When it comes to online surveys, unfortunately, sometimes it's not enough to just create a survey... and put it online.
“In order to collect a critical mass of interesting data, marketing experts must increasingly find more creative ways to make a request to complete an online survey that stands out from all the messages consumers receive, while generating interest in responding”.
The challenge is double: how to get the audience to not only pay attention to your survey but also to complete it? It is very common that users, stunned because they are performing several tasks at once, or simply because they do not find a genuine interest, abandon the form before finishing it.
What can be done then?
Here are four useful tips to increase your survey’s response rate and not die trying.
I am mobile, therefore I exist
The user's attention is not unlimited, therefore if they cannot solve the survey quickly and comfortably, they are likely to lose patience and leave it half done.
As we have previously mentioned in other opportunities, more than 70% of surveys are answered through mobile devices. Therefore, to achieve a high completion rate, you should create an online survey using as many resources as possible to make it attractive to complete from a mobile device.
This implies, among other things, using a platform that offers a multi-device satisfactory experience, testing the survey with several mobile devices to check that it works effectively and detect any possible mistakes.
We also recommend creating short surveys, with few questions stated clearly and concisely, divided in different screens so that the respondent is not forced to scroll down to answer each one. We also suggest to simplify answers, using preferably the multiple choice format and avoiding the open answers in which the respondent has to write a lot.
Additionally, we suggest the use of images and contemplating placing them in a square format which can be easily viewed from the device screen.
You will be relevant or you will be nothing
In line with the previous point, we live in an era where social control of the user is increasingly important. The user is at the center of everything, even the elaboration of a survey.
And It is not enough to get closer and adapt their user experience to the mobile device.
Think about it this way. If the audience doesn't identify with the content in your survey, something is wrong.
Put yourself in their (the user's) shoes. Use the resources that online forms offer you to make users choose their own path.
Let's see an example: If you are the owner of a burger place, what sense would it make to ask vegetarians users about the quality of your burgers? A consumer that doesn't eat meat is not going to complete a survey whose first question is: “in general, with what frequency do you eat meat?”. Best case scenario they will answer: “Never/almost never” until the end of the survey.
However, let's imagine you wish to find out why they don’t consume meat. Online forms allow you to use their logic to send those who respond “never/almost never” to a set of questions adapted to their previous answers.
Work on the message
To make people want to complete your survey, express gratitude for their participation. Consider including phrases like “We want to know what you think”.
Emphasize the fact that you value their opinions and explain how their comments will affect directly on the offer of products and how that information will be employed to increase the quality of the content that is sent via mail to them. We suggest that you be as specific as possible so that they understand how you are going to benefit from their experience and opinions.
We also recommend keeping the online form as short as possible. According to market data, 45% of respondents are willing to spend up to five minutes completing a survey, while only a third is willing to spend up to 10 minutes.
Provide incentives
There is no doubt that incentives certainly increase response rates. Sometimes it is not enough to express good intentions and be honest with the user. The consumer asks for something more.
Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to prompting you to respond to an online survey. For example, people may rush to answer just to get the incentive.
Another aspect to bear in mind is making the stimulus attractive to all the segments it's intended to. For example, if you are the marketing manager of a football club and you want the team partners to complete the form, the incentive must relate to an experience with the professional team or the raffle of a shirt signed by the players rather than with discounts to buy books on an e-commerce site.
We invite you to visit SurveyKiwi, a cloud tool that allows you to create highly visual and dynamic surveys with the best user experience, regardless of which device you enter from. Our templates are a very useful resource to add messages that encourage you to answer your survey and build a set of questions that fit your audience's responses.
Visit our Website and get in touch with us! We will explain how to create, manage and distribute online surveys that adapt automatically to the screen resolution of each mobile device, allowing you to get more responses.