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Text survey tool: Get feedback with SMS

SMS surveys are a powerful tool for connecting with your audience, collecting their thoughts, and boosting engagement.

  • Send text surveys to groups
  • Collect votes by text and tally results
  • Follow up with respondents
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How to send text message surveys

Easily create and send text message surveys to collect the information you need from your target audience with this step- by- step guide:

First, decide what kind of information you want to collect and choose the format that will work best for your survey. Here are a few options:

  • Multiple Choice: This is a good option for questions with a limited set of answer choices.

  • Yes or No: This is a good option for simple questions where you only need to know if someone agrees or disagrees with something.

  • Open Ended: This is a good option for questions where you want people to provide more detailed feedback.

  • Liker Scale: This is good for survey questions where you want people to rate something. Use defined options or a set scale (1-10) for SMS responses.

You need to have a list of phone numbers of people who have opted in to receive text messages from you. You can collect phone numbers by adding a sign-up form to your website or by asking people to text a keyword to a short code.

Keep your text message survey short and to the point. People are more likely to complete a survey if it only takes a few minutes to do. Here are some tips for designing your survey:

  • Use clear and concise language.

  • Avoid using jargon or technical terms.

  • Keep your questions short and to the point.

  • Offer an incentive for people to complete your survey.

You can promote your survey by sending an email blast, posting about it on social media, or mentioning it on your website.

Once you have everything ready, you can send your survey to your list. Be sure to include a clear call to action in your text message, letting people know what you want them to do.

Once you’ve sent your survey, use Textedly’s insights dashboard to track important campaign metrics like messages sent, open rates, and responses.

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Tips and best practices for powerful SMS surveys

Create SMS surveys that deliver quick and valuable customer insights using these key tips and best practices:

Timing is Key:

  • Post-Interaction: Send surveys immediately after a purchase, customer service interaction, or event for the most relevant feedback.
  • Avoid Busy Hours: Weekends and evenings might have lower response rates. Consider weekdays during business hours.
  • Respect Time Zones: If your audience spans different locations, stagger your surveys accordingly.

Craft Effective Questions:

  • Short & Sweet: Keep questions concise and easy to understand on a small screen.
  • Multiple Choice or Rating Scales: Offer clear answer choices to encourage participation.
  • One Question at a Time: Focus on a single question per SMS to avoid overwhelming respondents.

Survey Frequency:

  • Don’t Overdo It: Avoid bombarding your audience with surveys. Aim for a balance between gathering data and avoiding survey fatigue.
  • Seasonal Insights: Consider sending surveys quarterly or seasonally to track trends and changes.

Interpreting Results & Taking Action:

  • Analyze the Data: Look for patterns and trends in the responses to identify areas for improvement.
  • Close the Loop: If possible, acknowledge responses and thank participants for their feedback.
  • Take Action: Use the insights from your survey to make data-driven decisions to enhance your service or product.

3 ways to send text surveys

Need to collect votes, feedback, or NPS scores? We make it easy to send the right type of text survey to your customers.

Text to Vote Surveys

Grow your SMS list and gather votes

Text to Vote Surveys are a great tool to collect feedback and grow your list. Send “TextSurveys” to 900900 to see how it works!

  • Let anyone vote on your next decision
  • Make fans and customers feel involved
  • Engage your crowd in a fun and easy way
Learn More
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Poll Subscribers

Give subscribers a voice with polls

Send a text survey to your existing customers’ phones with our multiple choice polling feature.

  • Ask customers to provide feedback
  • See instant, real-time results
  • Follow up with participants automatically
Learn More
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Trackable Links

Send links to your favorite survey sites

Create a survey with dedicated survey software like SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, or Typeform and then link to it within your text message

  • Track click-through rates
  • Send automated reminders
  • Segment your audience by participation
Learn More
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Customer reviews and testimonials

Check out what real business owners have to say about using text surveys.

Surveys keep students engaged

Some kids are going to pay attention, some tune out, but the Text to Vote Surveys feature is a way to keep teenagers engaged. What teenager doesn’t love to take out their phones during a presentation? Yet, it keeps them tied into the information at hand.

Lisa Marker-Robbins Founder/CEO of Leap

SMS product surveys bring customers to our funnel

Most of our customers get to our funnel from a product survey, which means they already bought the product. But following the survey, we also find lots of other interesting facts about our products. Over time, this has helped our production to get better and better.

