When is the right time to send a CSAT survey without affecting the CX?

Do you think sending surveys 5 minutes after hanging up is the most effective? Have you ever wondered if this practice negatively impacts your contact centre metrics?

When we send a survey after a call matters. It’s equally crucial to consider the channel through which we request feedback and the content of the survey itself. For instance, a Shopify study reveals that 40% of customers ignore frequent or irrelevant surveys.

“40% of customers ignore frequent or irrelevant surveys.”

Shopify

1. WHAT IS THE BEST TIME TO SEND CSAT SURVEYS?

If we send CSAT surveys by phone, the most effective way is to send it just before ending the interaction. It doesn’t matter if the customer spoke to a voicebot or an agent: the best option is to trigger a short (single-question) survey before ending the call.

Why?

• We will receive a much more genuine response that more accurately reflects the experience. Not because customers forget details (when you have a bad experience you remember everything), but because it keeps the emotional impact fresh — for better or worse.
• We avoid disturbing the customer by initiating a second call.
• We achieve a higher response rate because users feel more committed to answering immediately.

When the contact centre software we use does not allow triggering a survey during the call, we are forced to schedule it a few minutes or hours later. This practice — very common when surveys are sent from an external platform — can negatively affect the customer experience.

Why?

• Because even if the agent informs the customer, receiving another call just to answer a survey breaks the natural flow of the conversation: the customer moves from “issue closed” to “answer more questions.”
• Because it becomes easier for the customer to simply ignore a second call.

What can you do if you have no other way to send surveys? Either change the channel and send them via SMS or email, or automate customer satisfaction analysis with artificial intelligence.

2. WHICH CHANNEL IS BEST FOR SENDING SATISFACTION SURVEYS?

2.1 SENDING SURVEYS AFTER A CALL

Pros:

• Does not negatively impact customer experience (CX) if carried out during the same call.
• The most natural way to ask for feedback is if someone requests it verbally.
• The response rate will be higher because the customer is already on the phone and only needs to stay a few more moments to answer.
• The response speed is immediate; if the user wants to respond, they will do so right away.

Cons:

• We must create short surveys to ensure that users complete them. A single “yes” or “no” question or a satisfaction rating from 1 to 10 is ideal.

2.2 SENDING SURVEYS BY SMS

Pros:

• Does not negatively affect CX as long as SMS surveys are not sent after every call.
• The response rate will be higher because SMS open rates are typically >95%.
• The response speed is immediate; if users wish to answer, they will do so almost instantly.

Cons:

• Customers may perceive the text as \”prefabricated\”, so it’s crucial to craft an attractive message.
• We are limited to short surveys to ensure users complete them: either a “yes” or “no” or a 1-to-10 satisfaction rating.

2.3 SENDING SURVEYS BY EMAIL

Pros:

• Does not negatively impact CX if emails are not sent too frequently.
• Although we still depend on a compelling message, users are more willing to respond to surveys by email.
• We can gather more detailed feedback and include multiple questions, even an optional comments box.

Cons:

• The response rate is lower because inboxes are often full of other emails, reducing engagement to around 15%-25%.
• The response speed is slower. Depending on the length of the survey, incentives such as discount codes, free reports or symbolic gifts may be needed depending on the sector.

3. HOW TO INTEGRATE AI TO REDUCE CSAT SURVEYS

Before this technology, it was impossible to assess customer satisfaction without conducting surveys, unless agents manually categorised calls.

Today we can enable a speech analytics service that automatically analyses customer satisfaction after a call or chat.

3.1 HOW SPEECH ANALYTICS DETECTS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Bots that analyse conversations require an AI model trained to detect keywords like: “can’t help you”, “sorry”, “unresolved”, “frustrated”, “unacceptable”, “thank you”, etc.

When AI analyses the call, it searches for these terms and scores customer satisfaction based on frustration or gratitude signals.

Calls are usually categorised as:

• Satisfied
• Neutral
• Unsatisfied

Some advanced speech analytics for contact centres solutions also evaluate agent performance, combining it with satisfaction to rate the call from 1 to 5 stars.

Additionally, AI can be trained according to our criteria: for instance, only giving 5 stars if the client says \”you are the best\”, or assigning 1 star if offensive words are detected.

3.2 WHAT IS NEEDED TO ENABLE SPEECH ANALYTICS IN YOUR CONTACT CENTRE

• Subscribe to a call transcription service. No transcription, no analysis.
• Control costs by transcribing only a percentage of calls.

3.3 HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SPEECH ANALYTICS SOLUTION

• Ensure the AI model is integrated within your customer service system to see results directly.
• Opt for a provider offering flexible customisation to match your needs.
• Ensure the security of transcribed data.

4. THE DEFINITIVE FORMULA

Although we have seen several options, sending satisfaction surveys before ending the call remains the best strategy for contact centres.

This way, we can collect immediate feedback without harming the customer experience or creating friction.

What if our contact centre system doesn’t allow this?

If that is the case, we should avoid second calls and use digital channels such as SMS or email:

• SMS if you aim for a higher response rate quickly
• Email if you need more detailed responses

And if we want to be even more strategic?

Using AI to decide when to send satisfaction surveys makes all the difference.

If we integrate a speech analytics solution that analyses conversations automatically, we can identify when it is truly relevant to send a survey.

• Only send surveys when AI detects unsatisfied customers.
• Or when AI rates the service with 1 star.

This way, we achieve three things at once:

• We reduce the number of surveys sent
• We improve the customer experience by avoiding friction
• We collect more valuable and actionable feedback

We recommend analysing conversations with AI to obtain immediate and objective data, and combining it with periodic NPS surveys (quarterly or annually) to measure explicit customer recommendation levels.

Combining real-time feedback from AI with traditional NPS surveys gives you the most complete view of customer satisfaction and loyalty. More complete than ever before.

OUR EXPERTS ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL

Is your call centre system unable to send immediate surveys? Would you like a demo of our speech analytics solution? Contact us via chat, call 900 670 750, or fill in this form.