A successful restaurant has a laser focus on the wants and needs of its target audience. As a restauranteur, the more you are aware of the interests and dislikes of your customer, the better are your chances of eliminating such nuisances, and the greater are your chances of gaining the dream customer-base. For this purpose, there is one tool that works like magic – survey forms.
If you have never thought of inquiring about how your diners feel about your restaurant, the food, customer service, and the overall energy, it is time to do it now. The more you value the customers’ feelings, the more respect and recognition your restaurant gets. To know where your eatery shines, physically or online, and where it falls short is vital to run a flourishing restaurant. From serving your customers at your place or completing an online food order, you should be aware of how you are performing in the eyes of your customers. You can only do that if you acknowledge the comments of your diners.
Before we start with which questions will be the most beneficial in a restaurant survey, let’s take a look at how we can make our surveys more effective.
1) Dodge the YES/NO questions
Also known as polar questions, the yes/no questions demand a single answer from the customer. It can be positive or negative. The reason why you should avoid these questions in your restaurant’s survey is that they do not give complete insight from the customer’s end. For example, if you ask a question like: “Do you like the flavor of our pizzas?” you will either get a yes or a no. But you would not know the reason behind the response. Knowing why a customer likes or dislikes the flavors of your pizza is crucial for the improvement of your eatery.
2) Inquire open-ended questions
Open-ended questions let the customers answer your queries in whatever way they want to without feeling the pressure of being on-point. The sentence can range from one to five, but it will contain all the information you need about your food, customer services, and other vital aspects of your restaurant. To avoid long-winded questions, you can set a limit of a certain number of characters on your questionnaire.
3) Ask one-idea questions
You might have come across many questions like: “what did you like the most about our restaurant? Was the music good? How fast were our servers?”. These types of questions bombard the customers with more than one idea, which is an overwhelming feeling. As much as you avoid leading questions in your survey, the more beneficial answers you will get from your customers. Try to incorporate one idea at a time in your surveys so the customer can give clear and unfazed feedback.
Top questions to ask in surveys
According to some of the best practices on how to survey your customers, below is a list of 6 important questions you need to include in your survey.
- What are the chances of you recommending our restaurant to your friends?
- What do you want us to change in the menu?
- What kind of drink would you like to see on our menu?
- Where is our customer service lacking?
- Did you like the way our servers took care of your needs?
- Have you ever had any bad experience with our food/customer service?
Ask the right questions and make your ways towards becoming better, bigger, and more successful.
