Fun ways to encourage survey participation

Your organization holds a wealth of untapped information about your customers, their buying habits, and how they view your brand. You can unlock these insights through surveys.

But with so many surveys sent daily, how do you convince people to take yours?

This article explores fun ways to encourage survey participation from your customers.

If customers keep buying, does survey participation matter? Yes—here’s why:

Richer data

A high participation rate translates to more comprehensive data and insights into customers’ wants and needs. You can use this information to make better decisions that boost sales and profits by giving customers exactly what they want.

Better user understanding

Without customer information, you can only guess customers’ needs and pain points. Surveys allow your customers to share their frustrations and desires. Responses will reveal where customers need assistance and how to make your services and products more accessible.

Improved products

Whether you make bubble gum or manufacture HVAC systems, there are always ways to improve your products. The key is making improvements your customers want because your products will become more attractive. Surveys provide valuable insights into customer expectations.

You want your company’s survey to stand out in a crowded inbox, and fun ways to encourage survey participation are winning strategies. Here are a few ideas:

Giveaways and prizes

Who doesn’t want a gift card for Starbucks or a pair of cozy socks with your company logo? Small prizes and giveaways are a great motivator for customers to take the time to complete your survey. You might offer a choice of prizes or merchandise to ensure wide appeal.

Product giveaways

You can assume survey participants already like your products or services, so consider raffling them as a reward for survey completion. The raffle might include a grand prize and some smaller prizes to make it more appealing.

Exclusive access

Make participants feel like VIPs by giving them early access to new products, features, or content. It’s a great way to make your customers feel valued and excited about your brand.

Charitable donations

Many customers prefer to work with companies that sponsor charities. Offer to donate to a specific charity for each completed survey. You can let the participant choose which charity you donate to on their behalf.

Personalized rewards

Personalized rewards can motivate customers to participate in surveys. Choose the reward based on their survey responses—a discount or branded merchandise, for example. You could offer a choice, just as long as it’s personalized to each participant.

Use quizzes to gather information

Style the survey like a fun quiz with multiple-choice questions, including some amusing questions and answers. This way, you can collect valuable data while keeping customers entertained.

Share survey results and impact

After you collect and analyze data, share the results and any changes you make to your product or service with participants. You can use this outreach to establish trust and loyalty between your brand and customers.

Create an engaging experience

Gamification, storytelling, and multimedia can make the survey process more enjoyable for your customers and encourage them to take part now and in the future. An interactive survey holds customers' interest and motivates them to complete it.

It can be fun to think outside the box and devise ways to encourage survey participation, but be mindful of these dos and don’ts:

Do ensure confidentiality and data security

Reassure your customers that their answers are anonymous and that their information and data are secure.

Safeguarding customer data goes a long way in building trust and brand loyalty, and customers will be more inclined to answer future surveys.

Do review and act upon feedback

Customers want to know you care about them and the information they provide. Show them you have reviewed their feedback by acting upon it. For example, if most respondents want a specific color, flavor, or service, you should implement that feedback.

Do emphasize the (short!) time commitment needed

Short and sweet is key. Your customers should know exactly how long it will take to answer your survey. You could communicate this by using email link wording like, “This will only take 3 minutes!”

Do explain how the survey benefits your business

Tell customers how important their feedback is to your business and how you intend to use the information. They should know that they can help make real changes to your products and services.

Do provide clear instructions and easy navigation

Participants shouldn’t struggle to navigate your survey or guess what information you want. Ensure each section has clear instructions and that it’s easy to navigate from one section to the next.

Do consider social desirability bias

Social desirability bias occurs when a participant answers in a way they believe is socially or morally acceptable. They may be driven by their desire to win a prize.

Your business needs honest responses to make a positive impact, so emphasize that prizes and rewards are provided no matter the response.

The instructions may feature wording such as, “There are no right or wrong answers” or, “Your honest feedback helps us improve.”

Don’t pressure customers to participate

Asking customers whether or not they have taken the survey yet is offputting. Ask them to participate gently and in a way that makes them feel appreciated. For example, you might follow up with, “We value your opinion and feedback. We’d love to hear from you!”

Don’t influence responses

Honest, unbiased answers will help improve your business. Use neutral language and avoid leading questions, such as “Why do you love our products?”

“How can we improve our products or services?” is an example of a neutral question.

An effective strategy can easily maximize survey participation.

Start with a clear goal, like gathering product feedback or improving customer satisfaction, then choose tactics to support it, like offering exclusive access, personalized rewards, or fun, interactive experiences.

Tracking participation helps refine your approach, resulting in richer data and a deeper understanding of your customers.

Rewards are a great way to incentivize participation. Use a variety of incentives until you find the most effective. Try different approaches periodically to keep participation enticing.

Infographics, interactive dashboards, and customer success stories are fun methods to communicate results. Take it a step further and highlight how your company used the information to make changes and improvements, ensuring buy-in for future surveys.