What is the Typical Response Rate for a Survey?

Response rates vary widely depending on a number of factors. For online surveys in which there is no prior relationship with recipients, response rates can be as high as 20% to 30%.

Factors that can affect the response rate include:

• The target population -- Are you are trying to obtain responses from a hard-to-reach population (e.g., males age 18 to 24 who play video games)?
• Your relationship with the survey respondents—Are the potential respondents customers or employees?
• The survey invitation—Can you personalize the email invitation to include the potential respondents' names? How much can you divulge about the nature of the research?
• The survey length—Will your survey take 5 minutes of respondents' time or 15 minutes?
• The complexity of the survey questions—Will you be asking respondents to simply answer straight-forward questions or will you ask them to visit a Web site and then provide their impressions?
• The survey topic—Will your potential respondents have a vested interest in the topic (e.g., improving employee benefits)?
• Incentives—Will you motivate potential respondents to take your survey with some form of financial compensation, material goods, or information?
• Reminder emails—Will you be able to send a reminder to respondents who haven't completed the survey?

Write Survey Invitations to Increase Response Rates

A compelling survey invitation will increase the number of recipients who open your email, and increase the number who click on the survey link to complete it. Using Hosted in Canada Survey's email system you can customize survey invitations a number of ways to increase response rates. In this article, we provide recommendations on how you can leverage these customization features.

Tips to improve the open rate of your email:

Tips to increase the click rate on your survey link:

• Include personal information, such as recipient’s name, when possible, in subject or body of your email.
• Thank the recipient for their participation.
• Mention the purpose of the survey.
• Tell invitation recipients how the survey will benefit them. For example, will you use the data you are collecting to improve your service to them?
• Indicate how long your Hosted in Canada survey will take. You can estimate that 5 closed-ended questions take one minute, and 2 open-ended questions take one minute. Send the survey to colleagues or peers to test the time it takes to complete the survey.
• Provide information about the incentive if you are offering one.
• Assure confidentiality of responses.

Want to make the most of your Hosted in Canada survey? Follow these useful tips...

7. Question Types
Make questions easy to follow and understand. Have only one question at a time rather than combining a set of questions as this may confuse the respondent and not provide a response. Minimise the use of open-ended questions and try to keep all questions precise. Don't use leading questions as they will influence the respondent's answer, and most of all ensure questions always relate back to your defined objectives.

8. Logic
Keep questions in a logic order so that they have a natural flow. Start with the important questions relating directly to your objectives and what you want to gain from the survey, keeping demographic questions until near the end of the survey.

9. Incentives
Incentives are an excellent way to influence the respondent to complete a questionnaire or survey. They feel there is a reward at the end and this motivates them to respond. An incentive can be something small such as free subscriptions or can be something as big as prize draws etc. depending on your organisation and the nature of the survey.

10. Acknowledgements
It is very important to always give acknowledgement to the respondents for taking time out of their routine to complete your survey. Giving a note of appreciation at the start of the survey, and again at the end by thanking them for their participation can achieve this.