Response rate is based on how many individuals receive a survey and what percentage of them complete the entire survey. A higher response rate affects the credibility of the results, while all received feedback is a valuable source for understanding and acting upon customer relations.
What affects the response rate?
The most important factor for the response rate is how engaged the recipient is in responding to the survey - whether they see it as relevant. Therefore, it is important to send out the survey close in time to what you want to follow up on.
Something that has not engaged the recipient will not be answered, while things that have engaged or been an experience for them will be answered. Therefore, there is no normal benchmark for a normal response rate. For example, in the hotel industry (B2C), it is not uncommon to have a response rate of over 50% if the hotel is proactive and works with the questions below. In annual customer surveys in B2B, the response rate may instead be around 10%.
Factors that positively influence your response rate:
- Send the survey close in time to what you want to follow up on or the last contact.
- Keep the survey short and easy to respond to
- Ask the first question directly in the email
- Ask only what you shouldn't already know
- Remove all "nice to know" questions
- Open-ended text questions on mobile phones may be perceived as difficult to answer
- Ask what the customer wants to answer and what is important for their experience
- Do not send out the same questions too often
- Use rules to avoid sending to the same people too often
- Kindly remind without being pushy
- Sending too often will lower the response rate and you will ultimately get fewer responses
- Show that you listen to and act on the feedback
- Ask customers to respond to the survey so they know you want the answers
- Contact customers after the survey and thank them for the responses
- Show that you listen to and act on the feedback
- Keep track of your mailing lists and choose the right channel
- Keep contact information updated and correct
- Use a channel (email, SMS, web, app...) that feels natural to the recipient.
- Avoid channel switching, such as from paper to screen or vice versa