Customer satisfaction survey email templates and best practices

If you’re wondering whether your customers are happy, it’s time to stop guessing and start capturing your customers' feedback with customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys. Customer satisfaction surveys are a powerful tool that you can use to understand your customer sentiment and improve your business performance. 

There are many different ways to distribute a satisfaction survey to your existing customers. However, one of the most effective channels for conducting these surveys is still good old email.

In this article, we’ll explore how to craft compelling customer satisfaction survey emails and which elements to include in the email to drive the highest response rate. We’ll also provide some email templates to help you get started.

If you’re sending out a customer satisfaction score survey, here’s a simple email template that you can use to get more responses: 

Subject line: How did we do? Share your feedback

Email body:

Hello [Name],

Thank you for choosing [Your Company]. We hope you had a great experience with us. To help us continue to improve our services, we’d love to hear your feedback.

Please take a moment to complete our short survey and let us know how we did.

[Start Survey Button]

Thank you for your time!

Best regards,

[Your Name]

[Your Position]

[Your Company]

Don’t have a CSAT survey yet? Get started with a free CSAT survey template.

If you’re sending out an NPS survey, use this email template to get started: 

Subject Line: We value your opinion; take our NPS survey

Email body:

Hello [Name],

At [Your Company], your feedback is crucial to helping us grow and improve. We’d appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to answer a quick question about your experience with us.

On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague?

[Start Survey Button]

Your input is greatly appreciated and will help us provide you with a better service.

Thank you for your time!

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your Position]

[Your Company]

Don’t have an NPS survey yet? Get started with a free NPS survey template.

Event satisfaction surveys can help you improve your future events and ensure satisfaction. Use this survey email template to get started:

Subject line: Tell us about your experience at [Event Name]

Email body:

Hello [Name],

Thank you for attending [Event Name]! We hope you enjoyed it. To help us improve future events, we’d love to hear your feedback.

Please take a few minutes to complete our event satisfaction survey.

[Start Survey Button]

We appreciate your input and look forward to hosting you again.

Best regards,

[Your Name]

[Your Position]

[Your Company]
Don’t have an event survey yet? Get started with our free event feedback survey template.

Sending a customer satisfaction survey via email involves several key steps to ensure high engagement and response rates. Here’s a step-by-step guide to sending customer satisfaction surveys via email.

Always start with audience segmentation. Blanket-sending a survey to your entire email list might seem like a good idea to obtain the maximum number of responses possible with little effort. However, if you don’t segment your audience effectively, you won’t obtain the information you need to make informed decisions. 

Instead, start by taking a close look at your customer base and consider which segments you would like to survey first. For example, you may decide to survey recent purchasers, long-term customers or users of a specific product or service. You can then send targeted satisfaction surveys to each segment to understand their unique perspectives on your business, product and/or service. 

We’ll go into more detail about what to include in your survey emails in the next section. In general, you’ll need to ensure that your email is extremely clear and to the point. Including extraneous information or unnecessary details will distract the reader and reduce your survey response rate. Focus on creating a compelling subject line to drive open rates and writing clear instructions about how to take the survey.  

If you think you can send one email and that’s it, then you can think again! People are busy and they may not see your first email. Even if they do see it, they might make a mental note to respond later and then forget to do so. To maximise your response rates, plan to send a follow-up email to remind recipients to complete the survey if they haven’t done so within a certain timeframe. 

You’ll also need to send a thank-you email to those who complete your survey in order to show your appreciation and continue to nurture the relationships with those customers.

Related reading: Sending surveys via email invitation

Let’s now take a look at best practices regarding what to include in the customer satisfaction survey email itself. These should be short and to the point, so every word counts!

The subject line is your best chance to grab your customers’ attention. The subject line is the first thing recipients see. It’s the only thing that they can base their decision on about whether to even open your email at all. The subject line should grab the recipient’s attention and entice them to open the email. 

Here are a few examples of effective subject lines:

These examples are short and catchy, and they’re clear about the ask, all of which can help improve your open rate and survey response rate. 

A generic email will probably fall flat, so use the individual recipient’s name and relevant details to make the email feel personalised and relevant to each of your customers. This can be done easily and automatically with most email service providers. 

For example, in the subject line and/or body of the email, consider using specific personalised language as shown in these examples:

It can also be helpful if the email comes from a real, specific person in your company. 

Ensure that you add just one clear call to action. Don’t clutter the email with extra unnecessary links. Also, ensure that you include clear instructions about how to access and complete the survey.

Provide specific instructions about how to access the survey and include the survey link prominently in the email. You might also add a qualifier to give the customer a rough idea of how long the survey will take them to complete. For example, “Take this brief five-question survey” or “Give us your feedback; it should only take one minute!” 

Help your customers help you by clearly explaining the reasoning beyond the survey and what you need from them to make informed decisions in order to improve their experience. Keep your messaging clear, succinct and transparent. Explain why you’re conducting the survey and how their feedback will be used.

Email remains one of the most effective channels for reaching a broad audience and obtaining detailed feedback from customers. It allows you to personalise your message, provide clear instructions and follow up easily to maximise response rates.

Key elements include a compelling subject line; personalisation; a clear call to action; a transparent explanation of the survey’s purpose; and concise, relevant content that encourages recipients to participate.

Improve your open rates by crafting engaging and intriguing subject lines, personalising the email and ensuring that the sender name is recognisable and trusted by the recipient.

Your subject line should be short, catchy and clearly convey the purpose of the email. Examples include: “Help us improve; share your feedback” or ”Your opinion matters; take our survey”.

Use the recipient’s name in the greeting and subject line and tailor the content to their specific interactions with your brand. You can also mention relevant details such as their recent purchase or event attendance.

Your CTA should be prominent, clear and concise. Use action-oriented language such as “Click here to start the survey” or ”Take our five-minute survey now”. Place the CTA button in a noticeable spot within the email.

Keep your email short and to the point. Include only essential information to avoid overwhelming the reader. A concise email is more likely to be read and acted upon.

It is generally effective to send one or two follow-up emails. Space them out appropriately, giving recipients enough time to respond to the initial email before sending a reminder.

Be transparent about why you are conducting the survey and how the feedback will be used. A brief explanation can motivate customers to participate, as they see the value in sharing their opinions.

Analyse the feedback to identify trends and areas for improvement. Use the insights to make informed decisions that enhance the customer experience. It’s also important to get back to customers to tell them about any changes that were made based on their feedback.

When executed effectively, customer satisfaction surveys can give you invaluable insights into what customers think about your products or services and help you identify areas for improvement in terms of your overall customer experience. 

Creating effective customer satisfaction survey emails is crucial for gathering valuable feedback and improving customer experiences. Use the guidelines, templates and examples above to craft compelling emails that encourage high response rates and drive actionable insights.

Learn more or get started with a free CSAT survey template.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score and NPS are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc. and Fred Reichheld.