A New Way to Think About Survey Emails

You want to improve your business strategy, and you are very motivated to do better. To find out which way to go, did you start sending survey emails to customers, but received almost no response? That’s no surprise —the average response rate of customer surveys is about 14%, and only world-renowned, large companies can reach 25%. In this article, we will show you effective ways to increase the conversion rate of online survey email invitations.

Survey emails are questionnaires sent to existing customers. How many questions should they include? It depends on you.

Fortunately, all the messages in the survey have similar characteristics and a similar purpose: to verify customer satisfaction, they all address the same topic.

 

  • Offer discounts and coupons

People are usually not really interested in completing surveys, but you can convince them to do so by offering them a discount. Offer a 15% discount for the next purchase, for example, or provide them with coupons as an incentive.

 

  • Keep the survey short

Why is it short? The shorter the questionnaire, the more likely your customers will answer. A good way to keep the survey short is to submit no more than four questions. People will appreciate that you value their time. 

If the customer has experienced your product or service recently, the best way here will include a question: “Did you enjoy your visit?” or, “How likely are you to recommend us to your friends?”

These short tests, also called NPS, showed the highest conversion rate. Generally, the response rate of NPS emails is about 30-40%. If their answer is yes, they were satisfied with your product or service, it’s best not to respond to their message.

However, if the answer is no, it is reasonable to send a longer survey containing four to nine questions. Sometimes it is necessary to create a longer questionnaire with more than ten questions. 

When is a long questionnaire required? They are suitable for educational programs, such as online course platforms, people who hold webinars and conferences, and people who conduct research, such as Litmus. Under these circumstances…

 

  • Mention how long the survey might take your customers

If you want people to answer your question, you must indicate how long it will take them to answer your question. If the survey is long and may take 20 minutes, please be honest. Say it!

 

  • Let users know how soon the survey will close

Sometimes people postpone filling out forms until they have time later in the day or on weekends. Therefore, if you can inform your customers of the available time for surveys, you will increase your chances of receiving an answer before it closes, especially if it is very long.

Please note: After expiration, the survey link/website page should notify your customer that the survey is over.

 

  • Be sure to share the results

When people take time to offer valuable feedback, or when they vote for certain changes, they naturally want to hear the results. Promise them at the beginning of your survey invitation email that you will share the results.

 

  • Add photos of the products you are asking recipients to review

By adding photos of recently purchased products, you will remind the consumer what you are asking them to review.

 

  • Send a survey invitation reminder

Often times, customers open an online survey, get interrupted, and forget to go back to it later. If you want to collect as many responses as possible, be sure to send a reminder.

 

  • Express your gratitude 

Always thank customers for everything they do. First, be polite. Second, people need to feel appreciated. Because, in fact, they did us a favor by completing a survey. Third, let them know their vote has been accepted in this way.

 

  • Explain the purpose of the survey

Let your subscribers know that you are conducting this survey for them. Of course, it will only work when you actually share useful information with your readers. Introductions like “I want to know” won’t work.

 

  • Embedding surveys in emails 

AMP forms embedded in survey invitation emails perform 5.2 times better than emails with links to external forms.

 

How to create the perfect survey invitation email? 

Now that we have covered the usefulness of surveys in increasing the return on investment and improving the customer experience, the question now is, how do you get people to respond to your hard-working survey?