What is a post-purchase survey?
A post-purchase survey asks customers about an order right after they place it or once it arrives. It shows how easy buying was, how new customers found you, and whether the product and the delivery lived up to what they expected.
Two moments in every order
A post-purchase survey hears from customers at the points where they know the most about an order. Right after checkout they remember every step of buying, so you can ask how easy it was and what almost stopped them. A few days after delivery they have the product in their hands, so you can ask about the parcel, the product and whether it matched the description.
The answers explain what sales figures can't. A drop in repeat orders becomes “the second box arrived damaged”, and first-time buyers who say where they heard about you show which channels bring customers, including word of mouth that no tracking link sees.
Online stores use post-purchase surveys most, though any business that sells can ask the same way: a hotel after a booking, a software company after an upgrade, a course provider after enrollment.
- Asked when
- Right after checkout, and again a few days after delivery
- Asks about
- Buying effort, how they found you, the product, the delivery
- Common metrics
- CES for checkout, CSAT for the delivery and the product
- Channels
- The confirmation page, an email, a link or QR code on the packing slip
When to send a post-purchase survey
Split the questions between the two moments, and keep each survey to three to five questions. A single long survey sent after delivery asks people to remember a checkout from a week ago.
| Moment | Where | Ask about |
|---|---|---|
| Right after checkout | The order confirmation page | How easy buying was, what almost stopped them |
| First order only | The confirmation page | How they heard about you |
| A few days after delivery | An email or a link | The parcel, the product, the fit |
| A few weeks later | An email | Whether they would buy again |
Post-purchase survey questions
Lead with one question that takes a single tap, then follow with a choice or an open question. Ask the source question on first orders only, so repeat buyers aren't asked again.
- “How easy was it to complete your purchase?” on a 1 to 7 effort scale
- “Did anything almost stop you from buying today?”
- “How did you first hear about us?”
- “How satisfied are you with the delivery of your order?” on a 1 to 5 scale
- “Did everything arrive in good condition?”
- “What is one thing that would make your next order better?”
A post-purchase survey example
Say you ask first-time buyers how they heard about you, and 400 answer in a month. 152 found you through search, 104 through social media, 84 through a friend or colleague and 60 through an ad.
The shares show where new customers come from in their own words, including the friend who recommended you, which no tracking link records. Compare the shares month by month to see whether a campaign moved them.
- Search engine
- 152 answers, 38%
- Social media
- 104 answers, 26%
- A friend or colleague
- 84 answers, 21%
- An ad
- 60 answers, 15%
- Largest source
- Search, 152 of 400
How to calculate a post-purchase email's response rate
For a survey sent by email, the response rate is the share of delivered emails that led to an answer. Count delivered emails only, since a bounced email never reached anyone.
Say the email reaches 800 recent buyers and 184 of them answer: the response rate is 23%. Putting the first question inside the email, so one tap starts the answer, removes a step between the customer and the survey.
Response rate = answers ÷ delivered emails × 100
With 800 emails delivered and 184 answers: 184 ÷ 800 × 100 = 23%.
Post-purchase survey vs review request
A review request asks for a public review on a product page or a review site, written for other shoppers. A post-purchase survey is private and written for your team, so customers can be frank about what went wrong. Send both if you want reviews, and let the survey's answers show which problems to fix before the reviews mention them.
Running post-purchase surveys in Usertick
Start from the Post-purchase or Delivery experience template. On your site, place the checkout survey inside the confirmation page, or open it when your store's code sends a custom event for a finished order, on 1 survey on Free and on every survey from Starter. Set it to show on every visit, so repeat buyers are asked about each order.
For the delivery, Usertick sends a survey email to a list of recent buyers now or scheduled up to 30 days ahead, and when the first question is Stars or CES, customers answer it in the message itself. Your own shipping email can carry the survey's link instead, and a tag on the link, such as the order number, stays with the answer for workflows, Google Sheets and the API.
A logic rule can send customers whose parcel arrived damaged to a photo upload question, on every plan. Results shows the average effort and the share who found checkout easy, each source's share and count, and the delivery rating, and on every plan workflows post problem orders to Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Mistakes to avoid with post-purchase surveys
Small choices that keep the results useful.
- 01
One long survey after delivery
Questions about checkout a week later get vague answers. Ask about buying on the confirmation page and about the order once it arrives.
- 02
Asking repeat buyers how they found you
A returning customer has already told you. Show the source question on first orders only.
- 03
Sending the delivery survey too early
An email about the product that lands before the product does gets ignored. Send it once most orders have arrived.
- 04
Leaving damaged orders unanswered
A customer who reports a broken item expects a reply. Give each problem order an owner and follow up within a day.
Frequently asked questions
Twice: on the confirmation page right after checkout, while the buying steps are fresh, and a few days after delivery, once the product has arrived. Keep each survey short.
Three to five per survey. Start with a rating or a single choice that takes one tap, and end with one optional open question.
No. Shopify doesn't run the Usertick widget on checkout pages, which include the thank-you page. On Shopify, ask by email after the order, add the survey's link to your shipping email, or ask on your store's own pages.
Yes, when the first question is an NPS, Stars, CES, Emoji, Yes / No, Multiple choice or Dropdown question. A tap opens the survey with that answer filled in, and the answer is stored once the customer sends it.
A reward can raise the number of answers, but it also draws answers from people who only want the code and can make answers kinder than the experience was. If you offer one, offer it to everyone who answers, whatever they say.
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