The Ultimate Guide to Voice of the Customer Questions: What to Ask Customers, Leads, and Lost Customers

This comprehensive guide breaks down the most effective voice of the customer questions for three critical audience segments—active customers, leads, and lost customers—across CPG products, SaaS B2C, and SaaS B2B industries.

Why Voice of the Customer Questions Matter

Before diving into specific questions, it's important to understand why VoC programs are essential:

• Product Development: Customer feedback reveals what features to build next
• Customer Retention: Understanding pain points helps you address issues before customers leave
• Competitive Intelligence: Learn why customers choose you over competitors (or vice versa)
• Marketing Insights: Discover the language customers use to describe their problems
• Revenue Growth: Identify upsell opportunities and expansion potential

Voice of the Customer Questions for Active Customers

Active customers are your most valuable feedback source. They've chosen your product or service and can provide insights into what's working and what needs improvement.

CPG Products: Customer Questions

For consumer packaged goods, focus on usage patterns, satisfaction, and repurchase intent:

Product Experience Questions:

• How often do you use [product name]?
• What specific problem does our product solve for you?
• How does our product fit into your daily routine?
• What would make you stop buying this product?
• If you could change one thing about our product, what would it be?

Purchase Behavior Questions:

• Where do you typically purchase our product?
• What made you choose our brand over competitors on the shelf?
• How likely are you to recommend our product to friends or family? (NPS)
• What other brands did you consider before choosing ours?
• What would convince you to buy our product more frequently?

Brand Perception Questions:

• What three words would you use to describe our brand?
• How does our product compare to similar products you've tried?
• What do you wish more people knew about our product?

SaaS B2C: Customer Questions

B2C SaaS customers need questions focused on user experience, feature usage, and personal value:

Onboarding and Usage:

• How easy was it to get started with our platform? (Scale 1-10)
• Which feature do you use most often and why?
• Are there any features you don't understand or haven't tried?
• How frequently do you use our product?
• What task are you trying to accomplish when you use our product?

Value and Satisfaction:

• What has been the biggest benefit of using our product?
• Is our pricing fair for the value you receive?
• What would make you upgrade to a paid plan? (for freemium models)
• How has our product changed your [daily routine/workflow/life]?
• What's one thing that frustrates you about using our product?

Retention Indicators:

• How likely are you to continue using our product in 6 months?
• What would make you cancel your subscription?
• Have you considered switching to a competitor? If yes, which one and why?

SaaS B2B: Customer Questions

B2B customers require questions about ROI, team adoption, and business impact:

Implementation and Adoption:

• How long did it take your team to fully adopt our solution?
• What challenges did you face during implementation?
• How many team members actively use our platform?
• What additional training or resources would help your team?
• Which departments or teams get the most value from our product?

Business Impact:

• What measurable results have you achieved using our solution?
• How has our product impacted your team's productivity?
• What business problem were you trying to solve when you purchased our solution?
• How do you measure the ROI of our product?
• Has our solution helped you achieve your business goals?

Relationship and Support:

• How would you rate the quality of our customer support?
• How responsive is our team to your needs?
• What could we do to be a better partner to your business?
• Are there integrations or features that would increase our value to your organization?
• How likely are you to renew your contract?

Voice of the Customer Questions for Leads

Leads are in the consideration phase. Your questions should uncover their needs, decision criteria, and potential objections.

CPG Products: Lead Questions

Discovery Questions:

• What problem are you trying to solve?
• What products do you currently use for [category]?
• What do you like about your current solution?
• What's missing from the products you currently use?
• How did you hear about our product?

Decision Factors:

• What factors are most important when choosing a [product category]?
• What's your typical budget for this type of product?
• Who else is involved in your purchase decision?
• What would convince you to try a new brand?
• What concerns do you have about switching to our product?

SaaS B2C: Lead Questions

Needs Assessment:

• What prompted you to look for a solution like ours?
• What's the biggest challenge you're trying to overcome?
• What have you already tried to solve this problem?
• How are you currently handling this task without our product?
• What would success look like for you?

Evaluation Criteria:

• What features are must-haves versus nice-to-haves?
• What's your timeline for making a decision?
• What other solutions are you evaluating?
• What concerns do you have about our product?
• What would make this an easy "yes" for you?

SaaS B2B: Lead Questions

Organizational Context:

• Can you walk me through your current process for [specific workflow]?
• What tools does your team currently use for this?
• What's driving the need for a new solution now?
• Who are the key stakeholders in this decision?
• What does your evaluation process look like?

Budget and Authority:

• Do you have budget allocated for this type of solution?
• What's your expected ROI or success criteria?
• What's your timeline for implementation?
• Have you evaluated other solutions? What did you like or dislike about them?
• What could prevent this deal from moving forward?

