Surveys are especially important as a means of acquiring information and opinions, yet people’s involvement in them can be a real problem. Response rates for some of the following proven techniques and incentives increase noticeably. Here is a human-friendly guide on how you can entice participants to complete your survey while making it fun and worthwhile.
Understand Your Audience
However, as with any incentive strategy, one should know their audience before providing incentives. What motivates them? What interests them? This means even a small adjustment of your incentive offerings regarding the interests of your target market can go a long way. For example, if you are targeting college students, then it would be wise to give incentives that they would like, such as gift cards from popular online stores or coffee shops.
Offer Meaningful Rewards
The understanding of incentivization depends on the ability to provide valuable incentives. Consider what would be an incentive to the participants. Finally, cash incentives will never be out of style, but they will not be very suitable in terms of application. In some cases, it can be fine to choose in order to satisfy everyone’s desire to have something different. For example, a survey could provide options to the takers, such as a cash incentive, a gift voucher, or a contribution to a nonprofit organization of the takers’ choice. This way, the incentive is tailored to feel like the person has a direct connection with the employer.
Utilize Bulk Gift Cards
A useful technique for addressing incentives is buying bulk gift cards. Buying these in bulk is also economical, and you can share them appropriately. Suppose you are conducting a survey, and the number of participants is large. Purchasing gift cards in bulk is an efficient way to go. It can also be cost-effective compared to purchasing single cards.
Create a Sense of Urgency
It is possible to encourage people to act by using words that create a sense of urgency. In addition, one might inform participants that the incentive is limited only for a certain period or that the number of incentives is limited. It can also help to promote a faster reaction rate. An example of time-related words are: ‘Complete the survey by the end of the week to be eligible for a reward’ or ‘The first 100 respondents will receive a special gift’; this will make participants complete the survey faster.
Make It Fun and Engaging
They do not necessarily mean that promotions must be in the form of a token, gift, or cash reward. Often, making the survey enjoyable might be rewarded enough, and all that is needed might be achieved. It would be useful to incorporate some form of interactivity into your survey, such as quizzes or gamification features. The respondents are more likely to fill out the survey if it not only offers some incentives but also captures their interest.
Communicate Clearly
Make sure participants know what they are expected to gain from the activity and how they will benefit from it. This is a very important factor so that there will be no misunderstandings as this may lead to disagreement. If you’re giving out a gift card as an enticement, state the worth and how the participants will receive it – email, mail, or instant delivery. Making the process as simple and as stress-free as possible will encourage all the participants in the survey to come through with the survey as required.
Conclusion
Rewarding participants is, therefore, all about the ability to understand what the individual participants would be motivated to do and what they would consider to be a ‘worthwhile’ reward. This way, the survey response rates can indeed be improved through ways such as creating a sense of urgency or making the experience fun, parent, and clear. Again, the aim is to make the participants feel valued which will prompt more engagement in the current survey as well as future surveys.
