50 Consumer Behavior Survey Questions to Uncover Behavioral Insights

Customer experience is everything! 75% of consumers are willing to pay extra for a positive experience. This highlights how crucial it is to understand your audience. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in the business for a while, building meaningful connections begins with asking some key questions:

• Who are your customers?
• What drives their purchasing decisions?
• How do they like to interact with your brand?
• What are their expectations?

Taking the time to explore these questions can help you create strategies that truly resonate with your customers. One effective way to gain insights is through consumer behavior surveys.

I’ve compiled some great consumer behavior survey questions and free templates that can reveal your customers’ preferences and motivations. With these tools, you’ll be well-equipped to strengthen your relationships and engage more meaningfully with your audience.

What Is a Customer Behavior Survey?

A consumer behavior survey collects information about what customers think, what they like, and how they act. By understanding this, you can adjust your services and marketing to meet their needs better, which can help boost sales, improve customer satisfaction, and give you an advantage over competitors.

One key benefit of consumer behavior surveys is their direct communication with customers. This feedback loop lets businesses hear from their customers directly and identify areas to improve their products or services. Think of these surveys as a marketing tool that you can use for market research and UX research.

What Are the 4 P’s of Consumer Behavior?

The 4 P’s are a simple framework for understanding the complex world of consumer behavior. Like the four corners of a room, these four elements provide a solid foundation for understanding what makes your customers tick. Let me elaborate.

1. Product: It’s not just about what you sell, but how it fits into your customers’ lives and what needs it satisfies. A stylish watch isn’t just for telling time; it might also be a fashion statement or a status symbol. Consider the emotional and symbolic value your product holds for your customers.

2. Price: This is about balancing your product’s worth and customers’ willingness to pay. A high price might signal quality and exclusivity, while a lower price might attract budget-conscious shoppers. Consider your product/service’s perceived value and how it aligns with your customers’ expectations.

3. Place: Make sure your product is available where your customers prefer to shop, whether online or in-store. Consider the convenience and accessibility of your distribution channels and how they align with your customers’ shopping habits.

4. Promotion: This is how you communicate the value of your product to your customers. Think advertising, social media, email campaigns, and even word-of-mouth referrals. Consider the effectiveness of your marketing efforts in approaching your target audience and conveying the unique benefits of your product.

These four factors will help you gain valuable insights into your customers’ motivations and behaviors, which, in turn, will enable you to make smarter decisions about product development, pricing, distribution, and marketing.

Best Consumer Behavior Survey Questions for Customer Journey Stages

Moving on, let’s now answer the pertinent question: What consumer behavior questions can you use to gauge customer behavior? Since collecting feedback is an ongoing process that isn’t limited to one stage, I’ve divided survey questions on consumer behavior into stages. Let’s explore them.

• Consumer Behavior Questions at the Discovery Stage

At the awareness stage, your potential customers are unaware of your offering or even that they require it. Sometimes, the audience isn’t even aware of their pain points and how they can remove them.

So, asking these questions will help you understand what they require and the strategies you can use to convert them:

1. What are your current challenges without a product like [Product Name]?

2. When you think of [Product], what is the first company that comes to mind?
3. Have you ever heard of [Product Name] before?
4. What are the issues you continuously face in your day-to-day operations?
5. What are your biggest challenges?
6. When was the first time you heard about [product Name]?
7. How familiar are you with [Product Name] and what it does?
8. When was the last time you used the [Product Name]?
9. Have you ever tried [Product Name] from other brands before?
10. Are you the decision-maker for this product/product category type?
11. How do you search for products like [Product Name]?
12. How does [Product Name] make you feel?

• Consumer Behavior Questions for Consideration Stage

At this stage, your prospects are aware of your product. They understand its features and the fundamental ways it can help their business. So, in addition to making a convincing case for your products and services, you can ask these consumer behavior questions to ensure they convert.

1. What is stopping you from purchasing with us today?

💁‍♀️Pro Tip: You can use this question as an exit intent popup survey to understand why your customers are leaving your website or app so that you can avoid cart abandonment.

