When getting started with AskNicely, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is whether to use Touch Base surveys or Follow-Up surveys. These two approaches represent distinct strategies for collecting customer feedback, and the best fit depends on your goals.
🧭 Introduction
This article breaks down the difference between Touch Base (relational) and Follow-Up (transactional) surveys so you can decide which approach is best for your customer experience program.
📝 Step-by-Step Explanation
📬 Touch Base Surveys (Relational)
Touch Base Surveys are recurring surveys sent to your entire customer base at regular intervals.
Why choose Touch Base Surveys?
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✅ Best for long-term benchmarking — industry standard for NPS.
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✅ Casts a wide net — helpful for identifying broad patterns in customer sentiment.
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✅ Quick setup — just import contacts, create a survey, and schedule sends.
Recommended for:
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Teams just getting started with AskNicely.
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Programs seeking a high-level view of customer experience.
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Organizations aiming for regular, predictable feedback collection.
💡 Tip: Start broad, learn from feedback, and refine later with targeted surveys.
📨 Follow-Up Surveys (Transactional)
Follow-Up Surveys are triggered by specific events or customer milestones.
Examples of triggering events:
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A support ticket closes (e.g., Zendesk, Intercom).
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A customer completes a purchase (e.g., Shopify).
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Completion of an onboarding or training seminar.
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Timed lifecycle milestones (e.g., 3-month check-in post-signup).
What you need to set these up:
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A data field that logs the event or milestone (e.g.,
closed_won_date). -
A trigger field to define which survey should be sent.
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Optional: Unique survey templates tied to the event.
Recommended for:
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Programs focused on specific experience moments.
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Teams ready to engineer custom workflows.
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Businesses with clear feedback goals tied to lifecycle events.
🔧 Note: These surveys take more setup, so we suggest waiting until you know what insight you’re aiming to collect.
🤔 FAQs & Common Issues
Q: Can I use both types of surveys at the same time?
A: Yes! Many AskNicely customers start with Touch Base surveys and later layer in Follow-Up surveys for key interactions.
Q: Will both types follow the Global Contact Rule?
A: By default, yes—but Follow-Up surveys can override this using Custom Contact Rules for event-based triggers.
Q: Which survey type is better for NPS?
A: Both can collect NPS scores, but Touch Base surveys are better for benchmarking and trend tracking.
🔗 Next Steps & Related Articles