Create your survey

Create your survey

Create your survey

How to create patient survey about referral process experience

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

·

Aug 21, 2025

Create your survey

This article will guide you on how to create a Patient survey about Referral Process Experience in a matter of seconds. With Specific, you can build a highly effective survey—no technical skills needed.

Steps to create a survey for patients about referral process experience

If you want to save time, just click this link to generate a survey with Specific.

  1. Tell what survey you want.

  2. Done.

You honestly don't even need to read any further. The AI will create your patient referral process experience survey with built-in expert knowledge, and it even asks smart follow-up questions so you get deeper insights automatically. You can always create any semantic survey in just seconds, regardless of the audience or topic.

Why patient surveys about referral process experience matter

If you’re not running feedback surveys on the referral process, you’re seriously missing out on crucial knowledge that can shape patient experience and institutional outcomes. Here’s why these surveys are game changers:

  • Unlocks hidden friction points. Patients are often the first to spot gaps or confusion in referral procedures. Their input leads to real changes that can smooth the journey.

  • Measures and drives quality. 30% of hospitals' Medicare reimbursement in the US directly depends on patient satisfaction survey scores. That’s real money and reputation on the line if you don’t pay attention to survey insights. [1]

  • Enables continuous improvement. In Massachusetts, patient feedback from surveys initiated successful improvement projects in 50 hospitals—proof that acting on feedback makes a difference. [1]

On the flip side, surveys that just tick a box—without capturing the real issues—lead to wasted potential. In Victoria, Australia, a major study found that nearly all patient feedback was ignored: very few improvement projects even started. [1] If you’re not learning from your patients’ referral experiences, you’re leaving valuable insights and tangible improvements on the table.

That’s why it’s so important to understand the importance of patient recognition surveys, and actually act on the feedback. If you want a deeper dive into best practices for these surveys, explore our article on patient referral process survey questions.

What makes a good survey on referral process experience

To nail your patient referral process survey, focus on clear, unbiased questions and a conversational tone. This encourages honest, detailed responses and makes respondents feel understood. If you load up your survey with technical jargon or lead respondents toward “desired” answers, you’ll end up with data that’s neither actionable nor honest.

The measure of a good survey isn’t just how many people complete it, but the quality of those responses. The best surveys maximize both—people answer, and you get real, actionable insights. Let’s break it down visually:

Bad practices

Good practices

Confusing language
Biased or leading questions
No follow-up for unclear answers
Impersonal/robotic tone

Clear, simple language
Questions are neutral and open
Conversational follow-ups dig deeper
Tone is warm, human, and friendly

In the end, you want a survey that helps patients open up and share their experience honestly—while making it easy for them to respond fully.

What are question types with examples for patient survey about referral process experience

When building a survey for patients’ referral process experiences, variety is key. Here’s how to structure your questions:

Open-ended questions help you uncover unfiltered, nuanced patient experiences—perfect for when you need context, stories, or reasons. They’re best for early questions or follow-ups that seek the “why.”

  • Can you tell me what you found most confusing about the referral process?

  • What would have made your referral experience smoother?


Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when you need structured, easy-to-analyze data. Use them for filtering or quick benchmarking.

How easy was it to understand the next steps after you were referred?

  • Very easy

  • Somewhat easy

  • Somewhat difficult

  • Very difficult


NPS (Net Promoter Score) question delivers a quick pulse on loyalty and satisfaction—extremely useful for benchmarking. If you want to create a survey like this instantly, here’s an NPS survey builder for patients.

On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this clinic to friends or family based on your referral experience?


Followup questions to uncover "the why" are essential for depth. Use them when an answer is vague or when you want the full story. For example, if someone answers “somewhat difficult” above, you might ask:

  • What made it difficult to understand your next steps?

This is where you move from “what” to “why” and get actionable insights. Want to see more examples? Read our deep dive into the best patient referral survey questions.


What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is different from a traditional static form—it’s a back-and-forth exchange, like a chat with a knowledgeable human researcher. Respondents answer in their own words, and the AI expertly nudges the conversation forward, clarifies ambiguity, and naturally probes deeper when needed. With AI survey generation, you can go from a blank prompt to a research-quality survey in seconds. This removes the manual friction, guesswork, and design hurdles of traditional survey tools.

Manual surveys

AI-generated surveys

Manual question entry
One-size-fits-all logic & followup
Static, linear, impersonal
Hard to edit or update in real time

Prompt-based creation in seconds
Expert follow-ups, tailored to each response
Interactive, feels like a chat
Edit your survey instantly via natural language (AI survey editor)

Why use AI for patient surveys? AI lets you focus on your research goals, not form-building. You get an AI survey example instantly—and every respondent gets a smart, friendly experience. Plus, reviewing responses is a breeze with features like AI-powered survey analysis.

Specific specializes in conversational surveys, delivering a best-in-class user experience for both survey creators and respondents. If you’re interested in exactly how to create a survey in minutes, this guide is a solid starting point: learn to analyze survey responses.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated, context-aware follow-up questions are where conversational surveys shine. Instead of collecting shallow or confusing data, the survey actively engages patients, clarifies unclear responses, and uncovers essential insights—without back-and-forth emails or calls. Learn more about the automatic followup questions feature at Specific.

  • Patient: “It was okay, but a bit stressful.”

  • AI follow-up: “Could you explain what made the referral process stressful for you?”

How many follow-ups to ask? Generally, 2-3 follow-ups are enough to get past vague answers and reach the details that matter. With Specific, you can set a maximum or allow the respondent to skip forward once their main point is captured—keeping the experience smooth and respectful.

This makes it a conversational survey: each question and follow-up feels like a real conversation, not a checklist.

Survey analysis is a breeze: Even with tons of open-text answers and detailed stories, AI-powered analytics make it easy to review, summarize, and chat about key findings. See more about analyzing survey responses on our how-to analyze patient survey answers.

Automated, real-time, context-based follow-up questions are new—but once you try to generate a patient referral survey, you’ll see how powerful and efficient the process can feel.

See this referral process experience survey example now

Don’t wait to capture the insights that matter—start your own patient referral experience survey in seconds and enjoy deeper, more actionable feedback through Specific’s conversational AI.

Create your survey

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Sources

  1. PMC/NLM. Patient experience and patient satisfaction: A systematic review of literature

  2. Wikipedia. Health care quality – Patient satisfaction and healthcare reform

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.