by Dean Wiltse
- View article on one page
- Page 1 2
Whether you're concerned with customer satisfaction or employee contentment, or need feedback on a specific initiative, it is critical to go straight to the source and collect feedback directly from constituents.
Online surveys are an increasingly common way to solicit feedback, but response rates are often quite low due to poor survey design, lengthy surveys, requests for personal information, or a lack of incentives for survey completion.
So how do you ensure that people respond to your survey?
Follow these seven simple rules of engagement to increase the responses to your online survey.
Rule #1: Make a good first impression
Convince your audience to read past the survey invitation. Survey administrators must grab the target's attention with the subject line, text, and graphics.
Jazz up the invitation and introductory page with color, graphics, and catchy text.
And don't forget to craft a compelling, but also honest and concise, subject line no more than 60 characters in length.
Rule #2: Assume nothing
Don't expect individuals to respond to your survey just because you sent an invitation.
People ignore surveys for all sorts of reasons—lack of time, no incentive, lack of clarity in the subject line, fear that the survey is not coming from a credible source, etc. Many survey administrators fail to pay attention to these kinds of details.
It's also important to be aware of timing. When inviting survey responses, avoid Mondays and Fridays, as well as the days before and after holidays, as these are often hectic days for professionals and there is a low probability of survey completion.
An ideal time to release surveys is in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon, when people are most likely to be on email and not overloaded with messages.
Incentives for survey completion should be used whenever possible and can have a significant impact on survey completion rates. How about a gift card to Amazon.com or Starbucks? A 10% off coupon for the next purchase at your online store? These will increase your response rate.
- Page 1 2
- View article on one page