2. What do you think of our brand as a solution?
3. What would motivate you to consider buying from us?
4. Do you plan or decide in real time to purchase a product like [Product Name]?

5. Have you ever purchased from us before? If yes, follow up with “Would you consider buying again?”
6. Can you walk us through your process when buying for the first time?
7. What would you choose as an alternative if [Product Name] is no longer available?
8. Please select the options that are crucial to you when purchasing [Product Name].

• Consumer Behavior Questions After Purchase

Once customers decide to purchase your offerings, they’re likely to do so. At this stage, you can ask about their motivators, reasons for buying, and more to understand their needs and buying patterns. 

Here are some examples of consumer behavior survey questions you can consider at this stage:

1. What motivated you to purchase today?

2. Once you solve your problem with [Product Name], what’s next?
3. What persuades you to buy a product online?

4. Does the product/service justify the pricing?
5. What demotivates you from purchasing a product online?
6. What are you planning to do with [Product Name]?
7. Which pain points do you plan to resolve with [Product Name]?

💁‍♀️Pro Tip: Use screening questions before the actual questionnaire on consumer behavior to weed out undesired candidates and collect responses only from the required demographics.

For example, you may not want to collect insights from the prospects but only from customers who have made the purchase.

In that case, a simple screening question such as “Have you purchased anything from us before?” can help you eliminate unsuitable respondents.

• Consumer Behavior Questions at the Onboarding Stage

Collecting customer feedback goes beyond the purchase stage. Some rich insights await you at the onboarding stage to help you improve your customer experience. And to tap into these rich customer insights, you can prepare a questionnaire on consumer buying behavior based on these questions for the onboarding stage.

1. What do you think of our onboarding process?

2. Was the onboarding process necessary to help you use the product?
3. On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend [ProductName] to your friends and family?
4. Was there anything critical to your success we should have covered during onboarding?
5. How easy or difficult was it for you to use our [Product/Service] the first time?

6. Please tell us how we can improve our onboarding process.

• Consumer Behavior Questions for Usage Analysis

Now that your customers know your product/service and how to leverage it, you can understand how they interact with it and use it. You can use these questions in your consumer buying behavior questionnaire to understand experience on the usability front.

1. How often do you use [Product Name]?
2. How satisfied are you with the performance of the [Product Name]?

3. What do you use [Product Name] for?
4. How many people use this product/service?
5. Do you prefer to use [Product/Service Name] on desktop or mobile?
6. Is this your first time using [Product Name]? If no, follow up with “How often do you use it now compared to last time?”
7. How easy or difficult is it to use this product?
8. Do you wish [Product Name] was on sale?

• General Consumer Behavior Questions

Here are some additional questions to add to your customer behavior surveys depending on the kind of customer data you require:

1. What was the primary reason you started using our product?
2. How do you typically find information about this type of product?
3. Which portals do you use to discover new products?
4. How would you rate your experience with us?
5. How would you rate [Product Name] overall?

6. What do you look for when researching a product before the purchase?
7. What type of product do you research the most before purchasing?
8. Which product/service will you likely buy with [Product Name]?
9. What factors determine your budget for a product like ours?

Remember, making mistakes while creating surveys is more common than you’d think. But it’s easy to avoid them if you know what they are. You can read this article on the types of survey errors and steer clear of those survey blunders.

Note: Simply collecting customer data will not yield the results you need. Analyzing the data will turn the raw data into actionable insights. You can use multiple customer feedback analysis methods and reliable tools like Qualaroo to derive insights.

Free Consumer Behavior Survey Templates

You have two primary ways to create customer behavior surveys. The first one involves starting from the ground up. Alternatively, you can use a more efficient and effective approach by leveraging prebuilt and free consumer behavior survey templates.

It’s easy to tailor these templates and align them perfectly with your brand, choosing fonts, colors, and the questions you wish to include or exclude. 

You can also integrate additional customer behavior questions from the list above into these templates. What’s more? These survey templates empower you to employ conditional logic to create personalized survey flows based on the responses.

