Having a good survey response rate is crucial to every type of research. Whether you want to enhance a splendid customer experience or check the satisfaction level of your company’s employees, the higher the response rate the greater the insight you will get
With this in mind, some of the first questions that may come to mind are: “What is an acceptable response rate in research? Which survey response rates can I expect?”
When searching for the average response rate, expect to come across some somewhat contrasting figures. The reason is that many factors affect the response rate in research, such as the survey type or its distribution channel.
This article will explain what survey response rate is, how to calculate it, which factors impact it, and how to increase it.
What is survey response rate and how is it estimated?
The average survey response rate (or a survey completion rate) shows how successful you were in getting people to take your survey. It represents the number of people who completed the survey compared to the number who received it, expressed in percentage.
Here’s how you calculate survey response rate: Take the number of completed surveys and divide it by the total number of people you sent the survey to. Multiply this by 100 to get the questionnaire response rate expressed as a percentage.
For example, if you send your online survey to 1,000 email addresses and get 300 responses. Your average survey response rate is 30 percent.
What is a good survey response rate?
If you’ve just started conducting survey research, you’re probably wondering: “How many survey responses do I need? How do I know my survey sample is big enough for my research findings to be valid?”
You should be aware of the fact that acceptable response rates for surveys are not strictly established. Additionally, a statistically valid survey response rate is closely related to your survey sample size. This means that you need to survey a certain number of people to ensure your research results are statistically valid.
A typical survey response rate goes from 5 percent to 30 percent, while a response rate of 50 percent or higher is considered excellent. However, based on how you make and distribute your survey, you can expect the rate to fall anywhere between the high and the low end of this scale.
Additionally, studies showed that:
- Surveys sent out in B2B industries often have around 10-15 percent higher survey response rates than those in B2C industries.
- A younger audience is much more likely to answer surveys than an older one, especially when conducting online surveys.
- Internal surveys for employees have much higher response rates than external surveys for customers, ranging from 20 to 40 percent.
- CSAT and CES surveys usually have higher response rates than NPS (net promoter score) surveys.
What factors affect survey response rates?
Numerous factors can affect the way your audience reacts to surveys and, consequently, your online survey response rates. By being aware of these issues, and manipulating them to your advantage, you can easily increase survey response rates in all types of research.
The most important factors are the type of survey you’re conducting and your distribution channel.
Today, online questionnaires are by far the easiest and most efficient way of conducting survey research. These include net promoter score surveys, customer experience questionnaires, employee satisfaction surveys, and many more types.
They are fast and easy to create and distribute and can reach people all over the world. Additionally, they are cost-efficient and very easy to analyze, thereby offering great insight into your research field.
Other key factors that are important for the success of any research survey are its tone of voice, how well it is promoted, and whether participants think completing the survey will be of value to them.
Those who want to improve their business through market research should also be aware of customer loyalty and brand awareness.
Important tips on how to increase survey response rates
As already established, all of the above-mentioned factors will directly impact how many participants will be willing to share their feedback by filling out your survey.
A low response rate doesn’t necessarily imply poor customer feedback, just as an above-average response rate doesn’t mean you’ll end up with more valuable insights. First, you need to choose the right audience and sample size—one that will be a good representation of your target population.
After that, you need to focus on increasing the response rate. Here are some of the most important tips that will help you improve the survey response rates.
1. Choose a reliable platform with which to make your online survey
When making an online survey, choosing the right survey software is very important. With SurveyPlanet, you will get everything you’re hoping for and more.
We offer you unlimited survey questions and responses, captivating pre-made themes, and numerous pre-made questions that you can use in your next research project. Along with that, you can make white-label surveys, embed them in emails, filter and export results, and much more.
Explore our pricing plans and features, then choose the one that best suits your needs.
2. Make the survey appealing to your target audience
This is especially important for surveys whose goal is to improve your business through customer feedback, such as customer satisfaction surveys or product research surveys. Knowing your target audience—and being on the same page as them—will increase their interest in your survey and, consequently, your average survey response rate.
Start by making your surveys visually appealing. You can do this by choosing one of our numerous pre-made themes or making your own custom theme.
