Short answer: three to five plain questions are enough, and the form stays private. It must never decide who gets asked for a public review. Everyone you invite to review you gets the same invitation, whatever they wrote on the form.
What a customer feedback form needs (and what to leave out)
A small business form needs three things: a rating, an open question and a way to reply. Everything else is optional, and most optional questions are things you’re curious about that wouldn’t change what you do next.
Leave out anything that feels like homework:
- long grids of ratings
- ‘rank these seven things in order’
- questions about age, income or anything personal you don’t need
- leading questions such as ‘How amazing was your visit?’, which get you warm answers and teach you nothing
Keep the wording plain. If you wouldn’t say it across a counter, don’t print it.
A five-question sample form that works for most small businesses
Copy this and change the parts in square brackets.
Tell us how we did
- Overall, how was your experience with [business name]? (1 to 5, where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent)
- What went well?
- What could we have done better?
- Is there anything you’d like us to know that we haven’t asked?
- Would you like us to get back to you? If so, leave your name and a phone number or email. (Optional)
Close with: ‘Thank you for taking the time.’ Add ‘We read every answer’ only if you do.
Question 1 gives you a number you can compare month to month. Questions 2 and 3 do the real work, and keeping them separate matters: someone who had a mixed visit will otherwise mention only one side. Question 4 catches the things you’d never think to ask. Question 5 is optional on purpose, because plenty of people want to be heard without being phoned.
If five is too many, the shortest useful version is questions 1, 3 and 5.
Feedback form samples by business type
Same skeleton, different wording. Each one starts with a 1 to 5 rating.
Cafe
- How was your visit today? (1 to 5)
- What did you have, and how was it?
- Was there anything we got wrong, like the wait, the temperature or the service?
- Anything else? (Optional)
Salon
- How happy are you with your appointment? (1 to 5)
- How did you find the cut, colour or treatment itself?
- How did you find the welcome, the wait and the chat?
- Is there anything you wish we’d asked you before we started?
Trades
- How was the job overall? (1 to 5)
- Did we turn up when we said we would, and was the price what you expected?
- How did we leave your home or site?
- Is there anything still outstanding or unclear?
The tidiness question often tells a tradesperson more than the rating does.
Clinic
- How was your visit today? (1 to 5)
- How easy was it to book and to be seen?
- Did you feel listened to?
- Is there anything we could explain better?
Don’t ask for health details on a feedback form. Keep it about the experience and leave clinical matters to the appointment.
Holiday let
- How was your stay? (1 to 5)
- How did the place match what you expected from the listing?
- Was anything missing, broken or hard to find?
- What would have made arrival or departure easier?
Shop
- How was your visit or order? (1 to 5)
- Did you find what you were looking for?
- How was the service, in person or online?
- What would make you more likely to come back?
A one-minute form for a counter, a card or a text message
Sometimes four questions is still too many: there’s a queue, or someone is holding a coat and a toddler.
Counter or card (plain paper). Print this on a small card or tear-off slip and leave a pen beside it.
- How was today? Circle one: 1 2 3 4 5
- One thing we did well, or one thing to fix:
- Want a reply? Name and number (optional):
Text message.
Hi [first name], thanks for visiting [business name]. How did we do, from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)? If you’ve got a minute, tell us one thing we could do better. Just reply to this message.
Three prompts, about a minute to answer. If you want to run something longer and more structured, the customer feedback survey guide covers how to do it.
Wording for asking for feedback (and how to say please provide feedback)
‘Please provide feedback’ reads like a letter from a bank. Say it the way you’d say it in person:
- ‘We’d love to hear how we did.’
- ‘Tell us how it went.’
- ‘Got a minute to tell us what you thought?’
- ‘What could we have done better?’
- Face to face: ‘Before you go, anything we should change?’
If you want a formal version, ‘We would appreciate your feedback’ is polite and less stiff than ‘please provide’. Match the tone to your business; a trades firm and a salon don’t sound alike.
One rule covers all of them: keep the ask neutral. Don’t hint at the answer you want, and don’t attach a reward.
Keep your feedback form separate from your review requests
This is the section that keeps businesses out of trouble.
A feedback form is private and for you. A review request is an invitation to post publicly on Google, Trustpilot, Tripadvisor or Facebook. They are different jobs, so keep them apart.
You cannot send unhappy customers to a private form and happy ones to Google. That is review gating, and it is not allowed:
- Google’s Maps content policy says businesses must not ‘discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers’. It also says businesses must not pressure customers to leave ratings or reviews while they are on the premises.
- The CMA’s fake reviews guidance under the DMCC Act 2024 says a business may break the law by selectively promoting positive reviews, and gives ‘encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews’ as an example of cherry-picking.
Incentives are out too. Google’s policy bans offering ‘payment, discounts, free goods and/or services’ in exchange for a review, and UK law bans reviews that hide the fact they were incentivised. So no discounts, freebies or prize draws for reviews.
A private form sits alongside all this as long as it stays feedback only. Its answers must not decide who gets invited to review. Send the same review request to everyone, whatever score they gave you.
For the detail, read how to ask for an honest review, whether you can ask for a 5-star review and the rules on asking for Google reviews. The law itself is covered in fake reviews and UK law.
What to do with the answers
Read every one, at least for the first few weeks.
Then look for repeats. One person mentioning parking is a grumble; five is a pattern worth fixing. If someone left contact details and asked for a reply, reply soon and keep it short and human.
Treat a low score as a free tip. Share what comes back with your staff, good and bad, because a form nobody discusses changes nothing.
Where to go next
Once your form is sorted, you’ll want a neutral review request to send separately, to everyone. The free review request generator writes one for SMS, WhatsApp or email with no account. This page offers wording only; nothing you put on your own form comes to us.
Pick a sample, trim it to three questions if you’re short of time, and put it out this week.
Questions people ask
What should a customer feedback form include?
An overall rating, one or two open questions about what went well and what could be better, and an optional line for contact details. Three to five questions is plenty for a small business.
How do I request feedback from a customer?
Ask in person, on a printed card or by text, in plain words such as ‘How did we do?’. Keep the question neutral, make it quick to answer, and do not offer anything in return for answering.
What are some common questions used in a client satisfaction survey?
An overall rating out of 5, ‘What went well?’, ‘What could we have done better?’ and ‘Is there anything else you'd like us to know?’. Adapt the wording to your trade using the samples on this page.
How do you say "please provide feedback"?
Try ‘We'd love to hear how we did’, ‘Tell us how it went’ or ‘Got a minute to tell us what you thought?’. For a formal version, ‘We would appreciate your feedback’ is polite without sounding stiff.
Can I send unhappy customers to a feedback form and happy ones to Google?
No. That is review gating. Google's Maps content policy says businesses must not selectively solicit positive reviews, and the CMA's guidance under the DMCC Act 2024 says encouraging only satisfied customers to leave reviews can break consumer law. Give everyone the same review invitation, whatever they said on your form.