Complete guide

Customer satisfaction survey template for small businesses

Quick answer: five questions at most. An overall rating (1 to 5), the recommendation question “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?” (0 to 10, that is NPS), two questions about what matters in your trade (welcome, waiting time, quality, cleanliness, price), and one open question “What could we do better?”. Send it within 24 hours, read everything, and change one thing at a time.

A good satisfaction survey fits in five questions and tells you what customers never say at the counter. Here are ready-to-copy templates for a restaurant, a salon, a tradesperson, a shop or a B&B, how to work out an NPS without a complicated spreadsheet, and what data protection rules require.

Key takeaways

Five questions at most: an overall rating, the recommendation question (NPS), two specific questions, one open field.
Send it right after the visit, by email or with a QR code on site.
NPS is the % of 9-10 scores minus the % of 0-6 scores.
Read every comment, pick one improvement a month and tell your customers about it.

Updated October 18, 2026 8 min read By the Voxtya team

What should a customer satisfaction survey include?

At the counter, most customers say “lovely, thanks” even when something bothered them. A short, almost anonymous survey gives them a place to say it. It is not the same as a Google review: a review is public and reassures future customers; a survey is private and helps you improve. The two work together.

This guide gives you ready-to-copy templates, then a method to send them and use the answers without losing your evenings.

How do you write good survey questions?

Short: under two minutes to answer, five questions at most.
One idea per question: “welcome and speed” are two questions, not one.
Plain words: “waiting time” rather than “customer journey fluidity”.
No leading questions: “What did you think of the welcome?” rather than “Did you enjoy our warm welcome?”.
Always the same scale: 1 to 5 for ratings, 0 to 10 only for the recommendation question.
An open field at the end: that is often where the best ideas are.

Only ask for what you need. Data protection rules ask you to limit what you collect to your purpose: for a satisfaction survey, age, home address or phone number are rarely useful.

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NPS and CSAT: what are they and how do you calculate them?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) was created by Bain & Company. It relies on one question: “How likely are you to recommend [your business] to a friend or colleague?”, scored from 0 to 10. Answers then fall into three groups:

Score	Group	What it means
9 or 10	Promoters	Enthusiastic customers who talk about you
7 or 8	Passives	Satisfied, but no more
0 to 6	Detractors	Unhappy customers

Calculation: percentage of promoters minus percentage of detractors. Passives count in the total but not in the result. Example: out of 40 answers, 24 scores of 9-10 (60%), 10 scores of 7-8 and 6 scores of 0-6 (15%): NPS = 60 − 15 = 45. The score ranges from −100 to +100.

CSAT (customer satisfaction score) is simpler: ask “How satisfied were you with your visit?” on a 1-5 scale and count the share of 4s and 5s. With 32 answers of 4 or 5 out of 40, CSAT is 80%.

Which one should you use? CSAT measures one visit; NPS measures the urge to recommend you. For a small business, ask both: it is only two questions. Above all, track your own trend month to month rather than comparing yourself with averages whose source you don’t know.

The customer satisfaction survey template to copy

This template suits almost any business. Adapt questions 3 and 4 using the trade examples below.

Your visit to [Name]: tell us what you think (2 minutes)

1. Overall, how satisfied were you with your visit? (1 = not at all, 5 = completely)

2. How likely are you to recommend [Name] to a friend or colleague? (0 = not at all, 10 = certainly)

3. How would you rate the welcome? (1 to 5)

4. How would you rate [the food / the service / the product]? (1 to 5)

5. What could we do better? (open answer, optional)

Your answers are only used to improve our service. [Name], [address], [contact email].

Which questions should you ask in your trade?

Replace questions 3 and 4 of the template with the ones for your trade:

Restaurant, bar, café

How would you rate the quality of the food? (1 to 5)

Was the waiting time between courses right for you? (1 to 5)

Did the value for money feel fair? (1 to 5)

Which dish or drink would you like to see on the menu? (open answer)

Hair salon, barber, beauty salon

Does the result match what you asked for? (1 to 5)

Were you seen on time for your appointment? (yes / no)

Was the advice you were given useful? (1 to 5)

Tradesperson (plumber, electrician, carpenter…)

Was the quote clear? (1 to 5)

Were the announced timings respected? (yes / no)

Was the site left clean? (1 to 5)

Shop, retail

Did you find what you were looking for? (yes / partly / no)

Did the staff’s advice help you? (1 to 5)

Which product would you like us to stock? (open answer)

Hotel, B&B, holiday let

How would you rate the cleanliness of the room? (1 to 5)

Did you sleep well (bed, quiet)? (1 to 5)

Did you enjoy the breakfast? (1 to 5)

Was the information before your arrival clear? (yes / no)

How do you send the survey to your customers?

