The best questions for roi survey: how to design an effective roi survey that gets real numbers from customers

Getting concrete ROI data from customers through surveys can feel like pulling teeth. This guide gives you the 25 best questions for ROI surveys that actually get customers to share specific numbers about time saved, costs reduced, and revenue gained. Measuring return on investment through customer feedback is crucial for proving product value—but it’s challenging to prompt customers for quantifiable answers. Here’s a practical approach: use grouped, targeted questions paired with smart, conversational follow-ups. I’ll walk you through 25 questions, grouped by ROI dimension, and show how AI-powered conversational surveys can dig deeper than old-school forms.

Questions to measure time saved and efficiency gains

Time savings is one of the most commonly cited benefits—but most customer ROI surveys only scratch the surface. To capture real value, you need to push for specifics: hours, minutes, and context.
According to Forrester, companies that quantify time saved through process improvements report a 27% higher ROI from technology investments[1]. That tells me that focusing your questions here pays off.

• Question 1: How much time does our product save you each week?
  

  The backbone of any ROI survey. It prompts the customer to estimate a concrete weekly time gain.

  "Could you estimate the number of hours you save per week?"

• Question 2: What tasks have become more efficient since using our product?
  

  This gets them to think broadly about workflow improvements—and opens the door for more quantification.

  "For those tasks, can you describe how much less time or effort is now required?"

• Question 3: Have you reduced manual work because of our product?
  

  Ideal for surfacing automation wins and freeing up valuable time.

  "Which manual processes are now automated, and how much time do you save?"

• Question 4: How has our product affected your team’s productivity?
  

  Puts team-level efficiency front and center.

  "Would you say productivity has increased by a specific percentage or in certain tasks?"

• Question 5: What percent of your day is now spent on higher-value activities because of our product?
  

  Useful to highlight a shift from grunt work to strategic work.

  "Has this resulted in improved project delivery or new initiatives?"

• Question 6: Have you noticed a decrease in errors or time spent on rework?
  

  Time saved by reducing mistakes is an underrated ROI driver.

  "Can you estimate how much less time is spent fixing errors now?"

• Question 7: How has your customer response time changed after adopting our product?
  

  Great for service-oriented teams—find out if end users notice the speed boost.

  "Roughly how many minutes or hours faster is your average response?"

What makes a difference here? Conversational surveys from Specific automatically follow up for missing details (think “how many hours exactly?”), extracting precision for detailed, credible ROI stories. For more on AI follow-up, check automatic AI follow-up question features.

Questions to uncover cost reduction and savings

Measuring direct cost savings is essential, but you need crisp, dollar-denominated answers—percentages are often misleading without a baseline. Frame your questions to favor specific $ estimates, not general feelings.

• Question 8: How much money has our product helped you save overall?
  

  Opens the conversation to a topline figure.

  "Can you share the estimated total savings since you started using our product?"

• Question 9: Have you reduced spending on other tools or services since switching?
  

  Shines a spotlight on replaced or consolidated expenses.

  "Which tools or vendors have you stopped using, and what were their costs?"

• Question 10: Did adopting our product reduce overtime costs or extra staffing needs?
  

  Many teams overlook this line item.

  "Can you estimate the overtime or temp labor cost reduction per month?"

• Question 11: Did you save on physical resources or supplies after switching?
  

  Valuable in operations-heavy industries.

  "Roughly how much have material or supply costs dropped?"

• Question 12: Did you avoid any regulatory fines or compliance costs with our solution?
  

  Not every respondent will have this—but when they do, it’s usually substantial.

  "Can you estimate how much money you’ve avoided losing to fines or penalties?"

• Question 13: Has easier onboarding or product simplicity cut training spend?
  

  This gets at savings through reduced training/enablement expense.

  "About how much (in $ or hours) have you saved on employee training?"

• Question 14: Has our product allowed you to eliminate other software subscriptions?
  

  Forces customers to think about their entire SaaS stack.

  "Can you list the software replaced and the cost of each?"

AI follow-ups from Specific come in handy when someone answers “a lot” or “significant savings.” The platform will prompt for the $ estimate or even ask for previous vs. current numbers. If you want to see how AI turns these vague statements into real numbers, explore AI survey response analysis—it’s like having a financial analyst on your survey team.

