Survey · Customer success
Customer development survey template
Built around what people have actually done, not what they say they would buy. It asks about the last time the problem came up, what they use now and how many hours it eats, then screens out anyone who never faces it. Only people who have tried to fix it are asked what failed, and anyone willing to talk is asked for an email.
Try it live
Try it as a respondent
Every question, and where it leads
The conversation
What a respondent is asked, in order.
We're trying to understand how people plan staff shifts today. No sales pitch, just a few questions.
Which of these describes you best?
When did you last have to plan staff shifts?
Walk us through that last time. What did you do, step by step?
What do you use for it today?
Roughly how many hours a week does it take, including fixing changes?
What's the most frustrating part of it?
How much of a problem is this for you right now?
Have you tried or paid for anything to fix it?
What did you try, and why didn't it stick?
Would you be up for a 20-minute call to talk it through?
What's the best email to arrange it?
Endings
Thank you
Thanks for stopping by
Thanks, talk soon 👋
The flow
Where each answer leads. Every route here is editable once the form is yours.
Single select
Single select
Long text
Multi select
Number
Long text
Opinion scale
Yes / No
Long text
Yes / No
What this template uses
- Single select
- Long text
- Multi select
- Number
- Opinion scale
- Yes / No
- 3 branches
- 3 endings
Questions to consider
- What decision will this research inform: whether to build, who to build for, or what to build first?
- Who has the problem often enough to describe it in detail, and where will you find them?
- Which answer would tell you the problem is not worth solving?
- How many follow-up calls can you realistically hold in the next two weeks?
How to use the responses
Sort answers by how recently the problem happened and how painful people rated it. Someone who planned shifts this week, spends hours on it and has already tried to fix it is your strongest signal, and they should be first on your call list. Read the step-by-step stories side by side and note the workarounds that keep appearing. A pattern of spreadsheets plus group chats says more about the gap than any feature request.
How to customize and share it
- 1Replace "plan staff shifts" in the greeting and questions with the problem you are researching, and rewrite the tool options to match how people handle it today.
- 2Keep your idea out of the survey. Asking about past behaviour first stops people from being polite about a product they have not seen.
- 3Share the link in the communities where your target users already talk, and book calls with the most detailed respondents while their answers are fresh.
Frequently asked questions
What is a customer development survey?
It is a short set of questions about a problem people already have: how often it happens, how they deal with it now and what it costs them. It comes before any pitch, so the answers are about behaviour, not opinions of your idea.
What questions should I ask in customer development?
Ask about the last time the problem happened, what they did, what they use today and what they have already tried. Avoid asking whether they would buy something, because people say yes to be kind.
Is a survey enough for customer development?
It is a good filter, not a replacement for conversations. Use it to find the people with the sharpest version of the problem, then talk to them.
Why screen out people who never face the problem?
Their answers would be guesses. This template ends the survey politely for them, so your results only contain real experience.