16 Website Survey Question Examples, Plus When to Ask Them

Website survey questions to start asking visitors

Whether you're designing your first website feedback form or refining an existing survey, these examples will help you collect helpful data, regardless of your industry.

1. How did you hear about us?

Analytics tools can give you a lot of quantitative information about where your website visitors come from — but they'll never be able to give you the qualitative data that asking this question provides.

Figuring out how first-time visitors, returning visitors, or buyers discovered your business lets you double down on the marketing strategies with the best ROI.

Here's how KiwiCo, a kids' educational brand, asks this question on the order confirmation page.

When to display this survey

The most common practice is to show this survey on a Thank You page, after a visitor has completed a signup or purchase. That way, you can track which channels are converting, not just driving traffic.

2. Is this your first time using our service?

This question helps you understand who your visitors are and what level of context they have. First-time visitors often have different needs, expectations, and browsing patterns compared to returning visitors.

Asking this question early lets you segment people into different journeys based on their familiarity with your brand.

Here’s how Vagabond Tours, an Ireland tour agency, uses this type of question to understand visitor background and personalize assistance.

This website survey form is made in Getsitecontrol

When to show this survey

Ask this question at the beginning of a visitor’s journey. It makes the most sense on a welcome screen or your landing page. And if you want to target engaged visitors, display the survey a few seconds after they arrive, or after they scroll down a certain percentage of the page.

3. How long have you known about us?

This question helps you understand how familiar visitors are with your brand before they decide to take action. Some people convert on the same day they discover you, while others may spend weeks or months researching before making a purchase.

These insights might help you interpret other survey responses in context and refine your marketing strategy. For example, if long-term followers convert at much higher rates, you may want to invest more in retention and nurturing.

Here’s how Public Goods, a household essentials brand, collects this information after a purchase.

When to show this survey

This question works best on post-purchase pages or signup confirmation screens, when the visitor has already completed the action you’re evaluating.

4. What are you hoping to accomplish by visiting our website?

To improve your website’s usability, you need to know exactly what your visitors are trying to achieve.

As the website’s creator, you probably already have a general idea — but asking this question directly gives you real visitor intent data. That can help you refine your site’s navigation, messaging, and layout around actual user goals.

Here’s how Victoria’s Secret frames this question in their multi-step website feedback survey.

When to display this survey

Soon after a visitor arrives at your website. If you want to survey engaged visitors only, you can show this question after they spend a few seconds on your website or view more than one page.

5. What topics/products are you interested in?

If you have multiple product categories, this question helps you segment your audience and personalize their experience — both on your website and via email campaigns.

For example, you can ask this question when inviting visitors to join your list. This data will help you send targeted email campaigns and relevant suggestions instead of generic broadcasts.

Here's how Graded Gamer does exactly that, asking visitors about their interests before they subscribe.

This website survey form is made in Getsitecontrol

When to display this survey

Show this survey during email newsletter signup, on welcome pages, or as an onboarding survey for new subscribers. You can also trigger it after a visitor browses multiple product categories.

6. How likely are you to recommend our website to a friend?

You’ve probably seen this before: it’s a popular website survey question called the Net Promoter Score (NPS). You can ask it as a standalone question or as part of a broader user experience survey.

Here’s how Banana Republic Factory uses an NPS survey — triggered on exit intent. They pair the NPS question with a follow-up about why the visitors didn’t complete their purchase.

The Net Promoter Score is designed to be a single, trackable benchmark for customer satisfaction. Ideally, you measure it over time to see how your efforts affect customer experience.

The way it works is simple. Visitors are asked: “On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?”

From there, you’ll need to calculate the score based on responses:

• 0–6 – Detractors
• 7–8 – Passives
• 9–10 – Promoters

To calculate your Net Promoter Score, subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The result ranges from -100 to 100.

If you only plan to ask one question, this is one of the most powerful you can use.

When to display this survey

The traditional timing is right after a customer interacts with your business: on a Thank You or Order Confirmation page. However, as seen in the example above, you can also trigger it on exit intent to gather broader visitor feedback before they leave.

7. How did your experience compare to your expectations?

This question helps you understand how closely your website matches what visitors expect when they arrive.

It also surfaces gaps: moments where visitors expected something different or felt the experience fell short. Those patterns help you prioritize improvements.

Here’s how Getsitecontrol (that’s us!) uses a simple on-page rating survey to measure visitor satisfaction after using an email scrolling text generator.

This website survey form is made in Getsitecontrol

When to display this survey

The best timing for this question depends on your customer journey and what you consider to be an “experience” for your visitors.

You can display it:

• when a visitor starts heading to exit
• after a visitor completes a key action

8. How easy was it to use our website? Did you have any problems?

This usability question helps you understand how easily visitors can complete key actions on your site. It highlights friction you may not notice yourself, from confusing navigation to unclear steps in the journey.

Here’s an example from IKEA, where they invite visitors to share feedback on their browsing experience.

When to display this survey

Show it when the experience is complete: after a browsing session, a registration, or a similar action.

If you want to ask multiple questions and collect more in-depth data, consider following IKEA’s example and displaying a pop-up invitation as well as offering a survey incentive.

9. Having trouble finding anything?

This is one of the best website survey questions about usability. It helps you understand how easily visitors can locate information and perform important actions.

If you find that visitors consistently struggle to find certain information, you might want to rethink how you structure your website.

Here’s how Moebe, a home decor brand, asks a similar question in their website feedback survey.

When to display this survey

For the best results, trigger this question only after a visitor has spent a meaningful amount of time on your site, looked through multiple pages, or scrolled all the way to the end of a page.

