Thumbs Surveys
Thumbs surveys are set apart by the power of simplicity. As a classic gesture, Thumbs is super intuitive. If it's a "thumbs up," the feedback is positive. If it's a "thumbs down," the feedback is negative. It's that simple!
In this section
- What is the Thumbs survey flow?
- How do I calculate the Thumbs score?
- Who are Thumbs surveys for?
- When should I send Thumbs surveys?
- What are some best practices for Thumbs surveys?
What is the Thumbs survey flow?
The questions you can ask with the thumbs survey are endless, but a common format is:
“How was your experience with [brand/product name]?”
Customers provide a score by selecting either a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
After providing a score, customers answer an open-ended comment question to explain their responses. They’ll then respond to any Additional Questions you’ve configured before being presented with a customized Thank You page.
Sample Thumbs question
Sample Thumbs comment
How is the Thumbs score calculated?
The Thumbs score is calculated with the following equation:
( Total number of “thumbs up” responses / Total number of responses ) x 100 = Thumbs score
The Thumbs score is always rounded to the nearest whole number.
Let's say you received:
- Thumbs up: 30 responses
- Thumbs down: 10 responses
With 40 total responses, the calculation becomes:
( 30 thumbs up / 40 total responses ) * 100 = 75 (your Thumbs score)
Who are Thumbs surveys for?
Thumbs offers a lightweight, adaptable solution for any company requiring quick, clear, and concise feedback from their customers. For businesses looking for product feedback, customer sentiment following support interactions, or product satisfaction, Thumbs can enable the collection of clear customer sentiment to help drive immediate improvements.
As an added bonus, because of the survey's simplicity, Thumbs often sees much higher engagement than traditional surveys. They offer a great solution for companies looking to rejuvenate their poorly engaged CX programs.
When should I send Thumbs surveys?
The ideal timing for sending a Thumbs survey is immediately following a key event. As thumbs provides one of the most lean and effective methods to collect feedback quickly, deploy Thumbs surveys in situations where you’d anticipate rapid feedback would be necessary.
Interested in learning about situations where others are using Thumbs? Consider these common use cases:
- Send directly following a support conversation
- Display in-product to capture feedback about app features
- Survey about products that add personalization based on feedback (like many streaming apps)
- Embed in your Help Center to get a gauge of how helpful customers find your content
- Use as opt-in forms—less feedback oriented, and more designed to help build internal lists for contact
- Replace the standard 1-5 CSAT scale
What are some best practices for Thumbs surveys?
Thumbs surveys are one of the most simple and effective methods for collecting quick customer feedback. With that in mind, Thumbs surveys are not always a great solution for every use case, and certain customizations to Thumbs surveys can lessen their effectiveness. Keep these best practices in mind to help ensure you're rolling out Thumbs surveys as successfully as possible!
Avoid complex questions
Thumbs offers a powerful solution for distilling overly complex feedback programs into a simple rating scale with just two clear options. Coupling Thumbs with a concise, easily understood question is the best bet for collecting clear, actionable feedback, so be sure to avoid complicating the survey question to the point where the Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down options don't provide the nuance the question demands.
Here's an example of a question that would be a bad fit for Thumbs:
What's wrong with this question? First and foremost, the subject of the survey isn't clear. What if we had a great experience purchasing Hem & Stitch products online, but our outreach with Hem & Stitch support was subpar? In this instance, the binary options for responding—thumbs up or thumbs down—don't offer the granularity the question demands.
Align the question and scale
Mapping the survey question to the Thumbs scale is critical to avoid end-user confusion. Let’s take the following question as an example:
The Thumbs don't pair well with this question for a number of reasons:
- Does the thumbs down indicate we didn't purchase the clothing? That we were disappointed with the experience?
- Does the thumbs up suggest that we were super satisfied with our experience? Or that we ended up with clothes we enjoyed?
To more strategically frame a Thumbs question, phrase your question to work with one of the following answer pairs:
- Yes / No
- Like / Dislike
- Happy / Unhappy