Increase Response Rates: Survey Etiquette and Rewards
The working survey relationships between Survey Administrators and
participants should be as “win/win” as possible. Think of their
participation as an act of generosity or kindness.
They are giving you their time in order to supply you with information that
will be used to draw valuable insights and address important issues. How can
you repay their kindness?
You can reward their participation by not abusing their space. Sending out
too many invites or reminders can damage your relationship.
At some point, participants will feel their relationship with you is
becoming unbalanced and experience survey fatigue. This would cause a
disconnect in taking your surveys that usually ends with the participant
never taking your surveys again.
Example:
Friends do each other favors. But when one friend is always doing more
favors than the other, the person doing all the favors feels some discontent
with the other person. It’s the same way with your survey participants. If
you’re constantly sending them invites and reminders, they’ll become immune
to them and respond less and less, until they don’t respond at all.
Too many invites/reminders can push your participants away and cause survey
fatigue. Be careful, and don’t get greedy. A person who completes a survey
once a year is more valuable than someone who does none at all.
