Post-purchase survey and NPS on Shopify, from checkout to delivery
Two questions come up in almost every store. Where did this customer hear about us? And how do customers feel once the parcel has arrived? Analytics answer the first one only partly, and the second one not at all. Asking the customer is simpler, as long as the question is short and asked at the right moment.
When to ask
The right moment depends on the question. "How did you hear about us?" belongs straight after checkout, while the answer is still fresh. A score for the whole experience, the 0 to 10 question known as NPS, makes more sense once the customer has the product, which is after delivery.
Both moments already have a page on Shopify. The thank-you page is seen by every customer who completes checkout. The order status page is where customers come back to follow the parcel, and where many return after it arrives.
What Shopify does on its own
Shopify does not put a survey on the thank-you or order status page by itself. Both pages accept app blocks through checkout and customer account extensions, and that is where survey apps plug in. Shopify Flow can then act on the data an app sends it, such as an answer or a score.
How AfterSale Suite does it
The survey module lets you write up to three questions, of three kinds:
- a choice between two and eight options, with an optional "Other" field for the customer's own words
- a score from 0 to 10; when the score is below 7, the customer is asked why, optionally
- a birthday question, shown only to customers with an account, saved to Shopify's standard birth date field on the customer so your own birthday automations can use it
The questions are asked once per order. They appear first on the thank-you page; if the customer leaves without answering, they stay on the order status page, so the customer can answer later, including after delivery. Once an order has an answer, the survey is not shown again for it.
You choose who is asked: every order, only a customer's first order, only orders above a total you set, or only orders that contain a product from up to five collections you choose.
Every answer is saved on the Shopify order as a metafield, so it is visible from the order in your admin. If you want, the app also tags the order with the option the customer chose, which lets you filter orders and build segments without opening the app. Free text never becomes a tag.
The Survey screen in the admin shows the answers for the last 30, 90 or 365 days, the share of each option, and an NPS calculated from the scores: promoters (9 and 10) minus detractors (0 to 6), as a share of all scores. You can export the answers as a CSV file.
If you use Shopify Flow, the "Customer answered the survey" trigger carries the question, the answer and the score, so you can build your own follow-up: notify someone when a score is low, or add the customer to a list when a score is high.
Each answer keeps the wording of the question it was given under. If you rewrite a question later, past answers are not silently filed under the new text.
Limits to know before you install
- The survey needs Shopify's new customer accounts. It does not appear on the classic order status page.
- AfterSale does not email the survey after delivery. If you want a reminder email, send it with your own email or automation tools, with a link to the order status page.
- AfterSale does not translate your questions. Write them in your customers' language.
- The NPS shown is calculated from the customers who answered, on the orders you chose to ask. Treat it as a signal from those customers, not a measurement of every customer.
- Follow-up automations need Shopify Flow to be installed.
Writing good questions
Keep each question short and ask about one thing. For attribution, list the channels you actually use and add "Other". For the score, ask about the order rather than the brand, for example "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend, after this order?". Three questions is the limit; one or two is often better, because every extra question costs answers.
Getting started
Install the app, turn on the survey under Modules, write one question and save. Place a test order, answer on the thank-you page, then open the order in your admin and find the answer in its metafields. Add the score question once you have a few weeks of answers to compare against.
You can find the app here: AfterSale Suite on the Shopify App Store.