To obtain answers to your research questions, you need full participation from the demos you are targeting. This speaks to the importance of designing research that will keep your sample engaged and motivated to finish your survey.
Here are some tips and considerations to help maximize survey engagement and completion:
Keep your survey focused and “to the point”.
The majority of the 1,049 Americans we recently surveyed would not be willing to spend more than 9 minutes on any of the types of research surveys provided in a list. The survey they’d be willing to spend the most time on? Testing out an app or game on their phone and providing feedback.
Particularly, take care to keep customer satisfaction surveys brief. Our research found that 42% would only be willing to spend 4 minutes maximum on this type of survey.
Optimize the survey to consider the device your respondent is likely using.
Mobile should not be an after-thought; the majority of those we surveyed (58%) prefer using their mobile phone for surveys that take less than 5 minutes to complete. Along these lines, take care to not overwhelm your respondents with long-winded question wording and responses. Additionally, some question types can present difficulties on a mobile phone, such as those requiring a “drag and drop” of responses into rank order.
For longer surveys, make sure that your survey is thoroughly optimized for both mobile and desktop: 64% prefer to take surveys lasting 5 minutes or longer on their computer.
Be honest and realistic about the time commitment required.
Show clear consideration of your respondents’ time and effort. While it may be tempting to round down when specifying the survey length, passing off a 15 minute survey as 10 minutes may cost you completes.
If your survey is veering on the lengthy side, approach your list of questions the way you would a packing list for a trip. Determine what’s essential to include, then identify what would be nice to have and whether anything falls in the “will I even realize it’s gone?” category. Place a priority on the essential questions for your survey, understanding that if a need for any follow-up questions arises, a re-contact survey can be fielded.
Is there a more appropriate method to collect this information?
When considering the type of learnings you hope to obtain, determine whether a pre-worded set of response options is the most effective and unbiased way to answer all of your research questions.
Could your survey benefit from including open-ended questions that give your respondents the opportunity to freely express their reactions? Would asking your respondents to record their reactions via video help personalize and lend authenticity to your target demo? Interestingly, in the course of this research, we learned that four-in-ten would be willing to spend at least 10 minutes trying out a product and recording a video with their reactions.
About the Author: Bess Devenow is the Director, Marketing at ProdegeMR, leading provider of people driven insights, where an emphasis is placed on providing best in class data and interactive deliverables for the wide variety of research they field. She can be reached at bess.d@prodege.com.