While some people enjoy taking surveys and sharing their opinions, there are others who don’t feel quite as compelled to complete your survey.

So, how do you reach these people and encourage them to move forward and complete your survey?

In this article, we look at five ways to make your survey attractive to your customers to increase response rates.

#1: Disguise Your Survey

People love to complete quizzes which is why you see them so often in your social media news feeds.

For marketing gurus, quizzes are interactive content that works. They prompt people to take action, and they enable you to get responses.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, nearly 90% of marketers believe interactive content grabs more attention than static content.

This is why, from time to time, you should disguise your survey as a quiz. Not only does it take the perceived responsibility off the respondents’ shoulders, it makes them think taking your “quiz” will be fun.

A marketing tip is to use a subject line in your email. When sending out your quiz through email, use “Take Our Quiz” in the subject line instead of “Take Our Survey.”

As always, keep your quiz short and ask only the survey questions that matter most.

You can also ask a rating question at the very end because by this time, your respondents are invested in your quiz. This allows people a chance to compliment you or share their concerns.

Be sure to follow regular survey protocol and reach out to the negative commenters. And, always share your results with your customers.

#2: Gamify Your Survey

No, this doesn’t mean creating a survey that would be at home in Minecraft.

What it does mean is using game thinking and game mechanics in your survey. Use these tools to engage your respondents so they think they’re helping you solve a problem.

Usually this means changing the way you word your survey questions. Doing this helps make your survey more attractive and increasing response rates at the same time.

You want your survey to engage your customers, so making your survey more game-like allows them to feel like they’re playing a game while answering your survey. (tweet this)

Consider these game-like elements:

• Make it competitive. For example, ask: “What are your favorite things to eat on our menu? Click as many as you can in 30 seconds.”
• Offer a reward. For example, say: “If you complete the survey in less than five minutes, we’ll give you a coupon for 20% off.” You of course aren’t timing it, but you are offering a coupon at the end.

By gamifying your survey, you are creatively taking the burden of the survey off your respondents. This way, the survey doesn’t feel like something they have to do but something they want to do.

#3: Create an Exchange

Another way to get people to take your survey is to use a bit of psychology. There is a long-standing theory that if someone does something good for you, you’ll be happy to return the favor. This plays on a human’s need to do the next right thing.

If you give your customers something, they’ll feel morally compelled to give something back which for you is completing your survey.

So, let’s say you sell vacuums. Your customer purchases a vacuum from you. Typically, this is the act that would trigger the survey.

Instead of sending it after the purchase, send your customer something worthwhile to them in their email. You might send them several videos on how to use their vacuum, how to set it up, and how to troubleshoot issues.

After this, you send out your survey. Because you helped your customers by providing them information, they’ll feel the need to reciprocate. One good deed does indeed encourage another, and you’ll find you have a better response rate.

#4: Make Your Survey Customer-Centric

Your customers are more likely to complete their survey if it’s of interest to them.

By making the topic of your survey interesting, your customers find it more relevant, and will be more likely to complete it.

From the email subject line to the brief description, make sure your customers know the survey is directly related to their purchase and their experience. Your customers should know the purpose of your survey from the very beginning.

By segmenting your list, you can tailor surveys to specific customer populations. You can also alter your language slightly, so that customers feel like you’re talking directly to them. Use quality questions that pertain specifically to their experience.

Instead of saying something like, “Help us make the customer experience better,” say, “Improve your customer experience by taking this survey.”

Don’t forget to use conditional logic when appropriate to again improve the survey experience for your customers and keep them more engaged. The more specific the survey, the better your responses.

#5: Respect Their Privacy

In today’s digital age, you’ll find that people are more reluctant than ever to share their personal information.

To encourage a higher response rate, be upfront about the data you are collecting.

In addition, just like on your website, include a privacy disclaimer to help encourage people to take your survey. You’ll want to include the following:

• Why you’re conducting a survey.
• What personal data you are collecting.
• How you’ll use the data.
• If you’ll disclose the data to anyone else, and if so, to whom.
• How respondents can contact you with questions.
• How they can delete or not give you their personal information.

A good rule of thumb is to only collect the information you absolutely need to encourage a higher response rate.

To Conclude

We’ll leave you with two final tips, so you can make your survey more attractive to customers:

• Consider sending a pre-survey email to let your customers know it’s coming. Explain why you’re sending them a survey and what you will do with their responses. Tell them you care about their privacy as well as their comments.
• Always say thank you. You want to tell your respondents thank you for their time, for participating in your survey, and for helping you make their experience better.

Wish your customers well at the end of the survey, and you’re on your way to creating loyal customers who don’t mind answering your questions.

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Image: Charisse Kenion on Unsplash