Email Surveys - provide a link or ask a question?
We have run many email surveys for our clients and we are often asked is it better to use an email to link to a web-based survey or ask the first question within the email and use that to link to a web-based survey?
Of course, the smart answer to that question is that it depends!
In our experience, we’ve achieved good response rates using both approaches so we believe it really comes down to a careful understanding of your business objectives for your survey and an appreciation of the customers that will be invited to participate.
The first approach of linking from an email to a web based survey works well and this is the most common method. The creative design of the email that is sent to customers can act as a compelling invitation to participate in the survey. The link to the survey can be integrated into the design of the email and will open up a web browser with an introductory page or the first survey question pre-loaded.
The second approach is different in that the email survey sent to the customer will actually pose the first question of the survey to the customer. This approach can be very effective as it can immediately engage the customer with a strong question that encourages the desire to provide feedback. A customer opening the email survey will be presented with the first question and answer options. Clicking any of the answer options will open up a web browser with the next question pre-loaded.
However, the effectiveness of this approach is linked strongly to the type of question that can be asked. In our experience, it is much better to ask a question with a limited number of answer options as the first question rather than a question requiring open-ended verbatim response. Ideally, there should be no more than 5 answer options offered to the customer within the email as any more will potentially confuse the customer with too much choice and clutter the visual design of the email.
We believe both of the approaches described are valid techniques and we can prove through our experience that each can be very effective. Good email survey design should consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach before deciding on the most suitable for your campaign. From a product point of view, ServiceTick supports both of these approaches for email surveys.
Posted: 26 July 2010