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+13236381128
+15199002991
+61480040096
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Survey research professionals are becoming well aware of the issues of getting the response rates needed to glean statistically valid survey results.

It is known that audiences are suffering from shorter and shorter attention spans – for a variety of reasons – and as a result, drop-out rates are soaring.

Of course, these tips will simply scratch the surface! There is a whole world of survey optimization to be explored in order to get a higher response rate overall.

The goal of this piece is to help you think about the respondent experience to create more engaging surveys and conduct more successful studies.

 

Read on below to discover our expert tips to increasing survey response rates:
Curb Appeal 101

Starting with the most basic recommendations, we would be remiss not to mention the importance of making your survey aesthetically pleasing.

This can be done through embedding multimedia like images, videos, or audio files into the survey, or using visual backgrounds that pop. In many cases, it would be helpful to use the brand equity of the client and use their brand colors, logo, and lexicon where applicable.

multimedia 4tips visual

Show, Don’t Tell

Another more advanced tactic to make your survey more visually engaging is to use image area evaluation. It makes it more efficient to answer when evaluating concepts that may be difficult to communicate in words. Examples of questions like this may include assessing respondents’ views on an ad, or simply selecting your seat on an airline website.

The most advanced versions of image area evaluators can offer negative and positive selections, so that a single question can garner two levels of insights at the same time – like most favorable and least favorable choices.

Don’t Skip Skipping

Effective, engaging surveys allow dynamic same-page skipping or even same-table skipping that react immediately to respondents’ choices. We, as researchers, must seek to eliminate any kind of questioning roadblocks in our surveys. Manually having to skip questions or having to re-state that a question is not applicable to them will frustrate respondents and encourage drop-outs.

Read more tips on skip logic in our previous blog post here: Why You Should Be Using Skip Logic to Enhance the Respondent Experience.

Pipe it In

Simply put, piping refers to taking past responses and echoing them in future questions. This helps respondents feel like they are being heard and that their responses have an impact, which can be especially helpful in surveys for customer insights.

Good online survey software allows the piping of images, number values, and text. For example, dynamically displaying the respondents’ survey score as they move through the survey.

pipeitin 4tips visual 1

Surprise! Over-simplified tools make for over-simplified surveys.

There is no denying that respondents want simpler and shorter surveys. But make no mistake: that doesn’t mean the survey tool should be over-simplistic in its capabilities. As a researcher, you need the power to build complex, insight-driven surveys. And we know that using smart, “listen and adapt” logic behind the scenes of the survey makes for more engaging surveys with a higher response rate.

Voxco Survey Software is the most powerful survey software in the industry, without being unintuitive or overly complicated. It comes with a simple respondent experience with robust logic and design capabilities hidden under the hood.

If you are ready to dip your toe further into the world of survey optimization, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team of experts. You can also check out our Market Research Hub and read more of our insights into research.