Brand Loyalty Survey Template
Sixteen questions for people who already buy from you. Two are scored: the share who say they will buy again, and the share who would leave for a cheaper alternative. Answer it below, or open it in the editor and send it this week.
- 16questions
- About 4 minto complete
- 2 numbersrepeat rate and switching risk
- Existing customersnot prospects
How to measure customer loyalty when nobody agrees on the score
Two percentages, never averaged, because the moment they disagree is the moment the survey has told you something.
The repeat rate. The share who chose the top box on question 1, and only the top box. A 4 out of 5 means probably, and this score does not count probably. Count the 5s and divide by everyone who answered.
The switching risk. The share who chose either of the top two boxes on question 2, which asks about price and only price. Two boxes rather than one: agreeing you would leave for something cheaper is already the warning, and strongly agreeing only says how quickly. Question 9 asks the same about being easy to buy and is read beside this number, never added to it.
What neither number is. Neither is a forecast, because a stated intention is not a purchase: rank one group of customers against another rather than read next year's revenue off it. Neither is churn, which already happened.[4]
Satisfaction is how the last thing went, and the customer satisfaction survey measures that for one interaction. Whether somebody would speak well of you is a separate promise, and the NPS survey turns that into a number. Neither is whether people come back.
If the people on your list have not bought from you yet, this is the wrong template: the buying intentions survey is written for prospects still weighing the alternatives.
Types of brand loyalty: four cells, not one score
Set the two numbers against each other instead of adding them up. Loyalty is the strength of the link between what somebody prefers and what they buy, and the two can disagree.[1] That disagreement is the finding, and a single index deletes it.
The repeat rate stands for the buying. On the preference side the cells use the switching risk, which is a proxy: somebody who would move for a cheaper alternative is not holding you above the others, but the answer is about price, not preference. Questions 5 and 6 ask about preference directly, which is what the last column checks, and where they disagree with the proxy they win.
| What the two numbers say | The name for it | What is actually happening | Confirm with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repeat high, switching risk low | Loyalty | They come back and would rather have you. The only cell that is what it looks like. | Questions 5 and 6 both high |
| Repeat high, switching risk high | Spurious loyalty | Habit, price or the cost of moving. The purchases are real and the preference is not. | Question 5 low, question 7 high |
| Repeat low, switching risk low | Latent loyalty | They prefer you and buy elsewhere anyway. Something outside the brand is in the way. | Question 5 high, question 9 high |
| Repeat low, switching risk high | No loyalty | Neither the buying nor the preference is there. Their open answers are the useful part. | Questions 5 and 6 both low |
There is no benchmark for either number, and you should distrust anyone offering one. The loyalty index republished most often averages a recommend answer and a repeat purchase answer on a six point scale where 1 means definitely yes, and its own definition says it averages three responses while listing two questions.[2] A second index, under a different name, mixes overall satisfaction with the share who would buy again and the share who would speak well of you.[3] Two measures, two definitions, no origin for either. Nor do our numbers travel between categories: your own previous wave, on identical wording, is the only comparison worth having.
Twenty answers is not a percentage. At twenty responses one person is worth five points, so a five point move can be one customer changing their mind. Under about fifty, publish counts instead.
The 16 customer loyalty survey questions, and what a weak answer means
Every question, the scale it uses, and what a poor answer is telling you. Numbering runs straight through the blocks, so question 10 here is question 10 everywhere on this page.
The two scored questions
These two are the whole score. Everything after them explains the distance between them.
- I will buy from this brand again the next time I need one.The top box is your repeat rate. Nothing else counts, so a maybe cannot be reported as a commitment.
- I would switch to another brand if it were cheaper.Price and nothing else, so the answer reads as a price answer. A 4 counts against you as well as a 5: an unsure customer is a customer at risk.
Two cuts to take before you read anything
Both numbers can move with tenure and with how often somebody buys, so collect the cuts, not guesses.
