To understand why you win or lose deals, the method you choose to collect feedback—surveys or interviews—can make all the difference.
Both have their strengths, but they’re far from interchangeable. Spoiler Alert: interviews are the clear winner if you are serious about your Win-Loss Analysis efforts.
Surveys are effective to collect structured data quickly and at scale.
If you’re looking for straightforward metrics like the primary driver for a decision, which competitors were in the running, or a simple ranking of product features, surveys are a great tool for a number of reasons:
Since survey data is structured, it's easy to analyze them in a spreadsheet. For instance, if you want to know how often pricing is cited as a reason for losing deals, a survey can provide that data in seconds.
Once you’ve designed a survey, it takes minimal effort to send it out to customers.
You are probably already familiar with tools such as Typeform and Tally. They make it easy to create and send surveys, and continuously improve their products to maximize completion rates.
Surveys can reach hundreds of respondents quickly, making them ideal if you are dealing with a high volume of deals, where interviews would be impractical.
Surveys are limited in their ability to uncover the real reasons behind customer decisions. They rely on predefined questions and multiple-choice answers, which means there’s no room to explore the nuances of why a deal was lost.
For example, if a customer selects “Too Expensive” as a reason, was it because your solution was out of their budget? or because it included features the buyer did not care about? or maybe your annual plan discount was worse than competitors? You’ll never know, because surveys don’t allow follow-ups to dig deeper.
Surveys are often met with reluctance, especially if they’re too long or poorly timed. Many respondents rush through them, giving incomplete or inaccurate answers just to finish quickly.
That's not really the kind of data you want to base your future decisions on.
Surveys can make your customers feel like just another data point.
This can signal that you’re more interested in checking a box and chasing other deals than truly understanding their needs.
In contrast, a one-on-one interview shows that you value their time, their input, and their business—even if they didn’t choose you this time. That personal touch can leave a lasting impression and open doors for future opportunities.
Surveys can tell you what happened, but interviews tell you why it happened.
They allow you to dive into the nuances of each deal, asking follow-up questions and exploring the whole buyer story that concluded in the decision to choose a particular solution.
Every deal is unique, and interviews give you the flexibility to adapt your questions based on the specific customer or situation. This is especially critical for complex sales processes, where decisions often involve multiple stakeholders and complex requirements.
Taking the time to conduct a thoughtful interview shows customers—whether you won or lost—that you value their input.
For won deals, interviews strengthen the relationship by demonstrating your commitment to improving their experience.
For lost deals, this can leave a positive impression. If your buyer runs into issues with their chosen solution, chances are you will be the first one to be contacted.
For new products, new markets, or high-value deals, interviews are absolutely critical.
At these stages, every meeting is a discovery meeting. It’s not just about gathering feedback. Every conversation with a customer is an opportunity to iterate on your strategy and help you find product-market fit.
It's the most effective way to get rich insights from your buyers. So be sure to check out our guide!
Master the art of Win-Loss interviews with our expert guide. Learn the 4 steps to uncover buyer insights, avoid common traps, and drive actionable improvements.
Interviews give you the rich, in-depth understanding you need to truly see the why behind wins and losses. They uncover powerful quotes and detailed feedback that's already a goldmine of insights for all teams.
But what if you could go even further ?
With PeerPanda, you can transform those interviews into structured, actionable insights in three ways.
PeerPanda’s AI analyzes your interview data to surface trends like missing features, top competitors, or recurring objections.
See your win rates, top reasons for lost deals, and feature requests in one intuitive dashboard, turning rich feedback into easy-to-digest insights.
PeerPanda seamlessly syncs with your CRM, making it effortless to collect and analyze win/loss data right from the start.
We’re passionate about helping teams conduct great interviews because we’ve seen firsthand the impact of Win-Loss Analysis for SaaS companies.
That’s why we built PeerPanda—to make it easier for teams like yours to capture deep insights, analyze trends, and turn every deal into a growth opportunity.
Master the art of Win-Loss interviews with our expert guide. Learn the 4 steps to uncover buyer insights, avoid common traps, and drive actionable improvements.
Discover whether win/loss surveys or interviews are the best choice for your SaaS business. Learn the strengths of each and how to get the best of both worlds.