Tip! How to improve survey response rate?

What is the response rate, why is it important, and how does it work?

Response rate (also known as completion rate or return rate) tells us how many people have completed surveys comparing to the total number of people in the sample. The bigger the completion rate the better it is.

Response rate = number of completed surveys / number of people in the sample

How does response rate work?

Let’s assume you have sent a survey to 100 people and 40 answered (filled out your survey). It means that the return rate for your survey will be 40/100 = 0,4 x 100 = 40%.

How to improve the response rate?

There are several ways to improve the response rate – it means to improve the number of collected responses to your survey in a sample. Below you will find a few simple and proven methods :

1. Ask your respondents in advance if they would like to participate in a survey.
2. Create a survey introduction, with information like :
   – survey objective.
   – an explanation why it is important to participate in a survey.
   – information that the survey is completely anonymous, and an explanation how collected data will be used by you.
3. Provide enough time to complete a survey.
4. Resend survey during research, but only to people who haven’t opened your survey.
5. Offer a small gift in return for survey completion, instead of a gift you can create a possibility to donate a small amount to a charity.
6. Say “Thank you” for participation in a survey.