The visual aspect of surveys should be engaging—as should their language. Make sure you get into the mindset of your customer and use the correct tone of voice when asking the right questions.
3. Offer different incentives for completing the survey
Offering an appealing incentive for participation can increase your survey response rates significantly—by 10-15 percent according to some research. The incentives you offer can be trivial to you but perceived as rather attractive to respondents.
In market research, when conducting different product or customer satisfaction research, you can offer survey incentives in the form of discounts, coupons, or prizes like free product samples. You don’t need to give them to all your customers by arranging a drawing for winners— the so-called giveaway.
4. Make sure the topic of the survey is relevant to your respondents
Material benefits are not the only type that exists. Some research shows that the most important incentive for many respondents is simply the importance a certain topic holds for them.
In market research, the most important motivation for your customers to fill out the survey will be knowing that their opinion will be heard and make a difference. If a customer feels like sharing their thoughts on a certain topic will improve your performance and their experience, they are much more likely to take the time to actually fill out the survey.
For current or potential business partners or fellow researchers interested in your research topic, the most appealing type of incentive is valuable and useful information. In this case, you can offer to provide them with a copy of your final results.
5. Pay attention to the length of your survey
The length of your survey can drastically affect your response rate. The longer the survey, the more likely survey response rates will be lower. The reason is that people seldom want to waste their time filling out surveys. The longer they are, the more boring they can get.
This is why your surveys should be short and on point and include only the most relevant survey questions.
6. Make it easy for your participants to complete the survey
Easily accessible surveys have far greater survey response rates. You can make surveys more accessible by embedding them on your website and in emails or sharing them through social media.
This way, customers can give their feedback by simply answering the survey on the spot instead of being redirected to a survey link.
7. Make the survey personal
When sending out a survey via email, always address your customers by their names instead of “Dear customer.” This will give them the impression that the email is intended for them specifically rather than being just another chain email sent out to thousands of other participants.
Also, always introduce yourself. Customers are more likely to respond to an email sent by a person than a company or an automated system. People are social beings and like to be in contact with other people, not businesses and corporations.
8. Choose the right time to send out the survey
When conducting a survey, timing is everything. That is why much research has been undertaken to establish the best time to send out a survey to get the highest survey response rate, with particular focus on the day of the week and time of day.
The right answer largely depends on the daily schedule and habits of your customers. However, some research concludes that it’s best to send out surveys on workday mornings, between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM (with Monday as an exception).
Sending your surveys out on workday evenings can result in quicker responses but lower overall response rates. If you send out a business-related survey after 3:00 PM on a workday, don’t be discouraged by your response rate until the following workday.
9. Send a reminder email
Our in-boxes tend to get very crowded. We are constantly getting new emails, as are your customers. Surveys can easily get lost and go unanswered.
That is why it’s wise to email everyone who hasn’t taken the survey a reminder. It’s best to do this 7 to 10 days after the invitation or near the closing time.
Reminding your participants to fill out the survey can increase your average survey response rate by up to 15 percent.
How long should you wait for survey responses?
Experience shows that more than half of the responses to surveys usually arrive on the same day the survey was sent out. However, the number of responses gathered in the following week or two should not be neglected.
If you are sending out a survey to your employees (such as employee satisfaction or work-life balance surveys), make sure it is open for at least two weeks, since some of your employees may be on vacation during that period.
Best practices for a good average survey response rate
Finally, here is a short summary of the best practices that will bring excellent online survey response rates:
- Pay attention to the preferences and needs of your audience.
- Address your participants by their names and introduce yourself.
- Highlight the benefits to them of completing the survey.
- Make the survey appealing.
- Keep your survey short and make questions easy to understand.
- Offer incentives like giveaway prizes, coupons, or discounts.
- Remind participants to complete the survey by sending a follow-up email.
Keep in mind that increasing your survey response rates doesn’t guarantee you more valuable customer feedback or more accurate results. In order to achieve these goals, you need to choose the right sample size, ask the right survey questions, and analyze your data correctly.
Once you’ve understood these important steps, you can start implementing the recommendations found in this article. Combining these practices will provide you with optimal response rate numbers.
Sign up for a free account at SurveyPlanet and start making surveys that will improve your business!
Photo by Lucas Kapla on Unsplash