- How long have you been buying from this brand?Report six-month buyers and three-year buyers apart, or you cannot tell a change in loyalty from a change in who is on the list.
- How often do you buy from this brand?A single average is weighted by whoever buys most often and will not say so. This is the cut that lets you check.
Preference: chosen, or settled for
The direct read on the preference side of the four cells, the half a repeat purchase cannot show.
- This is the brand I would pick if every option were in front of me.Preference in one sentence, and the item the four cells are really about. Low here beside a high repeat rate is a habit you have not earned.
- If this brand were not available, I would wait for it rather than take an alternative.Waiting costs a customer something, so it is the harder of the two to agree with.
Habit, lock-in and availability: why a repeat can mean nothing
Four questions that name the reason people come back, so a high repeat rate can be read for what it is.
- I buy this brand out of habit more than because I prefer it.Agreement is not a compliment. This is the item that says the repeat rate is borrowed.
- Moving to another brand would cost me time or money.High here with a high switching risk means people stay because leaving is a chore.
- I would switch to another brand if it were easier to get hold of.The availability half of the switching question, kept out of the score. High here with a low question 2 means the problem is where you sell, not what you charge.
- Which of these keeps you coming back most?If the biggest tick is habit, convenience or the rewards, nothing on that list is about the brand.
Trust, and the early warning
Kept out of the score so they can be read against it: a trust line can move while the repeat rate is flat.
- I trust this brand to do what it says it will.Read it beside the repeat rate, never inside it. The two are allowed to disagree.
- If this brand got something wrong, I would give it another chance.Asks in advance what you will have left on the day something goes wrong.
- I buy from this brand less often than I used to.Anybody agreeing here is leaving slowly. Count them as a group; an average hides them.
Two open answers, then the closing question
The open boxes sit before the end so people still have a reason to type, and the last card is one tap.
- What would make you stop buying from this brand?The most useful box on the page. Tag each answer with one reason, count the tags, then compare them with question 10: a tick list only offers reasons you thought of first.
- What is the one thing that keeps you choosing it?Read it against the tick in question 10. When the two disagree, believe the sentence.
- How likely are you to be buying this brand again a year from now?Compare it with question 1. A gap between next time and next year is a relationship running down.
Loyalty program survey questions, if you run one
Add these four when the people answering are scheme members. A programme can hold somebody who does not like you.
- The rewards in this programme are worth the effort of collecting them.Low here means the scheme is costing money and buying nothing.
- I can describe what I get from this programme without looking it up.People who cannot describe a benefit are not being held by it.
- How often do you use what you have earned?Your records cannot separate a member who never redeems from one who does not know they can.
- I would still buy this brand if the programme closed tomorrow.The only item that separates loyalty to you from loyalty to the discount.
What is deliberately missing. No recommend question, which is a different promise from coming back. No satisfaction rating, which reads one interaction rather than the relationship. No source of awareness, no age and no gender.
All sixteen are already written into the questionnaire maker, scale labels included, so you can change a word or drop an item before you send it.
Who should get this survey, and who will mislead you
The sampling frame decides the answer more than the wording does. Four groups belong here, one does not, and three of the four are counted apart.
| Who is on your list | What to send them | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Bought inside your active window | This survey, as the main wave | They can answer every item from something that happened to them. |
| Two or more purchases | This survey, counted as its own line | The one group you can check against behaviour you already hold. |
| Members of a rewards programme | This survey plus the four programme questions | Programme lock-in reads like loyalty until somebody asks. |
| Stopped buying six months ago | This survey, sent and counted on its own | Averaged in with active buyers, they hide the churn you are looking for. |
| Has never bought from you | Not this template | Nothing to do again, so most of the sixteen items are unanswerable. |
Define active once and leave it alone. Thirty days for something bought weekly, a year for something bought rarely. That definition decides who is in the wave, so changing it moves both numbers on its own.