Here are some examples of free consumer behavior survey templates:

For CES

For Preferences

For Technical Glitches

For UI/UX

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Why Do You Need to Track Customer Behavior?

As a business, if you know how your customers behave online, what influences their buying behavior, what they prefer, and where they come from, you’re already on the path to success. How, you may ask? Here are some ways understanding user behavior and asking the right consumer behavior questions help your business.

• Customer-Centric Business

A survey of 6,000 customers by Salesforce found that 66% expect brands to understand their expectations and needs. To shorten the empathy gap, leverage survey questions for consumer behavior to your advantage and discover what you think you deliver, what customers think they get, and how you can meet their expectations.

Consumer behavior survey questionnaires can help you better understand your customers’ minds and align your business strategies and goals accordingly.

• A Viable Pricing Strategy

Having detailed buyer personas allows you to design business strategies that will work, such as pricing and revenue. If you don’t know your target audiences’ buying preferences and habits, your pricing strategy might not work on them.

For example, you can create various pricing plans based on the audience from different income groups and how frequently they purchase. You can create loyalty programs for regular customers to offer them benefits.

• On-Point Marketing Campaigns

Want to grab customers’ attention? Show them what they want to see and what they are attracted to. 

Understanding your customers through consumer behavior surveys can help you identify the right way to convey your brand messaging and create marketing campaigns that resonate with them.

Case Study: Vattenfall

Find Out How Vattenfall Improved Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty With Survey Triggers Based on Customer Behavior.

How Vattenfall Improved Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty With Qualaroo | Case Study

Types of Consumer Behavior With Examples

As managers and executives, you should understand that not all customers make similar buying decisions. By grasping the different types of consumer behavior, you can adapt the strategies to connect with various customer groups and boost your business growth.

Let’s break down the four main types of consumer behavior with examples:

1. Variety-Seeking Buying Behavior 

Customers who fall into this category aren’t very invested but love to explore new options. They enjoy trying different things and are always looking for something fresh.

Example: Think of someone who likes sampling various yogurt flavors or checking out new snack brands.

Tip for Leaders: Keep your product range diverse and engage customers with new launches and promotions to satisfy their craving for variety.

2. Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior 

Here, customers are invested in their purchases but often see little difference between options. This can lead to second-guessing after they buy.

Example: Picture someone choosing between two similar refrigerators who starts to wonder if they made the right choice after the purchase.

Tip for Leaders: Reassure customers about their decisions and offer easy return policies to help ease any post-purchase anxiety.

3. Complex Buying Behavior 

Customers with this behavior put a lot of thought into their purchases, especially for expensive or infrequent buys. They do their research and weigh their options carefully.

Example: Consider someone looking to buy a luxury car; they’ll likely spend time comparing models, reading reviews, and visiting dealerships before deciding.

Tip for Leaders: Provide detailed information and personalized support to guide customers through decision-making.

4. Habitual Buying Behavior 

This type involves low involvement and routine purchases. Customers often stick to familiar brands and products out of habit.

Example: Think of someone who regularly buys the same brand of coffee or toothpaste without exploring other options.

Tip for Leaders: Focus on building brand loyalty and capturing customer attention at purchase with targeted promotions and good shelf placement.

Ask the Right Consumer Behavior Questions for Reliable Insights

When you ask the right consumer behavior questions at the right time, the insights you can gain are limitless. Survey questions about consumer behavior can be a goldmine of data, but it’s essential to design surveys that customers will want to complete.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind while creating your consumer behavior questionnaire:

• Know your audience: Tailor surveys for different customer segments.
• Keep it short: Limit pop-up surveys to 2 to 5 questions.
• Identify gaps: Use tools like BIGContacts CRM to gather missing information.
• Use clear language: Avoid jargon and keep it simple.
• Avoid bias: Frame questions neutrally to get honest feedback.
• Mix question types: Utilize a variety of formats like Likert scale, rating, dichotomous, and open-ended questions.

By following these best practices and utilizing the questions and free consumer behavior survey templates from Qualaroo, you’ll increase response rates and gather actionable insights to enhance your business strategies.