Concepts for Success: Create a survey in under 10 minutes

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According to LinkedIn, it costs between four to ten times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. Whether you are already operating a bakery or thinking of opening a bakery, customer feedback is vital in the bakery business.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by conducting a brief customer survey. Owning a successful bakery is all about knowing current trends and keeping your existing bakery customers happy. A survey will provide you a wealth of information about how your customers feel about the quality of your food and beverage, menu, services and customer experience. Your customers have busy lives, so sometimes you will need to do something extra to sweeten the deal in exchange for their valuable feedback. Offering them a discount, coupon, gift card, free dessert or drink, and other freebies as an incentive to complete a survey will certainly get more of them to participate. Just follow these survey tips to get the feedback you need to make improvements and attract more patrons.

Knowing where to start
I suggest that you define the goals of your survey in advance. Do you wish to gain a general overview of opinions about your bakery, or something more specific about your new menu? You can definitely obtain customer feedback in the form of comment cards, individual phone calls, through an emailed or texted receipt, or through your POS system. You could also ask in person, or check comments and reviews on Yelp and other review sites.
If you already have an existing customer base, you can collect customer feedback through an online survey tool, such as Survey Monkey, Google Forms or Typeform, which are some of the best free services to use. They allow you to easily create surveys, collect the data, and analyze it.

Once you have created your survey, you can send it to your bakery’s email list, share it on your social media accounts, and post it on your website.

You could ask many questions but don’t make it too long. The best surveys are short and should take less than 10 minutes to complete. A 10-question survey will give you a good idea of your customers’ satisfaction.

Sample bakery survey questions
I have listed some questions for your survey, below. I don’t suggest that you use all of them, as no will take the time to answer them all. Just look through the list and decide which 10 best questions you need answered for your business.

Was this your first time at the bakery?
When was the last time you purchased a product from us?
How did you hear about us?
How often do you visit us?
Are our hours convenient?
Were you comfortable in our bakery?
Do you find that our bakery is family-friendly?
How satisfied are you with the product selection?
How satisfied are you with the quality of our bakery products?
Were you pleased with our beverage selection?
Do you consider our bakery to be value for money?
How would you rate your overall satisfaction with us?
How quick or adequate was the speed of service?
Was the staff friendly?
How would you rate our staff’s ability to meet your needs?
How would you rate the cleanliness of the bakery?
Would you recommend our bakery to family or friends?
Did you like our website?
How likely is it that you would come back?

You should not conduct a survey without asking these two important questions:

What was the best part of your visit?
What was the worst part of your visit?

Other considerations
Make sure that you test your survey before sending it. You should add a comment box to your questionnaire, as this will give your guests the opportunity to share other thoughts and suggestions. You could also add, “Please suggest how we can improve our products/services to better serve you.” An email box should also be added to help you gather your guest’s email address which can be used for further marketing campaigns.

I am pretty sure that you have a good understanding of your current customers but it’s still good business sense to survey them at least once a year. If you want to improve your menu or service, there is no better tool than a customer survey.

Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for over 30 years. She is recognized as the industry leader in providing innovative and revenue-increasing foodservice and retail merchandising programs, interior design, branding, menu engineering, marketing and promotional campaigns, and much more. Contact her at 416-926-1338, toll-free at 1-888-926-6655 or chiasson@chiassonconsultlants.com , or visit
www.chiassonconsultants.com

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