Keeping your current restaurant customers happy is one of the keys to your success.

This is especially true, because according to LinkedIn, it costs between four and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.

Knowing that keeping your customers loyal and returning to your restaurant is pivotal to your profit margins, how do you know what they like and don’t like? How can you improve?

The best way to know if your customers are happy, or unhappy, is to ask for their feedback. One of the easiest ways to do this is with a customer feedback survey.

But, how do you get them to complete it?

In this article, we look at how to get survey responses from restaurant customers.

Incentivize the Survey

Consider offering your customers an incentive for completing your survey. You might offer a discount coupon, free appetizer, dessert or drink.

Your best bet is to provide them something of value so they’ll want to complete your survey. Don’t provide it until the end of the survey, though.

By offering a discount, you encourage survey responses from restaurant customers and give them a reason to complete the survey in its entirety.

Make It Easy to Complete

Your customers are busy people. This is why it’s important to make your survey easy to complete. This helps ensure you get responses from restaurant customers. Here are a few tips:

• Send your survey to your restaurant’s email list.
• Post it on your website.
• Link to the survey through your social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.
• Hand them a card with your survey’s URL address after they’ve eaten, or let them take it through the iPads at your table if you have them.
• Don’t make it too long. Anything more than 10 questions is too long.
• Have a purpose for your survey, don’t just ask a bunch of random questions.
• Ask only the questions you will use.
• Fine tune your survey questions. Don’t be biased or leading.
• Ask only one thing in each question so it’s easy to answer. For example, “Tell us what you liked and didn’t like about our new décor.” Separate these into two questions.

Act on the Data

If you want your customers to respond to your survey, show them you care. (tweet this) For example, let’s say you plan to send two surveys per year.

On survey number one, you gather your responses, but you don’t do anything with your data. Then, when it’s time for survey number two, no one responds because they don’t think you really care.

A great way to get survey responses from restaurant customers is to do something with the data. This lets your customers know that not only do you care about what they have to say, but they can see you’ll take an action.

If you fail to act on your survey responses, you show that you disrespect the opinions of your restaurant customers. This sends a strong message to your customers that improving your restaurant really isn’t a priority.

Consider sending an email to your restaurant customers and highlighting the feedback and the changes you plan to make.

This encourages future survey takes to send you their responses.

Final Thoughts

Survey your customers on a consistent basis to help you know if your restaurant is headed in the right direction.

Craft short, to-the-point surveys to get survey responses from restaurant customers. And, always process your feedback and report back to your clientele.

One final suggestion for encouraging feedback is to offer a mixture of question types. Give your customers a chance to check boxes, but also give them the opportunity to use their own words.

When they have a chance to jot down their ideas, you just might be surprised at the wealth of information you can learn.

This can help you improve things about your restaurant and ultimately increase your bottom line.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your restaurant. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

Image: Jay Wennington