Gartner reports that organizations able to measure and communicate cost savings realize up to 20% higher buy-in for software renewals and expansions.[2]

Questions to quantify revenue lift and business growth

Don’t be afraid to ask about direct and indirect revenue impact. A good ROI survey explores not just hard numbers, but the business stories behind them.

• Question 15: Has our product increased your company’s revenue?
  

  The classic question—don’t skip it, but it’s not always enough alone.

  "Roughly how much additional revenue can you attribute to the product?"

• Question 16: Did you acquire new customers because of us?
  

  Most relevant when your product improves time-to-value or customer experience.

  "Can you quantify the number of new customers or deals won?"

• Question 17: Did the product help you upsell or cross-sell more?
  

  Revenue lift isn’t just about net-new—it’s wallet share, too.

  "What percent of customers purchased more (or upgraded) after you started using our product?"

• Question 18: Have your customer retention rates improved?
  

  Retention = revenue protection (and growth).

  "By what percent did your customer retention rate increase after adoption?"

• Question 19: Has our product opened new markets or segments for you?
  

  Sometimes, new workflows unlock unexpected opportunities.

  "Which new customer segments or regions did you start serving, and how much revenue did they bring?"

• Question 20: Did sales conversion rates improve post-implementation?
  

  Classic sales ops metric—drives bottom-line growth.

  "By what percentage did your conversion rate improve after adopting our product?"

• Question 21: Did your average deal size or receipt grow after you started using us?
  

  Reveals impact on deal economics.

  "What is the increase in average transaction value since implementation?"

Conversational surveys dig into indirect benefits, too. For instance, if a customer says they’re more efficient, the AI can ask:

"Has this efficiency enabled any new revenue-generating initiatives?"

This approach turns a basic ROI survey into a business conversation, surfacing ways you might not expect the product to drive growth. If you want inspiration for creating your own ROI survey with AI, it’s surprisingly fast to set up in minutes.

McKinsey found that companies who actively measure revenue impact report 60% higher ROI on average, mainly by catching indirect gains that might otherwise go unnoticed.[3]

Questions to calculate payback period and ROI timeline

ROI is not just about how much, but also how fast. The sooner the breakeven, the stronger your story—especially for SaaS or products with recurring value.

• Question 22: How long did it take for your investment in our product to pay off?
  

  The gold standard: months to payback.

  "Can you specify the number of months to break even?"

• Question 23: What was your total up-front investment?
  

  Establishes the denominator for ROI calculation.

  "Can you share the initial investment including setup and onboarding?"

• Question 24: What are your ongoing costs for our product?
  

  Not all products have transparent recurring costs—this clarifies total cost of ownership.

  "Are there any recurring subscription, maintenance, or support fees? Roughly how much?"

• Question 25: How has our product changed your long-term budgeting or investment plans?
  

  Zooms out to the strategic impact.

  "Has it altered your timeline, budget allocation, or allowed for new investments?"

For some, opportunity cost is key: what did you avoid spending by choosing this solution? This can be built into your survey using AI survey editor—just ask:

"Were alternative solutions evaluated, and how did costs and payback timelines compare?"

It’s essential to understand both immediate and lasting ROI. AI-powered follow-ups can clarify milestones and long-term impacts in a natural, chat-like sequence.

How Specific turns customer feedback into ROI-ready summaries

Gathering all these numbers is only half the battle. With Specific’s AI survey analysis, your data transforms automatically into executive-ready ROI insights. When a customer answers, the AI:

• Extracts specific dollar amounts, percentages, or timelines even from open-ended responses

• Summarizes savings, revenue gains, and payback for each respondent, so you can copy straight into a case study or board slide

• Lets you chat with the data to spot patterns (just ask questions like a researcher would)

• Filters by segment (like company size or industry) to illustrate how ROI varies across your customer base

Try natural questions like:

"What are the three biggest areas of cost savings our customers mention?"

"Which customer segments see the fastest payback period?"

This means you skip the spreadsheet grind—everything’s ready to present, up-to-date, and interactive. And as the insights flow in, you can drill down or pivot instantly, just like you would in a chat with your team’s smartest analyst.

Start measuring real customer ROI today

Get quantifiable ROI data with conversational surveys that actually surface the numbers you need. Prove product value by creating your own AI-powered ROI survey—and put customer results at the heart of your growth story.