During the busiest time of the year, how will you get your target audience to find time to fill out your surveys? Even the simplest, most attractive surveys have to fight for attention. But it’s worth it, especially since a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company's profitability by 75%. The holidays are inching closer and closer, and it’s necessary to design your survey emails and invitations so they stand out in a crowded inbox.
Make your resolution to land higher response rates and use these 10 tips to follow through.
- Identify yourself. Make it clear who you are and what company you work for right off the bat. Send the email from a recognizable staff member to build trust.
- Optimize your subject line. Attach a subject line that you would open if it popped up in your inbox. Make it compelling and clear.
- Make it relevant. Connect your subject line to your content and participants will be more likely to follow through with the survey. Clickbait will only get you so far.
- Have a voice. Make sure your emails don’t sound salesy. You want it to sound like you personalized every one – insert data tags or mail merge fields to customize as needed.
- Send follow ups. Remind users to fill out your survey but don’t bog down their inbox with too many notes.
- Avoid spammy words. Some spam filters automatically hide messages that contain trigger words and phrases. Stay visible by avoiding terms like “FREE” or “click below”.
- Answer questions first. Address all the questions a reader might have before taking the survey. How long will it take? Will you follow up on responses? Give users an incentive for being honest and attentive.
- Test it out. Test different elements of your email to see what gets the highest rate (subject lines, colors, layout, content, calls to action, etc). Once you find the winning combo, you’ll see an increase in responses.
- Offer a clear call to action. Point readers directly where you want them to go without any guesswork.
- Keep it short.
Don’t let the last months of 2015 go to waste. It’s the perfect time to create a successful email campaign that earns you tons of responses to work with next year. While you’re at it, take a look at these 12 common survey mistakes to make sure your designs are as unique and sleek as your campaigns.
