Tips for increasing survey response rates are always popular—everyone wants to increase their participation! There's a variety of methods that will help reach your response goals. Changes to your email marketing is one of the easiest ways to give your response rates a boost! Let's throw back to a post written in 2009 surrounding email marketing best practices.
5 Email Marketing Tips To Increase Online Survey Responses
FROM FIELD
The from field is the name you see in your inbox identifying who sent the email. If you don't specify a from name, many clients will default to the email address. No one opens emails from survey@orangecorp.com. When deciding on a from field you have three main choices: individual's name, brand/organization name or a combination. Some people prefer to use the survey administrator's name, while others prefer the organization or department. Arguments can be made for either method. I personally prefer a combination.
Competition for space in the inbox has increased significanty over the last three years, and the from name is still a critital piece to the puzzle. Make sure to pick a name that your recipents will recognize. If you're conducting a customer satisfaction survey, the CEO, the head of Customer Service or the account rep would be good options. For employee surveys, the CEO or director of HR are often good choices. Think about your audience and how they interact with your organization.
SUBJECT LINE
A good subject line may be the most critical part of the formula for a high open rate. It's important not to be deceptive or spammy in your subject line. Either of these can result in a lower open rate. If people don't open your email, they're never going to click through to the survey. Here are a couple example survey subject lines that have been proven to work for clients in the past: Your Feedback Needed or Help Us Serve You Better. Remember that just because a subject line works well the first time, it may not work the second. Always review your subject lines with each survey.
If you're not sure what will work the best, and most people don't, it's a good idea to do a few tests. Take a small segement of your list (10%) and break them into small batches. For each batch, see what the open rate is, then use the winner to send the email to the rest of the 90%.
FIRST SENTENCE
When a respondent reads an email, the sender has approximately 8 seconds to capture reader attention. Give deep thought to the first line of your email.
COMPELLING MESSAGING
When writing survey invitations be compelling. Keep the reader engaged with relevant, targeted messaging. If you're sending the same survey to different types of customers, consider segmenting your list for a more personal, targeted message. Don't forget to tell the reader that they are part of a small group of selected respondents. These tips can also be used when creating email reminders.
Your survey invitations should include five key components:
- Introduce the survey
- Explain why it's important to participate
- Brief overview of the survey topic
- Set expectations for the length of the survey
EMAIL REMINDERS
Email survey reminders have been proven to boost response rates. Using a system that will automatically send reminders to individuals who have not yet completed your survey is a huge time saver, but remember to alternate the time you're sending reminders. Perhaps your first invitation got buried in their inbox because of the time of day.
In addition to alternating the time of day you're sending reminders, you should also revise your email subject line and the email copy itself. There are many reasons why a survey will unanswered: the person never saw the invitation, the person meant to respond and forgot, or they weren't compelled by the inviation copy. I always suggest using different copy in the reminders because if that was the reason the for the no response, the same email won't be compelling the second or third time.
See the original post from May 2009
What subject lines have worked well for you in the past?