Customer Surveys - Improving Online Survey Response Rates
By
Vovici
Companies of all sizes are soliciting customer feedback via online surveys. Unfortunately, typical online survey response rates are extremely low due to reasons including poor survey design, inaccurate email lists and lack of survey objectivity, among others.
Given the low rate of response for online surveys, how do companies go about increasing response rates and ensuring they get the information they need to connect with customers? Read on for some critical tips that will help drive online survey response quality and volume for your organization.
Tip #1 – Stay Objective Eliminate the bias in your survey questions by scrapping preconceived notions of survey results. Survey administrators should develop survey questions with an open mind – one never knows what respondents will say until they take the survey. A third party review of survey content or a test release to a small pool of survey respondents can also help to identify and correct bias before the survey is administered.
Tip #2 – Keep It Simple Avoid piling on the questions with the assumption that “more data is better”. An abundance of questions often stems from a lack of focus or the absence of a unifying survey theme. In general, it’s a good idea to limit the overall survey length to thirty questions or less.
In addition to limited the number of questions, it’s a good idea to keep it simple, as overly complex questions tend to contribute to poor response rates. Customers who are confused are customers less likely to complete the survey.
Tip #3 – Make the Invitation Clear and Compelling Make sure to invite responses in a clear and compelling way. For surveys administered via email, a concise and truthful, subject line is critical. The survey invitation’s subject line should contain no more than 60 characters and accurately reflect the purpose or subject of the survey.
Tip #4 – Use Incentives Use incentives and special offers to increase response rates. Survey targets need to know “what’s in it for them” in order to take the time to complete the survey. A popular incentive is in the form of a merchandise discount (for example, 10% of the next online purchase at a specific retailer).
Tip #4 – Qualify Your List Use quality lists – rented or purchased from reputable third-party list brokers. You will not get quality responses without a quality list.
Tip #5 – Stylize You know you’re in trouble when a survey invitation lacks coherence, design and style. Companies that implement design-less surveys tend to have low completion rates because targets do not click through from the invitation to the survey.
Present data in a compelling way, with a good balance of graphics and text. Graphics, charts or graphs can support messaging, but a coherent narrative, balanced with visual elements, should tell the story. Text must be readable, with clear titles and graphics enhancing the story.
Driving online survey response rates from customers does not have to be an uphill battle. The simple tips above can go a long way to getting your organization the responses it needs to understand and respond to its customer base.
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