It’s a valid question. You have lots of objective data on the subscribers to your email marketing list, and it increases every campaign. What on Earth could the value be in a subjective response?

One of the many reasons given in support of feedback forms is that they give a way of improving customer satisfaction. This, I would suggest, is a bit esoteric. Everything we do should be chasing that target. Feedback is probably one of the weaker tools.

Perhaps it should be that you want to know what your customers regard as important. You will already have pointers. The click-throughs on your website and emails show what they are looking for. All you have to do is provide. 

The reviews and ratings you receive are a bigger pointer. If you receive a 1-star you will follow it up, asking them what you can do to rectify the matter, and preferably in a public manner. 

You might think I’m not too keen on feedback forms, but they can provide information that is not available via other forms of feedback. 

You should have a specific purpose for asking customers to fill in a form. Let’s say you want to discover why you are not getting any referrals. All your returns can tell you is that these are low. You will want to discover why.

The simplest answer is to use a feedback form which asks your subscribers the quite common question, ‘Would you recommend us to a friend?’. The question is pointless of course. The follow-up ones are the critical questions. If they reply ‘No’ then you will ask ‘Why not?’ You could list reasons with a tick box, but not too many. Pick options that will encourage them to share. 

Remember that you will want to modify your processes based on the replies, so the questions must provide useful information. Eliminate ambiguity and superfluous questions. The results should point to where your weaknesses lie. 

Finally, the most important bit of all; test your conclusions with split email marketing lists. Once the results are back, prove your conclusion to all in your marketing teams.