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Improving Response Rates to Web Surveys

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My write-up yesterday of the Fan & Yan research about major factors that drive response rates omitted their advice about how to improve response rates, which I found to be more useful for academic research than commercial research. While Fan & Yan defined response rates as the percent of invitees who complete the survey, many researchers define response rates as the percent of invitees who start the survey. Because I consider start rates and completion rates to have very different drivers, in this post I am going to talk about getting respondents to at least start your B2B or B2C survey.

Fan & Yan did not describe the relative magnitude of how the different factors drive response rates. The following list is my judgment on the top seven factors, sorted by largest impact first. Most involve trading off some aspect of research quality in order to improve the response rate.

1. Target audience - Response rates are directly proportional to the strength of relationship between the survey sponsor and the target audience. Employees provide the highest response rate; lost customers and general market research the lowest response rates. This is not a lever you can easily pull to improve response rates, as the target audience is usually not something you can change. For some studies you may need to shift the target audience and redefine the research to improve response rates; for instance, if you had inadequate response from prospects, perhaps you have to settle for surveying customers instead.
2. Quantity of reminders - The most powerful tool you can use to improve response rates is simply to send out reminders. The first reminder creates the largest uptick in response; each subsequent reminder creates an increase but at a rate of diminishing returns. Too many reminders prompt invitees to unsubscribe from your email list and be unable to you for future research.
3. History of invitation frequency - This factor was not covered by Fan & Yan, but invitees who have been infrequently invited to surveys produce a higher response rate than those who have been frequently invited. Many organizations invite everyone from their house list of emails rather than using a randomly selected subset; if your house list is large enough, shift to inviting subsets instead of attempting a census. This is an important long-term step for improving response rates.
4. Empaneling - One group that can sustain a higher rate of survey invitations is a panel that you have specifically recruited for the purpose of periodic surveying. As with shifting your target audience, this can change your frame of research outside what you're studying, but is another pragmatic long-term approach.
5. Invitation salience - Survey topics that are highly of interest have greater response rates, and surveys of low interest have low response rates. The only survey I've ever conducted with a 0% response rate (for the first wave) had an invitation that specified the survey was about their most recent visit to the dentist. You want an invitation that best showcases the topic at hand, but don't misrepresent what the survey is about and don't be overly specific when that might bias the results. For example, sending out a survey invitation to measure the market opportunity for your new jetpack (Martin Aircraft to Introduce Jetpack) will overestimate demand in at least two ways: the topic is so cool that many will be interested in the survey, while those who are afraid to fly will probably skip it altogether.
6. Recency - To improve response rates on transactional surveys, move up the first invitation to within a day or two of the event being researched. The longer the lag between the event and the survey the lower the response rate.
7. Exclusivity - When you are surveying a random subset of your target audience, mention that fact in your invitation, emphasizing the exclusivity of the invitation, and you will see improved response rates. For instance: "You are one of a small, select group of customers that we have invited to provide us feedback." Of course, don't say it if it isn't true.