How to Improve Survey Response Rate?

For any market survey, customer satisfaction survey or product feedback survey etc. to be successful and worth the time and resources spent, it is of utmost importance that the survey gets maximum responses.  Surveys and feedback forms are considered to be among the top methods of data collection. Survey Response rate explains the number of people who have responded to your survey divided by the number of people who you had sent the survey form. It is a metric that measures how trustworthy your data can be, the more the number of people completing the survey, the more powerful your response rate percentage becomes.

Getting people to fill your survey or feedback form can be quiet a tedious task. Roughly 200 responses are required to get a fair amount of data needed to support your survey, and 100 responses even if you need marginally acceptable information to back your survey claims. From identifying the purpose of your survey and what you want to cover in it, till designing the questions and layout, a lot of time has to be spent on your survey to get the perfect survey experience for your customers. Here are some ways in which you can effectively improve your survey response rates to get to those numbers be it for a market survey for new business, career survey for students, customer satisfaction survey, retail survey, product satisfaction survey and many more.

Adhere to the ideal survey length-  it has been observed that survey with more than 15 questions is considered too long, and you might start to witness a drop in your response rates. Shorten the surveys as much as possible by removing repetitive or unnecessary questions. Play around keeping 10-12 questions maximum per survey. A large survey of more than 15 questions will take approx. 5 minutes to complete and will see a 15% drop in the response rate, this rate increases when the time crosses 10 minutes.

Provide a seamless question experience- frame your questions in a simple yet attractive manner. Follow the basic principle of KISS, (keep it short and simple). Have a clear purpose of what details you would require and try to stay from hidden, negative or confusing statements.

Choose the right question type- before publishing any survey; get a clear understanding of all the question types available on the application. Leave a lasting impression on your customers, by using interactive question types that uses smiley or stars rating or a media type question for better interaction with your customers. For example, choosing NPS survey question, for market survey for new business, career survey for students, customer satisfaction survey, survey retail, product satisfaction survey is one such type that can be used for all feedback forms.

Personalize your surveys- create surveys that look authentic and unambiguous. Once designed, look at the overall survey from the point of view of the respondents because they will be the ultimate authority. Make your surveys well designed and user friendly. Give a personalize touch to your survey by using your company logo, take advantage of white label solution offered by the some of the best survey apps.

Start using a progress bar- using a progress bar in the survey will keep your respondents informed on the length of the survey, this will encourage then to finish it completely, thereby increasing your completion rate up by almost 12%.

Try to apply skip logic- make your surveys user friendly and more customized using skip logic offered by the best survey apps. This logic works wonders when it comes to increasing efficiency of the responses. It automatically skips the next question based on the previous response and shows the respondents what matters to them.

Use images tactically- surveys that use too much graphics or flashy fonts often get less attention and distracts the customer from the actual content or details. Hence, use images strategically to improve survey response rate by choosing image question to illustrate only when required.

Always say your thank you’s- be grateful every time a respondent fills your survey or feedback form, assuring them of a better or continued good service in the future. They are the one who have taken out time to answer your questions and build your brand, say a polite thank you will boost their participation in future also.

Preview is a must- if you are using any of the Survey apps that gives you an option of making your own surveys, be sure to always to preview it first before publishing or sending it to your customers. This will help you check any unintentional mistake that you could have done while designing the survey.

Great mobile survey templates-  the mobile device has been dominating the world since quiet some time, approximately 56% of all online traffic is from mobile these days, thereby it is important for you to  make sure that your surveys look great on mobile devices as well in order to improve survey response rate. Mobile app survey offers great usability and flexibility that is linked to increasing the response rate.

Use surveys smartly- if you are surveying for a new product development or surveying a new customer you cannot ask that customer how was your experience using the product or service. Such questions will mostly get ignored and will affect the survey response rate adversely. Understand the positioning of your customer before you start collecting your responses.

Privacy needs to be respected- if your customers know their responses will be anonymous or will not get out there in the world, it will make them more likely to answer the questions honestly and more candidly. Therefore assuring them of respecting their privacy will elevate your response rate.

Don’t overburden your customers with survey- if you have a regular customer to your shop or office; avoid asking them to fill the same survey again and again. This will only lead to your business losing that customer or that customer completely losing interest and giving any meaningful feedback.

Limit open ended question- asking open ended question is a good way to get open opinions and experiences from the customers but giving them too many open ended questions will only increase the time span of your survey and eventually the respondent will lose interest.

Offer survey on multiple channels- giving the customers the flexibility to answer on mobile, tablets and laptops, will ease the process for them and will lead to better response generation because it will be inside their comfort zone.

Survey response rate vary from market research surveys and employee surveys. Their rate varies depending on the size of the surveys as well.  The above points are useful for generating a respectable response rate, when conducting market survey for new business, career survey for students, customer satisfaction survey, survey retail, product satisfaction survey etc.  Always remember knowledge is having the right answer and intelligence is having the right question. Act intelligently; follow the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound) approach towards achieving the desired survey response rate. 

Choose the right question type- before publishing any survey; get a clear understanding of all the question types available on the application. Leave a lasting impression on your customers, by using interactive question types that uses smiley or stars rating or a media type question for better interaction with your customers. For example, choosing NPS survey question, for market survey for new business, career survey for students, customer satisfaction survey, survey retail, product satisfaction survey is one such type that can be used for all feedback forms.

Hope this article was helpful!!