How to change your survey to get a better response rate

It's one of our best practice tips to take an iterative approach to your surveys. To do this, we recommend the following method:

Phase 1

Begin by posting the question you want more information on with the free-form response answer type, or with "Yes/No" as the answer options. If you're not sure how to phrase a question, check out this comprehensive list of possible questions. 



EXPECTED RESPONSE RATE: < 1%. Initially it's about quality, not quantity.

TIP: It's important to start simple first and add content to later iterations of your survey. Keep the first iteration as short as possible - remember, at this point you're looking to uncover data you didn't already know.

Phase 2

Now that you have a handful of useful, actionable responses, consider adding a few answer selections with an "Other" option that leads to a free-form response. 



EXPECTED RESPONSE RATE: Hopefully > 2%

TIP: Remember to "PAUSE" the first iteration then clone it before making any changes. This will keep your reporting nice and clean. You'll also want to set up a negative hierarchy to make sure that they people who responded to the first survey don't respond to the second version. 

Phase 3

By now you can focus on question/answer branching. If someone indicates they're looking for something specific, use the URL redirect to take them to that information. Get creative with the targeting to focus on the visitor group that seems to be giving the most qualified responses. You may even find that you need to create a handful of surveys targeted at different groups of visitors. 



EXPECTED RESPONSE RATE: Hopefully > 4%