Good feedback questions are open, specific and about one thing, so the answer tells you what to keep or change. “What’s one thing we should change?” beats “How satisfied are you?” because it names something you can act on. Who you’re asking changes the right questions, so pick your situation below: each set has the five best feedback questions and the follow-up to ask when the answer comes back as “fine.”
A small billing gap costs this customer a support ticket every month.
The first answer to a feedback question is usually polite and short. One specific follow-up about what the person just said is what turns it into something you can use.
A small billing gap costs this customer a support ticket every month.
Requests that should be tickets arrive in chat and break up focused work.
One week’s reading went up too late; the content itself wasn’t the problem.
Ask after a purchase, at the end of a project, or after a support conversation. For freelancers and agencies, “we” works as “I”.
When to ask: within a day or two of the moment you’re asking aboutWhat made you choose us?
What was the deciding moment?
What’s one thing we should change?
What’s the last thing that took longer than you expected?
What, if anything, nearly made you choose someone else?
When did that come up?
How would you describe working with us to a colleague?
What example would you give them?
What should we never change?
When did that matter most to you?
Ask a week or two after onboarding, or after someone has used a new feature a few times.
When to ask: after they’ve used it enough to have a viewWhat’s the main thing you use it for?
What did you use for that before?
What, if anything, slows you down when you use it?
What were you trying to finish the last time it happened?
What did you expect it to do that it doesn’t?
Where did that expectation come from?
How would you feel if you could no longer use it?
What would you miss most?
If you could change one thing about it, what would it be?
What would that let you do that you can’t now?
Ask a few times a year, or right after a change. Say who will read the answers and what you’ll do with them before you send.
When to ask: quarterly, or right after a big changeWhat would make your work easier next month?
What’s in the way of that today?
What’s working well that we should protect?
Who or what makes that work?
What part of your job would you like to do more of?
When did you last get to do that?
What should we stop doing?
Which one would you stop first?
What, if anything, feels hard to raise here?
What makes it hard to raise?
Upward feedback only works when people feel safe. Ask about specific behaviors, not personality, and have someone other than the manager send it, so people can answer freely.
When to ask: twice a year, sent by someone other than the managerWhat does your manager do that helps you most?
When did that last make a difference?
What would you like your manager to do more of?
What would that change for you?
What would you like your manager to do less of?
What’s a recent example?
What do you understand your top priority to be right now?
How did you find out it was the top priority?
What do you need from your manager that you aren’t getting?
What would that look like in a normal week?
Keep peer questions about the work you share. In a 360, ask everyone the same few questions so the answers can be compared. The full sets: peer feedback questions and 360 feedback questions.
When to ask: at the end of a project, or once or twice a yearWhat does this person do that makes your work easier?
What’s a recent example?
What’s one thing they could do differently that would help you?
When would that have made a difference?
Where do you rely on them most?
What would happen if they weren’t there for that?
How do they handle disagreement?
What happened the last time you disagreed?
What should they keep doing no matter what?
Why does that matter to the people around them?
Ask midway through, while you can still change something, not only at the end.
When to ask: after the first graded assignment, and again at the endWhat’s helping you learn the most so far?
Which session or activity was that?
Which part of the course has been hardest to follow?
Which week did you first feel lost?
How is the pace?
Which topic did the pace feel off on?
What would you change before next week?
What would that let you do that you can’t now?
What should stay exactly as it is?
What makes that part work for you?
Fewer than you think. Every extra question is one more reason to stop halfway. For most situations, three to five questions is plenty, and one good open question can be enough. If you need a number to track, add one rating and pair it with an open question about why; the NPS follow-up questions show what to ask after each score.
The trade is depth for breadth. Five questions with a real follow-up each will tell you more than twenty questions answered in a word. That is the idea behind agent surveys: send one question, and Spoke asks each person the follow-up their answer calls for. The types and more examples are in the survey questions guide; writing the answers up is covered in how to write a survey report.
The questions matter less than whether people believe it’s safe and worth answering.
Name who sees the answers and whether they’re anonymous. If you can’t promise anonymity, don’t imply it.
“Tell me about the last time…” gets a real story. “How satisfied are you…” gets a number.
Don’t hint at the answer you want. “What did you think of the new process?” beats “How much better is the new process?”
Use their words: if they say “slow,” ask what slow looked like. Never just “Can you say more?”
Share what you heard and one thing you’ll change. People answer the next one when the last one led somewhere.
Open, specific questions about one thing: “What’s one thing we should change?”, “What’s working that we should keep?”, “What almost made you stop?” Pick the set above that matches who you’re asking.
What’s working? What’s one thing we should change? What almost made you stop? What did you expect that didn’t happen? What should we never change? Each works for customers, colleagues or students with small wording changes.
Three to five is enough for most situations, and one good open question with a follow-up can be enough. Every extra question is one more reason to stop halfway.
Use a closed question to measure and an open one to learn why. Most feedback surveys need at least one open question to learn why the score is what it is.
Say who will read the answers, ask about a specific moment instead of a general rating, stay neutral, and follow up once on the person’s own words.
Three to five open questions about one moment, plus one rating if you need to track a number over time. For a website, ask what the visitor came to do and what stopped them. Otherwise pick the set above that matches who you’re asking.
Read for themes, count how many people raised each one, pick one or two changes, and tell the people who answered what you’re doing about it.
Spoke asks the follow-ups for you, with every person. Free to start, no card. Your first ten agent surveys are on us.
