Here are 6 easy ways to do so.

Need to improve the response rate of

your surveys?

By

Engage your respondents through effective surveys to drive the desired results to your business.

Conducting surveys is a cost-effective way to gather feedback for your business. It allows business owners to make informed decisions; also, it identifies weaknesses and enables for new opportunities to emerge. However, companies face an important challenge: the response rate. We must take significant steps to increase this number. After all, the quality and effectiveness of the results rely on the survey’s response rate.

Let’s look into different ways to make this happen:

1. ASK THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Before moving on to the survey design, you must identify who your target audience is. This comes in handy for a number of reasons:

You’ll be able to tailor the questions for accuracy.

You’ll be able to pinpoint the topics of utmost relevance.

You’ll be able to determine the most effective

communication channels.

If you do the analysis, chances are that people are more inclined to respond to the survey; therefore, translating into a higher response rate.

2. KEEP IT SHORT AND SWEET.

One thing to keep in mind, is that you have to pay attention to the survey’s length. You must find a strategy to keep it short, yet concise. Go over the information that you need to collect, focus on what’s important to achieve the desired results.

Ask the essential questions and eliminate the irrelevant ones, this should simplify the question selection process.

Keep in mind the following tips for a concise survey:

Avoid respondent fatigue, a survey should last between

5-10 minutes.

Try to keep open-ended questions to a minimum.

Avoid complexity, make sure that the questions are easy to

comprehend.

Make sure that the flow of the survey makes sense to the

respondent.

The key is to keep your respondents engaged. You will be able to collect accurate data, while improving the response rate.

3. GET CREATIVE.

Motivating respondents is good way to increase participation. There are some things that companies can do to improve the response rate.

Branding your survey. Customize it: add the company logo, colors and you can even include the font type. When participants are able to identify the brand, it adds credibility to your survey. Therefore, respondents are more likely to participate.

You can design an interactive survey. Complementing questions with multimedia elements can boost the respondent’s engagement. Make sure to keep the content relevant to the survey.

Offering incentives can increase the response rate of your survey. Please keep in mind that they should spark interest, and not sway or influence responses. Therefore, incentives should be seen as a way to thank respondents for their time and effort.

Some examples are: lottery-type (i.e, electronic gadgets, monetary, etc.), gift cards (i.e, e-commerce, retailers, restaurants, etc.), discounted coupons.

Next time you are designing a survey, don’t be afraid to get creative. This can be an excellent strategy to improve response rates.

4. GET THE INVITATION READY.

After the survey design is finished, it’s time to send out those invitations. But wait, is the survey optimized for all devices? Do some trial runs to ensure compatibility or it could hinder participation. Once that is taken care of, it’s time to work on the invites.

Here are a few tips to create an invitation:

No one likes bulk emails, customize the invite. Add a personal salutation, branding and an effective subject line. Most importantly, you must ensure that the respondent feels welcomed, add a warm and friendly tone to it.

Explain the purpose of the survey. Be honest of its lengths and if you are offering incentives, include that information as well.

Don’t forget, keep the message short and succinct.

If you are able to add your own personal touch to an invitation, it can work towards generating a higher response rate.

5. GET THE WORD OUT.

There are different ways to get the surveys out. As stated earlier, you must know your audience in order to select the appropriate delivery method. The most commonly used delivery methods are:

Web Surveys: a faster response, easy to access, low-cost and accurate answers to sensitive questions. You must work on an effective survey design strategy and personalized invitations to ensure response rates.

Telephone Surveys: respondent is easy to contact and able to gather concrete answers. It has a higher cost compared to web surveys and people are reluctant to answer questionnaires over the phone. The interviewer must instill trust to receive a good response rate.

Paper Surveys: it reaches a broader pool of respondents and it also provides accurate answers to sensitive questions. You run the risk of delayed responses due to mailing times. Therefore, it can deter your response rates. You have to invest more resources and time.

Once you have determined your delivery method, it is a good idea to send a notification message prior to sending the survey. That way respondents are focused and ready to participate in it. This can translate to an increased response rate.

6. FOLLOW UP

Some respondents will not take your survey right away, it is common for companies to follow up and send a few reminder emails. Keep it to one or two emails, include a friendly message and the survey link. You would be surprised of the response rates that these reminders generate.

Once you have gathered and compiled the data, feel free to share the survey results with the respondents. It is a great way to recognize that their feedback was valued by the company. They are going to be encouraged to participate in your company’s next survey; thus, increasing response rates.

These tips can help you to improve your survey response rates. You must find the right strategies and tools to collect the data that your company needs.

If you want to learn more about how to improve your survey, check out the next blog

Learn more

Survmetrics is a mobile friendly platform that provides the right tools to build a customized survey around your brand. By improving user experience Survmetrics increases the survey response rate. Therefore, bringing accurate data that your company needs to make the right business decision.

If you are thinking of creating a successful survey, Survmetrics is the right way to go.

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