • Track the same questions over time rather than changing them every month.
  • Tell customers what you changed because of their answers.

Run phone surveys with an AI agent in NuTalk

Calling customers one by one for feedback takes hours every week. NuTalk call campaigns can place the survey calls for you: an AI agent calls each customer on your list, asks your questions in English or Spanish, asks a follow-up when an answer calls for one and keeps the answers in each call's recording, transcript and summary.

  • Add contacts from a CSV, HubSpot, Kommo or the API, or send one contact after each visit through the campaign webhook.
  • Write the questions in the agent's instructions and set a goal such as "Asked all three questions". When evaluations are on for your plan, each call is scored against your goals after the call, within hours or overnight depending on the plan, and you see goal success rates by day, week or month.
  • Calls go out inside the days and hours you set and retry when nobody answers, and a campaign can send a WhatsApp template instead. You write the template; Meta approves it and charges its own fees.
  • NuTalk doesn't build survey charts or calculate your NPS: the answers live in each call's transcript and summary.
  • Each answer is tied to the customer you called, so these surveys aren't anonymous.
  • A contact marked do-not-contact is skipped in every campaign. A spoken "don't call me again" on a campaign call is read by the AI after the call, and the contact is marked do-not-contact. If the AI can't read a call (no transcript was saved, for example), mark that contact yourself.
  • United States: AI-voice calls to mobile numbers, business contacts included, and to home lines need prior express consent; marketing calls need it in writing. General information, not legal advice. Talk to your counsel before you launch.

Frequently asked questions

What is a customer satisfaction survey?

A short set of questions that asks customers how their purchase, visit or conversation with you went. It usually combines a satisfaction scale (1 to 5), the 0 to 10 recommend question and one open question about why. Asked the same way every time, it shows you whether things are getting better and what to fix first.

What are good customer satisfaction survey questions?

Start with "Overall, how satisfied are you with [business]?" on a 1 to 5 scale, add "How easy was it to get what you needed?" and finish with the open question "What's one thing we could do better?". If you want an NPS, add "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?". Keep every question neutral and about one thing.

How many questions should a customer satisfaction survey have?

As few as you need to act on. Three to five questions work well for a written survey, and three or fewer for a phone survey. One scale question plus one open question is often enough after a visit. A longer survey makes sense only once or twice a year, for customers who work with you regularly.

What's the difference between CSAT, NPS and CES?

CSAT measures satisfaction with a purchase or visit, usually on a 1 to 5 scale. NPS comes from the 0 to 10 question about recommending you: the share of 9s and 10s minus the share of 0 to 6 answers. CES measures how easy it was to get what the customer needed. Many businesses use one of them as their main number and add an open question.

When is the best time to send a satisfaction survey?

Right after the experience, while it's fresh: the same day or the next morning after a visit, a delivery or a support conversation. Send it during business hours, so a low score reaches someone who can reply. Avoid surveying the same customer after every interaction.

How do you run a customer satisfaction survey by phone?

Call within a day or two of the visit, say who you are, ask permission and say how many questions there are. Ask three questions or fewer, read the scale out loud each time, and write the answers down word for word. Thank the customer, and if the score is low, ask what happened and whether they'd like a call back. For automated or AI calls, check the calling rules first.

Can NuTalk run phone surveys for me?

Yes. NuTalk call campaigns call your customers inside the hours you set, ask your questions in English or Spanish and keep every answer in the call's transcript and summary; goals show how many surveys were completed when evaluations are on for your plan. There are no survey charts or NPS calculations. NuTalk Call Center, from $599 USD a month through our sales team, covers unlimited AI calls for campaigns, outbound and inbound, on your own PBX or phone system. Connection to your PBX or phone system (SIP) or Zoom Phone is scoped and set up with our team. Fair use applies: we review usage above 5,000 minutes a month per line. You can also start free, with no credit card, and call from a NuTalk number on pay as you go, where calls use credits.

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