Online survey design is important to achieving maximum participation, but there’s something far more crucial than design to the success of an email marketing survey. Oddly enough, it has nothing to do with the length of your survey, the layout of your website, the size of your fonts or the clarity of the questions being asked (although needless to say, these are also very important). But it does hit at something that’s become supremely important to customers who regularly traverse the sometimes treacherous terrain of the internet: their privacy.
The success of your online survey marketing campaign absolutely hinges on your ability to assure your email list subscribers that the information they provide will only be used for your own internal information gathering purposes. It’s also important that you encourage complete honesty in a way that won’t make your customers worry that they’ll experience repercussions for being brutally frank with you.
Here are a few tips to help you get maximum participation for your email marketing surveys.
• Never fire off a random survey to your list subscribers without first explaining to them exactly why you’re asking the questions, and exactly what you intend to do with the information once they give it to you.
• Always include a well-written and easy to read privacy and confidentiality statement in your email participation invites. Keep the “legalese” at a minimum – you want your customers to understand you without having to refer to a dictionary, thesaurus, or a legal website.
• Be sure to repeat the privacy and confidentiality statement word for word on the survey website so there’s no ambiguity or confusion.
• Check to make sure you’re in compliance with local laws regarding privacy and confidentiality statements.
Although it may seem ironic that the biggest contributor to your survey’s success isn’t a sleek online survey design, it makes perfect sense when you think about it.