Imagine the following scenario: You’ve contacted Yorizon to conduct an IT Happiness survey. You’ve created an amazing survey together tailored to your organization’s needs and spent the necessary time getting it translated into various languages. You finally convinced IT to get you a user list of all employees, and Yorizon has drawn a sample to invite for the survey. 500 invites have been sent out, and you eagerly open the Yorizon Dashboard to see the first responses, only to see that only 18 people have taken the survey; a response rate of 3.6%.
A nightmare for any project manager. Though you might be tempted to send out reminder after reminder to increase the response rate, our experience shows us that after the 3rd email, the increase in response is almost none, and the end users will not be happy being spammed with invites. However, we have multiple tried and tested survey participation strategies that can significantly improve your survey response rate, from making sure emails arrive properly to enticing the end user to open the survey link. In this document, we will walk you through a few of these best practices for survey invitations.
Having invites arrive at the right place at the right time
It might sound obvious, but by far the most important factor in improving your survey response rate is ensuring that end users receive their invite mail at all. This is not as straightforward as it sounds. If we simply send out an invite to the user base, there is a good chance that the email ends up in the spam folder, thus impacting your email deliverability.
Getting the basics right
Whether you use one of Yorizon’s email domains or authorize Yorizon to send emails from your domain, ensure that you properly whitelist the domain and corresponding IP addresses. Achieving good email deliverability is crucial, but delivering emails in the middle of the night due to throttling, or having Outlook label the email as coming from a “suspicious sender,” will make end users hesitate to open it. Preventing email throttling is essential for making sure all survey invitations reach recipients promptly
Preventing throttling
Even if all the whitelisting is in place and everything looks fine, it’s still possible that the receiving mail server doesn’t let every email through at once. To check for mail throttling, we suggest doing what we call a “Bulk Mail Test,” where we send out 250 emails at once to your organization and see how long it takes for all mails to arrive. Should any throttling still occur, consider marking the invite mails as a safe sender.
Don’t let Outlook create doubt
Even if everything arrives properly without any suspicious senders, some end users might grow suspicious just seeing the “External sender” banner on top of their email, which warns users not to open the survey link we really want them to open.
We recommend having the external tag removed for the mail domain used in the survey. This small step can prevent unnecessary concerns about phishing and ensure your survey email template is trusted. Instructions on how to do so can be found here.
Keep them Focused
Another issue that may occur is that Outlook automatically sorts mail into two categories: Focused and Other. Emails that are sent to the Other mailbox do not give any notification to the end user and are likely to never be seen, getting buried in the inbox.
Though your organization might be hesitant to turn off this feature entirely, it’s possible to disable it specifically for our survey invites. This ensures that your survey emails get the attention they deserve. Instructions on how to do so can be found here.
Making an appealing invitation
Even after implementing all the suggestions above, an end user might still decide whether to trust the email or consider it worth their time. The following tips can help create a more inviting email that users will feel comfortable clicking on.
A recognisable email template
Although using plaintext for your invite email might seem simple, remember that many phishing emails use plaintext as well. To avoid this and make your emails more trustworthy, start using a professional email template. Yorizon offers a default email template that has successfully achieved survey response rates between 10% and 50%. While Yorizon’s branding might not be recognizable to everyone, especially those who missed earlier survey communication, the ideal approach is to send survey emails in the same style as existing internal communications. Yorizon can assist in creating a mail template that includes your logo and brand colors, ensuring the survey email clearly represents your organization.
From a person they know and trust
Having a well-known person from your organization sign off on the mail text and including some contact details (email and/or phone number) can ease people into knowing that this mail really comes from within the organization. If they still have doubts, they can shoot a quick email to said person to verify that this survey is not malicious. Depending on the user list you are able to provide, we could even make this variable so that each end user sees their own manager/IT person in the mail. This personalization is key to increasing survey participation.
IT 幸福感调查？
If you don’t speak the language that your invite mail is written in, you’re less likely to click any links that the survey might contain. Offering multilingual surveys is crucial for inclusivity. The more languages you have your survey available in, the more people will be able to participate and share their thoughts. On the chance that some employees are working in countries of which they do not speak the native language, we can even add more than one language in a single invite mail, with a disclaimer on the top mentioning, “You can find the English text below.” Whichever language the invite link is clicked in, the survey opens in.
Engaging the end user
Ideally, the end user actively looks forward to receiving the survey link and eagerly anticipates the moment when they can finally share their thoughts with IT. However, many end users might decide not to participate in the survey, believing that no one will listen to their feedback and that completing it is a waste of time. While some of these end users may seem unreachable, convincing them that this survey will be different can encourage them to give surveys one last chance.
Keep the End User Up to Date
Instead of receiving a survey invite unexpectedly, it’s better if the end user knows when to expect it. Knowing the survey invite date allows them to schedule some time in advance, feel secure about the invite, and understand what to expect. While an email announcement can work, you can also inform end users through SharePoint, intranet, or a Microsoft Teams message. Depending on your company’s size, you might do a quick reminder in person during a daily stand-up or have local managers provide the reminder. Keeping the end user informed is a key component of successful employee engagement surveys.
Transparency is Key
End users often ask, “How do you know if I filled out the survey if it’s anonymous?” Don’t hesitate to explain the survey process to them. If end users have unanswered questions, they may start doubting the survey and might not want to participate. Be open about what you plan to do with the survey results, how you will share the results with end users, and how Yorizon participates in the process. Even for minor details, like estimating how long the survey will take, Yorizon can provide accurate data to include in the invite.
Don’t Forget to Share the Results
After completing the survey, make sure to share some of the results with the end users and inform them about the next steps. Showing that you use the survey results and that they have an impact will help people realize their voices matter. This realization might encourage those who abstained the first time to participate and share their opinions in future surveys. Transparency and follow-up are critical in ensuring a positive experience for everyone involved, setting the stage for better survey response rates in the future.