Your survey response rate tells you what percentage of your customers you ask to survey are actually submitting responses. Here is how to improve that number.
Of what worth is a survey to us if nobody responds to it?
Getting the right amount of people to respond to our survey can be a difficult task - especially if we’re looking at triple-digit or higher sample sizes. In order to develop a higher response rate to our marketing surveys, then we must find some way to convince our audiences to engage with us.
In this article, we’ll discuss the mechanics behind surveying response rates, what sorts of response rates we should be aiming for, and the methods to use for boosting our numbers.
We calculate our survey response rate by taking the number of responses we’ve received and dividing that by the total size of our sampled audience.
The reason why our response rate is so important is because it allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of our surveying. If we have a low response rate, that means three things for our business:
With these facts in mind, it’s vital that we take the necessary steps to drive up our survey response rate to acceptable levels - and to keep it there.
Before we can look at how we can improve our survey response rate, we must first define what a valid survey response rate looks like.
Typically, our average survey response rate should fall between the ranges of 25% - 30%.
This may seem low, but when we consider that we are asking customers to take time out of their busy schedules to give us feedback - and for little to no incentive - these ranges are perfectly acceptable. A good response rate allows us to get the information we need from enough of our audience in order to have a statistically valid and acceptable survey response rate.
When we are sending out our surveys, we should be shooting for the highest response rate possible; we want to get the most out of our marketing budget, and a higher sample size ensures we can more accurately extrapolate our findings to our greater target audience.
A high response rate (40-50% or more) means that we are designing engaging surveys. Engaging surveys are usually brief, focused in their purpose, and incentivize respondents to answer.
Conversely, a low response rate can impact the validity of our responses in a number of ways.
Depending on the issues we’re surveying about, a low response rate can lead to what is known as sampling bias. Sampling bias occurs when a particular group of people are overrepresented in a survey’s sample size. This kind of bias can prove fatal to the integrity of our results, and will impact our ability to synthesize the correct business solutions from these responses.
If we find our surveys are not meeting our performance expectations, it may be time to reevaluate how we approach the research process. We can look to employ existing survey templates (which can be found all across the internet) in order to improve our response rates; we may also want to look at sending our surveys at a different time of day. Sending survey emails during periods of high user activity can allow us to more effectively attract our audiences.
If we set out to survey an audience of 1,000 - and end up with only 10 responses - we would not be justified in using our findings for any real analysis. This is because our response rate was too low for us to consider our sample size as being properly representative of our greater target audience.
A statistically valid or acceptable response rate is one that allows us to properly utilize the information we collect from our surveys.
In order to calculate our statistically valid response rate, we have to do a little bit of math.
We are solving for N, where N is equal to the minimum sample size we need in order for our survey response rate to be considered statistically valid, and:
When looking at this formula, the important thing to take away is this: a higher response rate means we can more readily detect changes in our population. Not only that, but a good response rate allows us to view our data with greater confidence in our results.
Calculating the response rate of our surveys is very simple.
All we do is take the number of participants that responded to our survey, and divide that by the total number of participants we’ve sent our survey to.
Ex. We sent a survey email out to 600 customers. We receive 400 responses back, making our response rate 66%: (400/600) x 100 = 66%
If you’re working with a large or uneven number of survey participants, then it may be worth using a survey response rate calculator.
Utilizing a survey response rate calculator not only allows us to calculate the obvious - we can also use it to calculate the number of responses we need to hit a specific response rate. These calculators are invaluable tools when used for calculating the sample size we need in order for our responses to be statistically valid.
The Online Advertising Guide Response Rate Calculator
Checkmarket Sample Size Calculator
There are many ways we can tweak our surveys to perfect our designs and increase our survey response rate.
Helpfull is the premiere surveying software for anyone looking to get the most out of their marketing efforts. With a vast variety of different question types to choose from, Helpfull surveys can be generated and delivered to thousands of panelists in minutes.
These are just some of the features that make Helpfull a must-have tool for those looking for quality consumer feedback:
With Helpfull’s open-ended survey design, users can design visually-striking, multi-question surveys for any occasion!
A simple survey could be all that stands between your company and the renewed success of it’s online marketing efforts.
An intuitive user-interface, coupled with the ability to gather hundreds of consumer responses in just minutes, are just a few of the features that make Helpfull the ultimate tool for any artist, designer, marketer, or inquisitive spirit.
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