Increasing Survey Response Rates

Here are five tips to increasing survey response rates.

Clearly State the Purpose of the Survey
The best surveys with the highest response rates have objectives that are easy to understand. Put in writing what the purpose of the survey is and how the data collected will be used. A clearly defined purpose can be all the difference between obtaining quality results and data that is not usable.

Short and Focused
Keep the survey short and sweet and to the point. A survey that is focused and relatively short will perform much better than one that is not. Shorter surveys will have a lower abandonment rate among survey takers, especially if the survey focuses on one objective instead of multiple ones.

Keep it Simple
Keep questions simple and direct and avoid using language that is heavy, difficult to understand, or niche to the industry.

Avoid Open Ended Questions
Open ended questions are difficult to glean information; closed ended questions provide solid, accurate information because they can take the form of yes/no questions, multiple choice, or a rating scale.

Offer an Incentive
Whether you’re trying to garner information about employee morale or customer satisfaction, consider offering an incentive for those who complete the survey. Incentives can boost response rate as much as 50%. Just make sure the incentive fits the survey (not to large or small).

Just remember, implementing survey software and simply distributing a survey, whether to customers or employees, is only half the battle to garnering useful information