Representative Matykos Beauty

Gathering feedback for our nonprofit

For nonprofits, getting metrics to report back to funders and supporters is always a challenge… The polls automatically count positive and negative feedback. This helped us identify that we have a 94% positive net promoter score.

Kelley Henry Executive director, SoGal Foundation

Surveys helped us gather research

Your recollection isn’t always very reliable. By texting people, they get the message right away, and we can ask them about their experience in the last 30 minutes.

Ashley Hawkins Parham Program Coordinator, Wake Forest University

SimpleTexting SMS surveys

Gather important feedback and stay top-of-mind with your subscribers in just a few clicks. Plus, you can try our SMS survey service free for two weeks.

Set up fast

Our team can get you up and running (or texting) within a day so you can launch your SMS survey ASAP.

Send SMS surveys

Send your surveys in seconds and get results back from your contacts just as fast. When you send surveys over SMS, you can be sure you’re reaching your audience efficiently and instantly.

Analyze your results

With SimpleTexting’s easy-to-read analytics page, you can get answers on what’s working on your SMS surveys and what can be improved so your messages perform better each time you send them.

Customer service

When you reach out to our team for help, you can be sure you’re connecting with a real person who not only knows their stuff when it comes to text marketing, but who wants to see you succeed and is willing to help you in any way they can.

AI message generator

It takes time to write effective texts, and inspiration can be hard to come by. To help you with text message writer’s block, SimpleTexting built AI Assist — a ChatGPT-powered text message generator.

Unlimited contacts and keywords

You get unlimited opt-in keywords and text contacts with SimpleTexting, meaning you can create as many keywords as you’d like for your polls and surveys.

Leveraging SMS surveys for accurate research data

Case studies: How businesses use SimpleTexting’s SMS surveys for success

SimpleTexting’s SMS surveys empower businesses across various industries to gather valuable customer feedback and drive positive change. Here are a few examples showcasing this versatility:

The Wake Forest University (WFU) research team required daily data collection from nearly 150 participants over a 10-month period. Traditional methods like email surveys faced limitations:

Lower response rates: Emails often get buried in inboxes, leading to lower participation and potentially skewed data.

Unreliable recall: Participants might struggle to recall their experiences accurately after a significant time lapse.

WFU turned to SimpleTexting’s SMS surveys for several key benefits:

High open rates: Text messages boast significantly higher open rates compared to emails, ensuring the research team reached a larger portion of the participant pool consistently.

Improved accuracy: By sending daily surveys immediately after the desired timeframe (e.g., the past 30 minutes), WFU ensured participants provided more precise recollections of their experiences.

WFU’s adoption of SimpleTexting’s SMS surveys proved successful:

Increased engagement: The daily text prompts likely led to a higher response rate compared to traditional methods.

Enhanced data quality: By collecting data closer to the experience, WFU ensured more accurate and reliable information.

Streamlined process: SMS surveys simplified data collection for the research team, saving time and resources.

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Texting to enhance customer feedback and product development

Matykos Beauty primarily relied on post-purchase surveys to gather customer feedback. However, this method had limitations:

Limited reach: Not all customers completed the surveys, potentially leading to biased data.

One-sided communication: The traditional surveys offered limited opportunities for back-and-forth communication with customers.

Matykos Beauty embraced SimpleTexting’s SMS features to create a more engaging and insightful feedback loop:

Two-way communication: SMS texting allowed Matykos Beauty to initiate conversations with customers, ask clarifying questions, and gain deeper insights.

Targeted surveys: They could send targeted SMS surveys after product purchases to gather specific feedback on the customer’s experience.

Product improvement: By directly engaging with customers, Matykos Beauty gained valuable feedback that helped them refine and improve existing products.

SimpleTexting’s SMS tools empowered Matykos Beauty to:

Gather richer customer insights: Two-way texting allowed for more in-depth feedback beyond basic survey answers.

Fuel product development: Customer feedback directly influenced the creation of new beauty products and product bundles.

Increase customer reviews: Matykos Beauty could easily request customer reviews via text, leading to a significant boost in positive online reviews.

