Editor’s note: Leslie Albright is vice president, market research for market research software firm Confirmit, New York City.
How many times this week have you been invited to provide feedback by a company from which you’ve recently purchased? Likely too many, and it can be a real irritation. Survey fatigue creates the Catch-22 of the market research industry: companies need feedback to better understand a consumer’s wants and needs, but consistent survey outreach often pushes customers away.
Now, more than ever, market researchers are dealing with low respondent engagement and declining survey rates. The sheer volume of surveys – many of which are poorly conceived – has turned respondents off surveys altogether, causing a real headache for researchers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the response rate for market research surveys in general has dropped from 20 percent to just 2 percent in the past 20 years.
Today, utilizing a cookie-cutter approach to requesting feedback simply isn’t good enough as each respondent is unique with specific preferences and different aptitudes. Effective respondent engagement requires a more tailored and user-friendly experience that includes relevant questions and intentional survey design. Here are seven tricks to overcome potential survey fatigue, avoid frustration and ensure the data being collected maintains its value:
- Use technology that supports your process: Technology and automation are key to the effective design, programming and deployment of surveys. These tools are the brains behind the proper capture of insights. Therefore, when selecting a solution that helps automate these processes, you must consider its core efficiencies first, then address its design or interface, another key factor.
- Make it look appealing: Successful surveys will have an equal balance of brawn and brains; a highly functioning user interface that is also aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Put yourself in your respondents’ shoes and consider the layout. What would you enjoy answering? It is really another grid question?
- Author once and deploy across a variety of channels to maximize exposure: One data avenue is not always sufficient. To get the breadth and depth of data needed for insight, market researchers must be able to deploy the same survey across various channels, including Web, phone, app and even in-person. Consistency in the look, feel and use of the template also means respondents will get used to your invites.
- Don’t overlook mobile or mobile design: As mobile-phone dependency continues to grow, so does the amount of time spent on digital media, including mobile apps and the mobile Web. Targeting this demographic of mobile users should be a priority, however, you need to ensure it’s optimized for mobile use and completion. For example, overly complicated matrix questions can look different on mobile devices and lead to higher dropouts and lower data quality.
- Keep questions short: With attention spans shrinking and social media and Twitter-style sentences becoming the norm, it’s important to make questions 140 characters or less if possible. This forces a move away from academic language toward easier to understand language. Include the types of questions you would ask if you were in front of the person.
- Increase engagement with multimedia: Audio and video can help increase a person’s understanding in a quick and easy way and make questions as engaging as possible. Try using video or audio to replace open text answers. You can also consider audio to read out the questions or brand names. This is a good option if you are doing product name testing.
- Test your survey before you deploy it: It is crucial to test the survey’s features and monitor its performance to avoid surprises. Poorly functioning surveys are not only inconvenient for the respondents but could ultimately impact the way they perceive the brand and its products and services. Important questions to ask before deployment are: Does it look good? Does it display properly? Does the logic route appropriately?
Survey fatigue is a real danger to the market research world. It is extremely important to create surveys that are fun, engaging and reduce mid-survey respondent fatigue and frustration. While survey fatigue may never be cured completely, sticking to these seven best practices will ensure market researchers can gather actionable, insightful data to enhance their respondent experience and business initiatives.