Implementation of a 3-step communication strategy for your surveys:
Online surveys are as much about communication as they are about data collection, so it’s important to keep this in mind, especially if you’re looking to gain buy-in from your respondents. With the right amount of communication before and after you send out a survey, you’ll help make the whole experience as positive as possible, with the benefit of getting a higher response rate.
The beauty of online surveys is that they give respondents a simple and efficient way to answer questions and submit responses. Similarly, any communication strategy around a survey must be equally direct and efficient.
The basics of a 3-step communication strategy can be seen as:
1) notify your respondents that you are sending them a survey;
2) use the survey itself as a communication vehicle, and; 3
) share the findings through post-survey communication.
I’ve included more details about each of these steps below.
Step 1: Pre-survey communication
If print or electronic newsletters are already part of your communication process, this is a good place to start. There is no additional cost in bringing a survey to your attention through these channels. Notifying your respondent pool of an upcoming survey and identifying the “purpose” and “direction” of your questions will help compensate respondents who are asking, “What’s this in my inbox?”
Pre-survey communication underscores that your organization is listening, learning and proactively addressing needs. If you don’t have a monthly print or electronic newsletter, common alternatives include print postcards, electronic newsletters, and postings on your website announcing upcoming survey activity.
Step 2: Communication of the survey
When you send an online survey via email, you have the ability to communicate with respondents in the subject line of the email, in the body of the email, in the survey itself, or on a “landing page” (if you need to detail detailed instructions, present specific terms and conditions or highlight detailed privacy policies, etc. before accessing the survey).
Important information should be included in the body of the email so that you can keep your survey as clean and visually light as possible. If you have sent pre-survey communications, it is recommended that you reference this in the body of the email for continuity.
After a respondent has submitted a survey, you may want to think about a “thank you” page message to reflect the survey comments that have been captured or convey other information such as a link to your home page. Second and third round distributions (or survey reminders sent to non-responders) should also have a different message in the subject line and body of the email. You may want to simply include something like: “This is a friendly reminder that we’d still like to hear from you…” A good rule of thumb is to make sure each message builds on or builds on the shoulders of the previous message.
Step 3: Post-survey communication
Now that your online survey is complete and you have your data and have analyzed it, it’s time to put the results to work. An important and often overlooked component of conducting surveys is validating to respondents that their time was really worth it.
Sharing the results (even at a very high level) with respondents after completing the survey sends a clear and positive message that you are proactively listening and learning, while reinforcing “buy-in” for future surveys by highlighting the results. and action items. resulting from this process. A good goal to keep in mind is to build a strong online “community” with your clients/members/staff so you can start leveraging and growing this community to gather timely feedback in the future and in other areas that extend beyond of the surveys. They have certainly been identified through their surveys.
Keeping this strategy in mind will help make the entire respondent experience as positive as possible and ensure higher participation rates for all of your online surveys.