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SMS survey ideas: Tailored for different scenarios

SimpleTexting’s SMS surveys are a powerful tool for gathering feedback in various situations. Here’s a breakdown of how you can leverage them for your specific scenario:

Post-event feedback

Capture attendee impressions while memories are fresh. Ask about session quality, venue satisfaction, and overall event experience.

Example question: “On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied were you with today’s event?”

Post-purchase feedback

Gauge customer satisfaction with their recent purchase. Gather insights into product quality, delivery experience, and overall satisfaction.

Example question: “How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend (1- Not Likely, 5- Very Likely)?”

Customer service feedback

Solicit feedback after a customer service interaction. Measure agent effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and understand customer sentiment.

Example question: “How satisfied were you with the help you received from our representative today?”

Net promoter score (NPS) surveys

Measure customer loyalty with a quick and easy question. Ask how likely a customer is to recommend your business to others.

Example question: “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?”

Product launch feedback

Gather initial impressions after a new product launch. Ask about user experience, identify potential issues, and gauge overall product reception.

Example question: “What are your first impressions of our new [Product Name]?”

Lead generation and qualification

Capture leads and gather qualifying information through text messages. Ask questions to identify potential customers and collect valuable data.

Example message: “Interested in learning more about [Service]? Text ‘INFO’ for a free consultation!”

Customer satisfaction surveys

Regularly gauge overall customer satisfaction. Track customer sentiment over time and identify areas for improvement.

Example question: “How satisfied are you with our service overall (Very Satisfied, Somewhat Satisfied, Not Satisfied)?”

Feedback in full view: Your SimpleTexting SMS survey dashboard

All your customer feedback, conveniently presented in a clear and actionable format.

User-friendly design:

No more complex data reports. SimpleTexting’s survey dashboard is designed with you in mind:

  • Intuitive interface: A clean and uncluttered interface makes navigating results a breeze.
  • Visualizations galore: Interactive charts and graphs bring your data to life, allowing you to easily identify trends and patterns.
  • Drill down for details: Don’t just see the big picture – dig deeper into specific responses with a few clicks.
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Actionable insights at your fingertips:

Next level data that serves a powerful purpose. SimpleTexting’s dashboard enables you to:

  • Measure customer satisfaction: See real-time feedback on ratings and Net Promoter Scores (NPS).
  • Identify areas for improvement: Pinpoint aspects of your service or product that need attention based on customer responses.
  • Track progress over time: Monitor how your customer sentiment evolves over time and measure the impact of changes you make.
  • Make data-driven decisions: Use the insights from your SMS surveys to inform strategic business decisions.
image of the text to vote surveys feature in the SimpleTexting app

Understanding SimpleTexting’s pricing: Credits and plans

SimpleTexting’s pricing structure utilizes a credit system. Here’s how credits work, different pricing tiers, and how message types affect credit usage:

Credits explained:

  • One credit = One outgoing text message: Think of credits like a currency for your text messages. In most cases, one credit is used for one outgoing SMS message (up to 160 characters).
  • Extended messages & MMS: Messages exceeding 160 characters (up to 306 characters) require two credits. Messages with pictures or other media (MMS) require three credits.
  • Incoming messages are free: There’s no charge for receiving text messages, including those with pictures (MMS).

Benefits of the credit system:

  • Flexibility: Purchase a plan that best suits your texting needs and avoid overpaying.
  • Pay-per-use: Only use credits when you send messages, allowing for budget control.
  • Credits rollover: Any unused credits from your monthly plan typically roll over to the next month (check specific plan details).

Pricing tiers and plans:

  • Starter plans: Ideal for low volume users. Plans typically start around $29 with a set number of credits (e.g., 500) suitable for basic needs.
  • Pro plans: Cater to medium volume users. These plans offer a higher number of credits (e.g., 1,000+) at a more economical per-credit rate.
  • Enterprise plans: Designed for high volume users. These plans provide significant credit allotments (e.g.25,000+) at the most cost-effective per-credit price.

Choosing the right plan:

To select the optimal plan, consider your estimated monthly text message volume:
  • Low volume: If you anticipate sending a minimal number of texts per month, a starter plan with additional credits might suffice.
  • Medium volume: For regular text message usage, a pro plan with a higher credit allotment is a good option.
  • High volume: If you expect to send a significant number of texts monthly, consider contacting SimpleTexting for a custom enterprise plan.