Pain Points and Priorities:

• What's the cost of not solving this problem?
• How is this issue affecting your team's performance?
• What's the biggest objection you anticipate from your team or leadership?

Voice of the Customer Questions for Lost Customers

Lost customers provide the most critical insights for reducing churn. These questions help identify patterns and improve retention.

CPG Products: Lost Customer Questions

Churn Reasons:

• What was the primary reason you stopped buying our product?
• Was there a specific incident that led to your decision?
• Did you switch to a competitor? If so, which one and why?
• What could we have done differently to keep you as a customer?
• Was it a price issue, quality issue, or something else?

Product Feedback:

• What did you like most about our product when you were using it?
• What disappointed you about our product?
• How did our product fail to meet your expectations?
• Did you find a better alternative?

Win-Back Potential:

• What would it take for you to give our product another try?
• If we addressed [specific concern], would you reconsider?
• Is there anything we could do to earn your business back?

SaaS B2C: Lost Customer Questions

Cancellation Insights:

• What was the main reason for canceling your subscription?
• Was there a specific moment when you decided to cancel?
• Did you achieve what you hoped to accomplish with our product?
• Did you encounter any technical issues or bugs?
• Was our product too expensive, too complicated, or not valuable enough?

Competitive Analysis:

• Did you switch to a competitor? If so, what do they offer that we don't?
• Are you solving this problem a different way now?
• What does your new solution do better than ours?

Recovery Opportunities:

• What feature or improvement would bring you back?
• Would a different pricing plan have changed your decision?
• On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you be to return if we made [specific change]?

SaaS B2B: Lost Customer Questions

Strategic Understanding:

• Can you share the business reasons behind your decision to leave?
• Was this a budget issue, performance issue, or strategic shift?
• Did our solution fail to deliver on promised outcomes?
• How did leadership view our product's value proposition?
• Were there competitive pressures that influenced your decision?

Operational Issues:

• Did your team struggle with adoption or engagement?
• Were there integration or technical limitations?
• How was your experience with our customer success team?
• Did we respond to your needs and concerns quickly enough?

Exit Interview Essentials:

• What should we have done differently as your partner?
• Were there any deal-breakers we could have addressed?
• What advice would you give to our product team?
• Would you consider using our product again in the future?
• May we contact you in [6 months/1 year] to share improvements?

Best Practices for Voice of the Customer Questions

1. Ask Open-Ended Questions

Instead of "Do you like our product?" ask "What do you like most about our product and what would you improve?"

2. Use the Right Channel

• In-app surveys: Quick, contextual feedback
• Email surveys: Detailed, thoughtful responses
• Phone interviews: Deep qualitative insights
• Social listening: Unsolicited, authentic feedback

3. Time Your Questions Appropriately

• New customers: After first use or first week
• Active customers: Quarterly check-ins or after key milestones
• At-risk customers: When usage declines or engagement drops
• Lost customers: Within 48 hours of cancellation

4. Keep Surveys Short

Aim for 3-5 questions maximum for most surveys. Save longer questionnaires for annual reviews or specific research projects.

5. Act on Feedback

Close the feedback loop by:

• Thanking customers for their input
• Sharing what changes you're making based on their feedback
• Following up when improvements are implemented

6. Segment Your Questions

Different customer segments need different questions:

• Enterprise customers: Focus on ROI and business impact
• SMB customers: Focus on ease of use and quick wins
• Power users: Deep feature functionality questions
• Casual users: Basic satisfaction and value questions

Measuring Success: Key Metrics from VoC Questions

Track these metrics to understand the health of your customer relationships:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Likelihood to recommend (0-10 scale)
• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Satisfaction with specific interactions (1-5 scale)
• Customer Effort Score (CES): How easy it was to accomplish a task (1-7 scale)
• Churn Risk Indicators: Engagement drops, feature usage decline, support tickets
• Feature Adoption Rates: Which features customers use and value most

Conclusion: Making Voice of the Customer Questions Work for You

Effective voice of the customer questions are tailored to your audience, industry, and business goals. Whether you're selling CPG products, B2C SaaS, or B2B SaaS solutions, the key is to ask questions that reveal actionable insights.

Start by implementing 3-5 questions from each relevant section above. Test different questions, track response rates, and refine your approach based on what yields the most valuable feedback. Remember: the goal isn't just to collect data—it's to understand your customers deeply enough to serve them better.

The most successful companies don't just ask voice of the customer questions—they build entire cultures around listening to and acting on customer feedback. Start today, and let your customers guide your path to growth.

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