Call it confidential, not anonymous. Whoever owns the survey can open every response as a row, so promise confidentiality and no more. The survey asks for no name, which is the line worth putting in the invitation. The rest of the send is not specific to loyalty and sits in the survey research guide.
What to change when the two numbers disagree
The gap between the two percentages is the diagnosis. One pairing asks for nothing, a high repeat rate beside a low switching risk. The other three each point at different work, and only one is a brand problem.
Repeat high, switching risk high. The cell a single loyalty score is least able to show, because its halves point opposite ways and the average is flat. People come back and would still move for a small price cut, so the behaviour runs on habit, price or the cost of leaving. Check questions 5 and 7: preference low with habit high is a repeat rate you have borrowed. Then ask how much of the category they give somebody else, which the share of wallet survey is built for.
Repeat low, switching risk low. People would rather have you and are buying elsewhere. Nothing here is a brand problem, so look at availability, price and the moment people buy before you touch the marketing. Question 9 is the fastest check: agreement there says the barrier is how hard you are to buy.
Repeat low, switching risk high. Neither the buying nor the preference is there. The percentages have told you all they can and the rest is in questions 14 and 15. If two open boxes are not enough, the customer feedback survey is designed to collect them properly.
Hold the wording and the timing between waves. One wave is a level, not a direction. Both scores are top box counts, so a changed adverb moves them on its own: log any edit and restart the trend from that wave. Time each wave to how often people buy, quarterly for something bought monthly and once a purchase cycle for something bought rarely.
Brand loyalty survey FAQ
How do you measure customer loyalty?
With two numbers rather than one. Count the share who say they will buy again next time, then the share who would leave for a cheaper alternative, and read the two against each other. A single index averages away the only thing worth knowing: whether a repeat purchase is preference or habit.
What is the difference between brand loyalty and customer loyalty?
Very little you can measure differently. Brand loyalty is usually written about the brand people feel something for, customer loyalty about the account and its purchases, and the same sixteen questions answer both. Use whichever word your business uses and keep it the same from wave to wave.
Is customer retention the same thing as loyalty?
No. Retention is arithmetic on your account records: who was there at the start of the period, who is there at the end.[4] It tells you what happened and never why. This survey asks what people intend and what would change their mind, which records cannot hold. Publish both and expect them to disagree.
Is there a customer loyalty questionnaire I can download as a PDF?
You do not need a file. Every block on this page has a copy button, so you can take one theme or the whole set as plain text. The same questions open as a working survey in the editor if you would rather send them than retype them.
Loyalty is built one resolved problem at a time; the customer effort score survey measures how hard each of those was.
Methods and sources
What this template is based on
The four cell read follows Dick and Basu, who define loyalty as the strength of the link between relative attitude and repeat patronage.[1] Our repeat rate stands for repeat patronage; the switching risk is a proxy for relative attitude and not the thing itself, so questions 5 and 6 are the direct read and the table checks each cell against them. The two scores, the wording and the reporting rules are ours.
Question licensing
Nothing licensed appears and nothing here needs permission. The two loyalty composites in circulation are described rather than reproduced: neither names an origin, they define loyalty differently, and one contradicts itself.[2][3]
Limits and disclosure
Both numbers are stated intentions, not behaviour, and neither compares across categories or against a published table. Retention from account records answers a different question again.[4]
SuperSurvey makes the editor this template opens in. Everything on the page is free to use with or without it.
References
- Dick, A. S. and Basu, K. "Customer loyalty: toward an integrated conceptual framework." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1994. ora.ox.ac.uk
- SurveySparrow. "40+ Customer Loyalty Survey Questions You Should Ask." SurveySparrow blog. surveysparrow.com
- QuestionPro. "Measuring customer loyalty with customer satisfaction surveys." QuestionPro blog. questionpro.com
- CustomerGauge. "How to Measure Customer Loyalty." CustomerGauge blog. customergauge.com
Send it to the customers you already have
Sixteen questions, about four minutes, two numbers at the end. Open it in the editor, change any wording, and send it to your buyer list.
Use this template