B2B Survey Questions to Turn MQLs into Customers and Scale Your Business

B2B survey questions provide a powerful and versatile opportunity for marketers to optimize their efforts. Yet, the concept of using surveys to better understand prospects is often overlooked by marketers.

If you’re looking for an innovative way to glean additional information about leads in your sales funnels, a B2B survey may be the perfect solution. 

Don’t let inexperience with this research methodology stop you from launching your first B2B survey. This guide from Pollfish will provide you with a variety of B2B survey questions that you start using today to enhance your marketing strategy and turn more leads into sales. 

How B2B Survey Questions Improve Your Sales Funnel

B2B survey questions can serve as the ideal follow-up to prospects after they have made initial contact with your company. 

When a prospect completes a form, i.e., to ask a question or gain access to gated marketing content such as an eBook, your business will be in possession of key demographic information about your prospect and, most importantly, their contact details. 

At this point, your marketing campaigns are already yielding B2B engagement, so it is the perfect time to engage with the prospect.

This is an opportunity to learn more about your prospect. B2B survey questions are a viable means to engage with your prospects at several points in their CX. For example, you can survey them prior to their gaining access to a gated content asset or follow up after they’ve seen/downloaded your content. 

This will gain you valuable information about their role in their company (to see whether they are responsible for conducting business or report to someone who does), their nurture needs, buyer readiness and other factors that build their business relationship with your company. 

Questions to Identify MQLs

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are leads from marketing campaigns that are the most likely to convert; however, it is difficult to identify these leads from basic demographic data alone. B2B survey questions can provide you with the information you need to determine whether to pass the lead along to the sales team, whether they need to be nurtured further or whether they aren’t qualified MQLs. These questions will help you make that decision:

• What is your job title?

1. 1. 1. Multiple choice: COO, Director of Operations, Manager, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, Etc.

• Who do you report to?

1. 1. 1. Multiple choice: Board of Directors, CTO, Director of Technology, Other.

• How large is your company?

1. 1. 1. Multiple choice: 1 – 10, 10 – 100, 100 – 1,000, 1,000+.

• What is your purchasing authority?

1. 1. 1. Multiple choice: I have the authority to make purchases, I can make purchases with the authority of my manager, I can influence purchasing decisions but I can’t make them.

• On a scale of 1 – 10, how likely are you to download and read a free marketing report on changes in [industry name]?

1. 1. 1. A scaled response, with 10 being “extremely likely.”

Questions that Explore B2B Pain Points

If a lead is familiar with your company (e.g. from spending time on your website or by reading content from your organization), but still hasn’t made a purchase, it is important to understand what stands in their way. 

This is the opportune time to gain information about their pain points by asking the following survey questions:

• What is the biggest challenge you face in your line of operation?

1. 1. 1. Text entry field

• Of the following, what is your business lacking?

1. 1. 1. Multiple-choice answers with multiple selections allowed: lead generation tool, an effective customer communication tool, better user testing capabilities, etc.

• What types of assets would help your business grow?

1. 1. 1. Multiple-choice answer with multiple selections allowed: i, benchmark data, content on how [your product name] can improve processes, industry reports, etc. 

• What are you hoping to accomplish by setting up a [enter your product/solution here]?

1. 1. 1. Multiple-choice answer: Improve internal processes, Save money, Find efficiencies, Scale my organization. 
      2. Text entry field

• What is holding you back from purchasing today?

1. 1. Multiple-choice answer: Cost, Unsure if features suit our needs, Ease of use, Not sure we need it.

Questions to Nurture MQLs Further Down the Sales Funnel

B2B survey questions can provide invaluable insight to your marketing team as you plan and create content to further nurture MQLs down the sales funnel. 

This info can be used to personalize various marketing literature and ancillary marketing functions such as ABM campaigns, marketing events and non-textual video content., These can make the difference between your MQL going cold or moving to the next step in their journey. The following questions provide insight for further MQL nurturing :

• Where do you go to learn more about what’s happening in your industry? Check all that apply.

1. 1. 1. Multiple-choice response with the ability to select multiple answers:  Industry blogs, benchmark reports, Podcasts, News sites, Competitors’ websites, consultants 

• What kind of digital assets would most help your organization? Check all that apply.

1. 1. 1. Multiple-choice response with the ability to select multiple answers: benchmark data, verticalized reports,  webinars, blog posts, guides, eBooks, etc.

• Which terms do you use to search for more information about
  ?

1. 1. 1. Text entry field. 

• What is your preferred communication method?

1. 1. Multiple-choice answers: phone, email, video conference

Questions about Satisfaction with an Existing B2B Relationship

Customer retention is essential to your organization’s bottom line, as loyal customers engage in prolonged business relationships, bringing a longer customer lifetime value (CLV. Once your B2B customers have chosen you as their supplier, or B2C customers have chosen you as their partner, you can use B2B survey questions to check-in with them to understand and adapt to their needs. Here are some customer satisfaction questions you should plan to ask:

1. How satisfied are you with our company?
   1. Multiple-choice answer: Very satisfied, Satisfied, Neither, Dissatisfied, Very dissatisfied.
2. On a scale of 1 – 10, how would you rate the ease of doing business with us?
   1. Scaled response, with 10 being “extremely easy to do business with.”
3. Please rank the following state: I would purchase products or services from your business again.
   1. Likert scale: Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly disagree.
4. How likely are you to recommend our organization to a friend or colleague?
   1. If Net Promoter Score is used, the response should be provided on a scale of 1- 10, with 10 being “highly likely to recommend.”
   2. A multiple-choice response can also be used: I have already or will recommend, I may recommend, I am not sure if I’ll recommend, I would not recommend.
5. On a scale of 1 – 10, how well do we handle concerns when they arise?
   1. Scaled response, with 10 indicating “concerns are handled very well.”
6. What can our company do better?
   1. Open text entry form.

Questions to Spur Cross-Sells and Upsells

You can continue to enhance your relationship with your B2B customers with additional offerings by encouraging cross-sells and upsells.  Not only does this increase your company’s sales, but it also ensures they won’t leave you for a competitor who offers more. 

1. Is your organization considering additional technology purchases this year?
   1. Multiple-choice answer: yes, yes, but it’s not a top priority, unsure, unlikely, a definite no. 
   2. Use skip logic to send “yes” answers to additional questions about the technology they may purchase. 
2. How much do you know about the following services/products that our business offers?
   1. Use a matrix to list out the services and products you offer. Then offer responses across the top row:, I’m interested in this, I know you offer this, but I am not interested, I did not know you offer this, I don’t need this.
3. What other services would you like us to provide?
   1. Multiple-choice answers, with multiple selections allowed (list out features or services that your competitors offer or that you plan to develop)
   2. Text entry field
4. If we offered X, would you consider purchasing from us?
   1. If asking about a single product or service, you can use a binary response.
   2. If asking about multiple items, use a matrix to understand the interest level in each.

B2B Success Is in the Details

We have provided you with a number of B2B survey questions that you can leverage to power your sales funnel, increase conversions, elongate contractual relationships, maintain partnerships and improve customer retention. 

In order to get the information you need from prospects and existing customers, you will have to pay careful attention to your approach.

Consider the wording of early emails to your customers. Remind them about why you are reaching out: i.e., “You filled out a form on our website. We’d like to know how we can better meet your needs. Do you have 2 minutes to complete a short survey?”.

Alternatively, consider offering an incentive to get prospects to engage (e.g. discount code or free gift. However, you decide to approach this, know that the information you receive will help improve your marketing and sales processes, as well as turn those MQLs into happy customers.