Benefits of SMS surveys

SMS surveys offer a multitude of benefits for businesses looking to gather valuable customer feedback and improve their offerings. Here’s a closer look at some key advantages:

  • High response rates: People are more likely to check and respond to text messages compared to emails, leading to a higher data collection rate.
  • Quick and convenient: SMS surveys are short and easy to complete on mobile devices, encouraging participation from busy customers.
  • Real-time feedback: Capture customer sentiment when it’s fresh in their minds, leading to more accurate and actionable insights.
  • Improved customer satisfaction: By actively seeking feedback and addressing concerns, you can demonstrate that you care about your customers’ experience.
  • New! Personalized interactions: With SimpleTexting’s SMS surveys, you can now set up automated responses based on customer feedback, for a more personalized touch, even in a text-based interaction. For example, you can automatically send a thank you message to customers with positive feedback or a quick apology and resolution message to those with negative feedback.

How it works:

When creating your SMS survey in SimpleTexting, you can set up branching logic based on answer choices. This allows you to tailor the follow-up message based on the response received.

  • Positive feedback: Automatically send a personalized thank you message expressing your appreciation for their feedback and business.
  • Negative feedback: Acknowledge the concern and provide a quick apology. You can then offer a solution or direct them to the appropriate channel for further assistance.

Sending SMS surveys with SimpleTexting: Step-by-step

SimpleTexting’s intuitive interface and step-by-step guidance make creating and deploying SMS surveys easy on you. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or new to the world of SMS surveys, SimpleTexting equips you with the tools to gather valuable customer feedback and make data-driven decisions for your business. 

Here’s a breakdown of the process:

Craft your survey:

Login to your SimpleTexting account. If you’re new, sign up for a free trial to explore the platform’s features.

Navigate to the “Surveys” section. This is where you’ll build and manage your SMS surveys.

Choose a question type. SimpleTexting offers various options like multiple choice, ratings, or open-ended questions to suit your needs.

Draft clear and concise questions. Keep in mind that SMS messages have a character limit, so be sure to phrase your questions effectively.

Personalize the survey introduction and ending. Briefly introduce yourself and your purpose for the survey, and conclude with a thank you message.

Select your recipients:

Import your contact list. You can upload a CSV file containing the phone numbers of your target audience. Ensure you have permission to send them SMS messages.

Segment your audience (optional). SimpleTexting allows you to target specific groups within your contact list for a more focused approach. For example, you might send a survey about a new product only to customers who have recently purchased similar items.

Schedule or trigger your survey:

Schedule your survey for a later date and time. Prep and plan your survey deployment strategically.

Trigger the survey to be sent immediately. Ideal for capturing real-time feedback after an interaction, like a customer service call or in-store visit.

Track and analyze results:

Monitor responses in real-time. SimpleTexting’s dashboard provides a clear overview of survey responses as they come in.

Analyze the data. Dive deeper into the results with interactive charts and graphs to identify trends and gain valuable insights.

Take action. Use the feedback from your SMS surveys to improve your customer experience, product offerings, or service delivery.

SimpleTexting’s intuitive interface and step-by-step guidance make creating and deploying SMS surveys easy on you. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or new to the world of SMS surveys, SimpleTexting equips you with the tools to gather valuable customer feedback and make data-driven decisions for your business.

Frequently asked questions about SMS surveys

After nearly a decade sending SMS surveys, we’ve received a lot of questions. These are the most common.

Response rates to SMS surveys are impressive. 98% of text messages are opened, 90% within three minutes, and the average SMS response rate to surveys across different industries is 42%.
We offer several options for sending surveys. You can use text to vote to collect feedback, engage your SMS list with polls, or send links to your favorite dedicated survey software like SurveyMonkey.
The cost of sending an SMS survey depends on how many texts you plan to send. The more you send, the lower the cost per credit. Our plans start at $29 per month for 500 credits. You can visit our pricing page for more info!
SMS surveys are helpful for gathering in-store or website visit feedback, product purchase feedback, and customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey feedback. Check out this guide for a
Looking at the numbers, it seems that SMS surveys are more effective. The average response time for a text message is 60x faster than email, and response rates to SMS marketing are 7.5x higher than email.