How do you increase the response rate to your survey?
Nowadays it is increasingly important to find out what the experiences and wishes of your (potential) customers and employees are. A good and often used way of doing this is by conducting a survey. But how do you make sure that as many customers as possible respond?
I have already had the opportunity to interview thousands of consumers and dozens of companies via a survey and for me, it remains a sport to achieve as high a response as possible. In order to investigate which factors influence the response rate, I have often used A/B testing.
I have tested the research results in detail and continue to monitor them because factors and people keep changing. I won’t bother you with all these details, this blog is too short for that and probably irrelevant to most of you. I have listed the main ones that are suitable for both B2C and B2B below.
Time of sending
Sending out a survey without thinking about what day or time it is would be a waste. The time of day has a big influence on the response rate. What is the best time for you depends on your target audience and the reason for your survey.
If you want to send a survey to a company, it is wise to do it during the day on a working day. It is also good to zoom in on the type of business. What time does the company open? At what time do they answer their emails? On what day might someone have time to answer a survey? Don’t do this on the busiest day of the week.
Personal Invitation
Invite someone personally. The likelihood that someone will be willing to share their experience with you is many times greater if you address someone by their name. Imagine receiving an email that addresses you as Dear Customer…you quickly get the feeling that you are a number.
Besides addressing someone personally it also helps to use a personal sender name.
Attractive invitation text
Make sure you create an attractive invitation and try to make the text as short and clear as possible. The following items should be in a good mailing;
- Personal salutation and personal sender
- Purpose of the survey
- Length (number of questions) or length of time (in minutes) that it takes to complete the survey
- Clear call to action
Incentive
Honestly, I was hesitant to put this one in there. Generally speaking, if someone receives something in return, it increases response. However, there is also a downside. Some people complete a survey just because they get something for it. You can then ask yourself whether the feedback given is still reliable.
Short and relevant questionnaire
Try to keep your questionnaire as short and relevant as possible. Before you start a research project, think carefully about your research goal. What information do you want to find out? Then keep your research objective in mind when you are drawing up the questions and think about each question… “Does this add anything to the answer to my research objective?”. This way you don’t get bogged down in all kinds of additional questions that don’t really matter and make the questionnaire unnecessarily long.
It is also important to ask your respondent relevant questions. Don’t let someone go through a questionnaire where they don’t know what to fill in half of the questions or where they always have to tick “not applicable” as an answer. Ask your respondent relevant follow-up questions based on his profile and answers.
Reminder
And of course, it helps when someone does not respond to an invitation to send that person a reminder. Send a maximum of 2 reminders, otherwise, this will cause irritation and if someone indicates after the first invitation that they do not wish to participate in the survey, then immediately remove this person from your mailing list.
A/B tests
If you regularly send surveys, do some A/B testing of your own. See what the optimal mailing is for your target audience. Vary the length, call to action buttons, text in your subject line, etc. And also vary the day and time of sending.
I would recommend using HeyForm to prepare the survey. HeyForm is an easy-to-use drag-and-drop survey builder. Create surveys that match your brand’s style with themes and templates. Use them as-is or customize them to suit your needs.
Good luck to all of you!