Online surveys are the easiest and quickest for taking out honest feedback from the customers for better market research. It rapidly increases the response rate by reaching your target audience.
An example of an online survey is a wholesale giant wanting to conduct a market research study about its retailers’ purchasing habits. In this case, the retailers can receive an email from the wholesalers asking them to complete the survey. Other survey distribution methods can include mobile surveys through SMS, website embed, social media, etc.
What is a Survey Response rate?
Survey response rate =
For example, an eCommerce jewelry store sent out surveys to 9500 potential respondents. Out of this, 2000 completed the survey. Here, the survey response rate by using the above formula is%. The steps in calculating this are:
- 2000/9500 = 0.2105
- 0.2105*100 = 21.05%
Higher the better.
Now the question is, what is the excellent survey response rate?
A reasonable response rate usually depends on asking the right question to the right audience. Now the question is how the excellent response rate can be determined?
The exact level of survey participation is almost impossible to predict, as survey response rates vary widely, and the results can be affected by several factors. In most conditions, a survey response rate of 50 percent or higher should be considered outstanding. High levels of motivation to complete the survey, or an excellent personal relationship between company and customer, are possibly driving a high response rate.
Why is the response rate significant?
Research objective
Using online survey tools, you can gather data about attitudes, needs, and views. Through responses, data can be used to determine attitudes and beliefs, assess consumer satisfaction, gauge views on various problems, and add credibility to the study.
Analysis plan
You can analyze the response you get from your consumers and take the necessary steps to bridge out the gap between consumers’ responses and their expectations. Surveys facilitate product testing, polling, product improvement, and segmentation.
Your survey may be only one of many promoting messages your crowd gets each week, so how would you slice through the competition and get them to focus on your survey as well as round it out? Here are viable strategies for expanding your study reaction rates, from sending the correct message to offering incentives:
The motivating factors which help to get higher response rates through the online survey are given below:
1. Limiting the number of surveys and their length
Everyone is busy in this life and especially when it’s about giving time to others. Taking free surveys and filling it often gets consumers irritated, and in the process, they start avoiding it. So the number of surveys should be based on the relationship with the respondent each time you send out a survey. The length should be limited (ideally not more than 10 questions) and if the demand requires more questions to answer, say suppose 16 questions. It should be divided among different sets, say out of 300 people (set of 150 each), each group should be given 8 questions to answer.
2. The right question in the survey
Questions should be planned and set to give an informative answer to help in market research. Using visual appeals such as infographics, smileys, and many others makes the surveys appealing as well as engaging, boosting brand recognition and awareness at the same time.
3. Preferring close-ended questions over open-ended questions
Closed-ended survey questions give respondents specific choices, e.g., Yes or No, rating scale between 0-9, multiple-choice questions making it easier to answer. Open-ended questions, on the other hand, are regular supplemental questions that give qualitative information and insights. If given an option out of two, consumers’ chance of responding to close ends is much higher.
4. Targeting the right audience
It is essential to send your questionnaire to the right audience. Sending unnecessarily will irritate consumers and increase the organization’s cost. Except if you’re working with a tiny population, you don’t have to review everybody in your intended audience. Try segmenting survey participants. If you introduce a new product and want a genuine opinion, then serve the survey to only your loyal regular customers. If you want to know about your latest launched product, send the survey to those who have purchased your latest launched product. So in this way, focusing on the right audience will gather a higher response rate and help the company gather more and more relevant information about its product.
5. Optimizing the subject line of the survey
Long headlines don’t resonate well with individuals these days. Limited ability to focus doesn’t permit them to see long titles.
Additionally, organizations ought to likewise consider that most email open rates come from cell phones. It is recently observed that 75% of individuals utilize their cell phones to check their inbox; your survey needs to look great on any gadget, beginning with the headline, the email see, and finishing with the length and number of inquiries keeping clients from dropping midway.
Regardless of what they say, individuals judge messages by their titles.
33% of email beneficiaries choose whether to open an email, dependent on the headline alone. That is why it’s needed to create headlines that are adequately convincing to get individuals to navigate to your survey.
6. Offering them attractive incentives
Only a few companies can rely on their goodwill to get a reasonable response rate. For others, there is a saying, ‘The more you give, the more shall you receive.’
So you have to attract consumers with some good incentives, which can be in the form of prizes, gift cards, discounts, etc. They don’t have to be expensive to get a reasonable response rate. Giving free samples of your business would also be an excellent idea. Not only will it act as an incentive, but the audience will also consume or use your product that will be a win-win situation for the business.
Pro tips:
- Express gratitude to the customer to respond and be thankful.
- Check the accessibility of the survey as in; it should be readily available.
- Avoid using jargon that will make the target audience challenging to answer.
- Be considerate of respondents’ time. Let them know initially how much time it will take.
- Try to tell the respondents how their feedback is vital for the company.
There are many ways to get desired information or feedback from the required audience, like taking interviews, through recorded sales calls, or onsite live chats, or some companies preferred the old way of using a simple pen and paper feedback questionnaires but getting a response through online surveys is the simplest of all. So it has derived its value.
Online Surveys are essential for any customer feedback program. Without getting an average response rate, it proves to be ineffective, therefore a loss to the company. The company must get a reasonable response rate from the target customers, which is possible through an online survey by following above mentioned tips and tricks. If you want to avail of online survey customer engagement software, then visit NotifyVisitors which provides multiple readymade samples to choose from with many more designers’ subscription / lead generation form.