Customer feedback is inevitable. If you donât specifically ask customers what they think of your product/service in a customer survey, thereâs a good chance theyâll offer up their opinions anyways, whether thatâs on one of your social media platforms or an online review site.
But the truth is, itâs pretty hard to get people to fill out a survey. Thereâs a lot of conflicting information out there about average survey response rates; we found amounts ranging from less than 2 percent, to 10-20 percent, to 26 percent.
None of those numbers are all that great, so what gives? Why arenât people filling out your surveys? Weâve got a few ideas.
They Go On and On (And on)
What do surveys have in common with car insurance quotes? No one really wants to spend time on either of them.
Geico must have realized that when they crafted their well-known â15 Minutesâ ad campaign (the same goes for Esuranceâs â7.5 Minutesâ campaign).
When you have a finite amount of time in mind, calling an insurance company doesnât seem quite so horrible. Neither do surveys when you know how long theyâll take.
When you ask your users to fill out a survey (which, by the way, is a pretty big ask), tell them approximately how long itâll take. Donât make your survey too long either; more questions can equate to fewer people finishing your survey.
With this small change, your users wonât dread the thought of completing a survey as much, and youâll see more conversions.
Thereâs No Real Reward
The other reason Geicoâs â15 Minutesâ tagline is so convincing is because it focuses on the money you can save. Itâs a simple, yet compelling, carrot at the end of a 15-minute stick.
With surveys, sometimes a reward can give your users the extra push to complete your survey. e.g. âTake 5 minutes to fill out this survey and youâll get a $5 Amazon gift card.â
It might seem simplistic, but a reward can go a long way. Look at your budget and figure out what you can afford to give. Maybe you already have company swag that you can offer as an incentive, or maybe you have a partner that would be willing to donate a prize in exchange for the publicity. Get creative and you wonât have to shell out a lot of cash to reward your customers.
Your Field Formats Are All Wrong
âClick fatigue.â Yes itâs a thing. (Itâs increasingly common among doctors working with electronic health records (EHR) systems.) One click isnât all that taxing but add together all the mouse or trackpad actions it takes to get through even a short survey, and youâre looking at a pretty draining user experience.
Thatâs especially true if youâre using fields that require extra effort such as a drop-down list instead of radio buttons. With a list, you have one click to open the list, another to scroll through the options, and another to select your option. With a radio button, itâs just one click and done.
Thatâs an example of a simple change that most people wouldnât think of, but can save your users from survey burnout.
Your Response Options Are Vague
If you watch The Office, you might remember the âBusiness Ethicsâ episode where new HR manager Holly attempts to get the Scranton employees to fill out a simple ethics questionnaire to test them on company policies.
When Holly mentions that some people put âVery Strongly Agreeâ on a question when they ideally should have put âTotally Agreeâ one employee speaks out with: âI thought that âVery Strongly Agreeâ sounded stronger than âTotally Agree.ââ
Thatâs an example of a Likert Scale that left too much ambiguity with its labels. When confronted with too many options for answers, your users might glaze over and just select the middle answer (or leave your survey altogether).
Put just as much thought into the response options as you do into the questions, and donât add additional friction to the survey process.
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Surveys can be a powerful tool for informing your marketing, sales and even product development efforts. But thatâs only if you get people to fill out your surveys.
Sign up for a FormAssembly plan to try these tips out today.