Channel	For whom	Tip
Email after the visit	Customers who booked or left their email	The same evening or the next day, with one link
QR code on site	Walk-in customers	On the bill, the counter or the bedside table
Form on your website	Everyone	A “Tell us what you think” page linked from the footer
Paper	Less connected customers	Half a page, a box, a pen

To build the form, a free tool such as Google Forms or Microsoft Forms is enough: it works out the averages for you. For the email that goes with it:

Subject: 2 minutes to help us, [First name]?

Hello [First name],

Thank you for visiting [Name]. To keep improving, we would love to know what you thought. Five questions, two minutes: [survey link]

Thanks in advance,
[First name], [Name]

Don’t want to hear from us again? [unsubscribe link]

How often should you survey your customers?

You don’t need to survey everyone all the time. Three rhythms work well for a small business:

Continuously, after each visit: a link in the thank-you email or a QR code on the bill. You get a few answers every week and spot a problem quickly.
Once a year, with regular customers: a slightly longer survey (eight questions at most) to prepare the new season, the new menu or new services.
After a change: new opening hours, a new menu, building works, a new team member. For a month, ask one specific question about that change.

Avoid sending the same person a survey and a Google review request on the same day: combine them in one message, with the survey first and the Google link offered to everyone at the end of the survey. And don’t follow up more than once: a customer who doesn’t answer has every right not to.

Surveys and Google reviews: how do you combine them?

A survey is private, a Google review is public. You can offer both, on one condition: do not invite only the customers who scored you highly to leave a Google review. Google’s rules forbid selectively asking for positive reviews.

Good practice: at the end of the survey, for every respondent, add a line such as “Thank you! If you like, you can also share your experience on Google: [link]”. And to ask for reviews by email, see our review request email templates.

What should you do with the answers?

Read every comment, once a week, at a set time.
Sort them into three columns: keep, fix quickly, look into.
Pick one improvement a month: the most mentioned or the easiest. Ten projects at once means no result.
Get back to unhappy customers who left their email: a call or a personal message often turns a detractor into a regular.
Say it: “You asked for it: the menu now has a gluten-free option.” On social media, at the till, in your newsletter.
Track your numbers every month (CSAT and NPS) in a simple table.

An NPS that drops two months in a row is a signal: reread that period’s comments, there is almost always a concrete cause (a new team member, a stock shortage, building works).

The steps at a glance

The steps to create, send and use a customer satisfaction survey in a small business.

Pick five questions. Overall rating, 0-10 recommendation, two trade questions, one open field.
Build the form. With a free form tool, adding a short data protection notice.
Share the link. By email after the visit, with a QR code on site or from your website.
Calculate the scores. CSAT = share of 4-5 ratings; NPS = % of 9-10 minus % of 0-6.
Act and say so. One improvement a month, announced to your customers.

Do it without spending your evenings on it

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This guide for your trade

Go further

Sources

The rules quoted in this guide come from these official pages, checked on October 18, 2026.

How many questions should a satisfaction survey have?

Five at most, so it takes under two minutes. Beyond that, many customers give up halfway.

What is NPS?

The Net Promoter Score, created by Bain & Company: you ask how likely customers are to recommend you from 0 to 10, then subtract the percentage of 0-6 scores from the percentage of 9-10 scores.

What is the difference between NPS and CSAT?

CSAT measures satisfaction with one visit (share of 4 or 5 out of 5). NPS measures the urge to recommend you. Both questions take seconds to answer.

When should I send the survey?

Within 24 hours of the visit, while memories are precise. For a tradesperson, when the job is finished.

Should the survey be anonymous?

Let people answer without giving their name: customers are more honest. Add an optional email field for those who want to be contacted.

Can I offer a gift for answering the survey?

For a private survey, that is your choice. But never tie a gift to a Google review: Google’s rules forbid it.

Can I invite only satisfied customers to leave a Google review?

No. Google forbids selectively asking for positive reviews. Offer the Google link to every respondent, or to nobody.

How long should I keep the answers?

As long as your purpose requires. For customer data, the CNIL refers to 3 years from the end of the business relationship. Anonymous answers can be kept to track your scores.

FAQ