Response rate is an integral part of a survey. It dictates how engaging a customer feedback survey is. However, if your survey does not get an ample response rate, one cannot draw reasonable conclusions. In this blog, we will discuss how to increase the engagement rate of a survey. This blog also has strategies to bring a high response rate among your respondents.
Why is Survey Engagement Important?
Survey engagement is essential for accurate data collection and enhancing customer experience. High engagement brings thoughtful, honest responses. After all, a reasonable data quality is required to act on feedback. Engaging surveys improve response rates and positively impact brand perception. This is more cost-effective by reducing the need for follow-ups. To maximize engagement, keep surveys short and simple, offer incentives, personalize questions, and use interactive formats. Clearly communicate the survey’s purpose and ensure mobile compatibility..
Understand Your Target Audience:
To create effective surveys, it’s crucial to understand your target audience. Defining your audience and their preferences is the foundation for crafting relevant questions. Here are two main factors to consider.
Demographics:
Factors such as age, gender, and location can influence how people respond to questions, and tailoring questions accordingly can increase response rates.
Demographic data can also be used to segment survey results and understand specific groups. However, it is essential to remain mindful of any potential biases or assumptions when analyzing survey data.
Psychographics:
Psychographics will tap into a person’s personality traits, values, and interests. You can tailor your questions to their preferences and generate more meaningful responses. Obtaining psychographic data is easier than ever with online tools such as social media insights and customer feedback forms. Don’t overlook the power of psychographics when crafting questionnaires that captivate respondents and deliver valuable insights.
11 Tips to Create Engaging Surveys That Boost Business Insights
Here are 10 tips that can help you create compelling customer feedback forms..
1. Customize your survey for your audience
When designing your survey questions, consider factors such as age, gender, occupation, and location to tailor them specifically for your target audience. Look into post-purchase surveys that get triggered at certain touchpoints. Example, people can get customer feedback surveys after their first purchase from a store. This will capture their in-moment shopping experience. This reinforces the fact that people feel valued and validated from the brand. Personalization can also be with relation to particular customer grievances for offering appropriate solutions.
2. Use attention-grabbing survey headlines
When inviting customers to complete a feedback form, use an attention-grabbing subject line that clearly communicates the survey’s purpose. Many people scan subject lines and may not open emails from businesses. A concise, engaging headline and introduction in the questionnaire can increase response rates. It can explain the survey’s relevance and benefits. Use persuasive language, avoid technical jargon, and ensure the introduction is clear and conversational to motivate participation.
3. Keep the survey tone conversational
Creating a personal and conversational survey can significantly increase response rates. Use friendly and informal language. Address the respondent by their name if possible. Include open-ended questions to encourage thoughtful and detailed responses. Personalized surveys also show that you appreciate the time and effort of your respondents This will encourage people to participate in your future feedback surveys. .
4. Keep questions short, simple, and specific
Long, complicated questions can confuse respondents. This can cause cognitive fatigue. Keep questions short, simple, and specific to improve the quality of responses. Avoid using technical jargon or complex language that may confuse respondents. Instead, use clear language and avoid leading questions that may bias responses. Consider using multiple choice or rating scale questions to provide more structured responses. This approach ensures a straightforward survey experience for participants.
5. Value your respondents’ time
People are busy and don’t want to spend too much time answering questions. Keeping your questionnaire short and to the point is key. Make sure your questions are clear and easy to understand. Offer incentives or apt survey rewards for completing the survey. Remember to avoid biased or leading questions that could skew the results. You can also aim for specific microsurveys that do not need much time to fulfill. Aim for a short 1 to 3 questions at best.
6. Add variety to your questions and response options
When designing a questionnaire, consider a variety of questions and response options offered. Include appropriate and different types of questions: multiple choice, open-ended, and rating scales. This can increase engagement and gather more comprehensive data. Additionally, including both positive and negative response options to provide a more nuanced view of customer opinions.
7. Use visuals to enhance question navigations
Integrating visuals into surveys can make them more appealing and easier to understand for respondents. Visuals such as icons, images, graphics, and charts can enhance navigation. Using relevant visuals that do not distract from the survey’s purpose can also increase respondent engagement. Moreover, visuals in surveys can break up text-heavy sections and present data in a clear and concise manner.
8. Ensure compatibility across multiple platforms
It is critical to ensure compatibility across multiple mobile devices. With the proliferation of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers, it’s essential that your survey can be accessed on any device. This means ensuring a responsive design that automatically adjusts to the size and orientation of any screen. Testing your survey on multiple devices can help identify compatibility issues and ensure a seamless experience for all respondents.
9. Offer incentives and positive feedback for participation
Motivating survey respondents to participate is a good way to encourage responses. One effective strategy is to offer incentives or positive feedback for their participation. This can include discounts, free products, or gift cards, which are relevant to your target audience. To create excitement and interest, consider offering a sweepstakes or prize for completing the survey. Clear communication about the incentive and how to redeem it can go a long way in increasing participation rates and improving the overall quality of survey responses.
10. Timing matters – when to send your survey
Sending surveys at the right time can maximize participation rates.Avoid sending surveys during holidays or other periods when people may be less likely to respond. Sending the in-moment survey, i.e. close to the time of the customer’s interaction with your business, can also increase response rates. For example, sending a survey immediately after a purchase or service experience to get more relevant feedback. Additionally, avoid sending too many surveys in a short period of time. This will lead to survey fatigue and decrease participation rates.
11. Use customizable survey templates
It is always tempting to use online survey templates as they help build surveys quickly. However, it’s important to use them with care and customize them to your specific needs. Generic survey templates may not address your unique business requirements or capture the insights you need.
Customizing survey design can help you tailor questions to your target audience and ensure that you collect relevant data and honest responses from your target respondents.
When in doubt, seek feedback from a diverse group of people before finalizing your survey questions and design. This can help ensure that your survey is clear, concise, and effective in needing much effort. However, by their nature the survey templates are generic.
Choose Merren to supercharge your CX
If you’re looking for a survey platform that can help create engaging surveys that makes it easy and fun for your customers to respond, Merren is here for you. Merren offers a vast choice of channels for customer feedback collection- from WhatsApp, to emails (including AMP and HTML email surveys), chatbots, in-app surveys etc.
In addition, Merren offers a variety of question types and response options, as well as advanced reporting and analysis features. And with integrations available with other business tools like CRMs and marketing automation software, you can streamline your workflow and make the most of your survey results
Conclusion
Effective surveys are a great way to gather customer data. Brands need constant feedback from their patrons to make better business decisions. Use the tips on this blog to craft better surveys. Consider using simple questions, survey rewards and multichannel platforms to share your surveys.
Build your own survey with Merren. Deploy surveys via Whatsapp, Facebook messenger and AMP emails. Sign up for a 14 day free trial and equip your customer service team members with our robust tools.