10. Is there anything missing on this page?

This question is designed to focus on a single page and collect more specifics. Its goal is to highlight mismatches between what visitors expect to find on that particular page, and what’s actually presented.

For example, the structure or placement of information might make sense to you, but not to your visitors. If people consistently point out missing details, unclear explanations, or misplaced sections, that’s a strong sign your content hierarchy needs adjustment.

When to display this survey

Show this question to visitors who have spent meaningful time on the page or reached the bottom. That way, their feedback reflects real engagement.

11. Is our pricing clear?

Beyond acting as a good website survey question about usability, this question also provides valuable information to your sales team and contributes to the feedback on your pricing strategy.

When to display this survey

This is a great question to trigger if you notice that a visitor has been browsing your pricing page for some time.

12. What’s one thing you’d change about our website?

Asking visitors for a single improvement suggestion helps you identify the issues that matter most. Limiting the question to “one thing” forces people to prioritize, which often surfaces stronger insights than an open suggestion box.

If you see the same request appear repeatedly, that’s usually a sign you should consider making the change.

Here's how Air France asks for improvement feedback when a visitor spends a significant amount of time on the website.

When to display this survey

Show this question to visitors who have already explored your site. You can trigger it with a delay, after a certain number of page views, or after a key action completion. You can also embed this survey question into your blog or help content.

13. What is the most useful feature of our product?

This question helps you understand what visitors value most about your site or your product: not what needs to change, but what you’re already doing well.

If you notice a pattern, you can highlight that feature more prominently in your messaging. When a specific benefit resonates with many visitors, it often works well as a value prop for new ones.

Here's how Public Goods asks customers to rank what they value most, in a post-purchase survey.

When to display this survey

Show it to returning visitors or customers, who will be able to provide meaningful insights. The best moment to ask this question is after a key interaction, such as purchase.

14. Which of our competitors did you consider before choosing us?

Your internal view of your “competitors” doesn’t always match the alternatives your audience is actually evaluating. This question helps you understand who your visitors compare you to as they make decisions.

Knowing who else is in their consideration set helps you refine your messaging, your positioning, and the offer you should emphasize.

When to display this survey

Show it on a Thank You page after a signup or purchase, or include it in a post-purchase email sent to confirmed customers.

15. Why are you leaving?

This question is best presented on an exit-intent popup, and it's one of the most effective ways to understand why visitors leave without converting.

Understanding exit reasons helps you identify patterns: whether visitors are just browsing, need more time to decide, or have specific concerns you can address.

Here’s how Mordeco, a home accessory brand, asks this question when a visitor is about to leave a product page without adding the item to the cart.

This website survey form is made in Getsitecontrol

When to display this survey

Only show this question when a visitor is about to exit the page. However, you can trigger it strategically based on context.

On product pages (empty cart)

This will help you understand why visitors don’t add the product to the cart (missing details, sizing chart, unclear info).

In the shopping cart

This will help you understand why customers changed their minds after getting so close to purchasing (shipping costs, payment concerns).

Different targeting surfaces different objections, and this survey helps you identify them.

16. What stopped you from making a purchase?

This question focuses specifically on purchase barriers rather than general browsing behavior. It helps you identify concrete obstacles preventing conversions: pricing concerns, shipping costs, missing features, or checkout friction.

Here's how Moebe asks visitors about purchase barriers after they spend some time on the website and start heading to exit.

When to display it

Show this survey when an engaged visitor is about to leave your site. Target visitors who have spent meaningful time browsing (indicating purchase consideration) but are now heading toward exit.

This works on product pages, category pages, or even after someone has viewed multiple items; you don't need to wait for cart abandonment to ask this question.

Best practices for running website surveys

Now that you’ve seen real-world examples, let’s summarize the guidelines for creating surveys that visitors actually complete.

Keep it short

Limit surveys to 3-5 questions. Completion rates drop approximately 20% for each question beyond five — unless a survey incentive is offered.

Time it right

Showing your survey to the wrong audience at the wrong time will get you unmeaningful insights, skew your data, and lead to the wrong conclusions. Most surveys are meant to be displayed to engaged visitors or those who have completed a certain action.

Optimize for mobile

Over 50% of your website traffic is likely coming from mobile devices, and so will your survey responses. Use large tap targets and minimize text input requirements to provide the best user experience for your mobile respondents.

Ask about behavior, not opinions

This principle comes from Rob Fitzpatrick's book, The Mom Test, a guide to asking questions that get honest answers. The most actionable survey questions focus on what visitors actually did rather than what they think they might do.

For example, ask more questions like “What almost stopped you from buying?” (specific past behavior) instead of questions like “What features would you like?” (hypothetical preferences). That’s how you get honest feedback instead of polite guesses.

Offer incentives for long surveys

If you're running a comprehensive multi-step survey that takes 5+ minutes to complete, incentives can significantly boost participation. Research shows even a small $1 reward can more than double response rates (from 11.8% to 26.3%). However, for quick 1-3 question surveys, incentives aren't necessary and may attract respondents who aren't genuinely interested in providing thoughtful feedback.

Create website surveys with Getsitecontrol

Already have your questions in mind? The next step is getting them in front of the right visitors, and that’s where Getsitecontrol comes in.

Getsitecontrol allows you to create embedded and pop-up website survey forms within minutes, using a versatile form editor. You can easily adjust the fields, colors, and other visual components of the survey to make it look like an integral part of your website — and collect data in the format that works for you. From there, you can target surveys based on visitor behavior, such as exit intent, time on page, or pages viewed.

It only takes a few minutes to launch a survey and start collecting feedback, whether you're trying to reduce cart abandonment, improve your content, or test your pricing page.

Create an account today, get started with the free plan, and try it for yourself.