5 ways to increase your survey response rate

Lessons from Seth Godin & Don Dillman

Why on earth would I want to

spend 17 minutes on the phone

to an IVR to tell you what I

thought of my meal at your

restaurant?

• 68% of your customers leave you because they think you are indifferent to them

• A 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company's profitability by 75%

Surveys are essential…

but are 20 (or 50) questions essential?

Seth Godin

• Every question you ask is expensive. (Expensive in terms of loyalty and goodwill)

• Every question you ask changes the way your users think

• Make it easy for the user to bail• Make the questions entertaining and not so

serious, at least some of them. Boring surveys deserve the boring results they generate

• Don't be afraid to shake up the format

Images and text from sethgodin.typepad.com

Don Dillman’s Mail & Internet Surveys Method

• In 2007 psychologist Don Dillman created a set of survey principles to increase response rate

Some core Dillman principles

– Ask yourself: does this question really require an answer?

– Pre-empt & personalise wherever possible– Emphasise ease of responding – List answers vertically instead of horizontally– Ensure the survey comes from a known person– Repeat contact where possible– Remember, people will only be willing to expend a

certain amount of energy responding to you

From Don A Dillman, 2007

5 ways to improve response rate

• 1. Tell people it’s coming• 2. Personalise it• 3. Ask as few questions as possible• 4. Explain what will happen to their response• 5. Make it enjoyable

These companies have changed the way they do it…

www.customerthermometer.com/trial-account