When To Send Surveys For Maximum Impact
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Engaging customers and gathering real-time insights is hard in this hyper-connected world where customers receive multiple surveys via email and SMS daily, seeking insights.
Beyond crafting the perfect set of questions and appealing design, survey timing is a critical factor that influences the success of a survey. In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can determine when to send surveys to ensure maximum impact.
Factors influencing survey timing
When utilizing online surveys, deciding the optimal time to send your surveys can meaningfully affect the way your participants respond. Before we delve into ways to determine when to send surveys, let’s explore the factors that influence the timing.
1. Nature of the survey
Not all surveys are created for the same purpose. Customer satisfaction surveys or market research surveys each have their own unique considerations and needs.
To elicit relevant and reliable data, you need to tailor the timing strategy so it aligns with the surveys’ purpose.
For example, if a software company is conducting a post-launch satisfaction survey, it’s important for their research team to recognize that the users need time to explore the software. The team should send the survey a week after the release, allowing users to provide comprehensive feedback.
2. Industry-specific timing
Industry trends can affect when your target audience is most receptive to your surveys. Recognizing these trends and aligning your survey distribution with industry events or milestones is necessary to ensure higher response rates and meaningful insights.
For example, a hotel chain conducting a satisfaction survey should align the survey distribution with its vacation seasons. Sending surveys shortly after a guest checks out will enable the hotel to capture feedback when the experience is fresh.
3. Avoiding peak times
We live in the era of overflowing inboxes, which makes it crucial to consider when to send surveys to avoid getting lost in the shuffle. Identify and avoid peak hours or days and send surveys when your audience is most likely to engage with your survey.
Weekdays are a peak time for high email traffic. An e-commerce platform targeting to gather insightful data from customers should strategically send surveys on Sunday evening. This non-peak time and day ensures their surveys will capture more attention
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How do you determine when to send surveys?
After considering the factors that impact survey timing, let’s explore some ways you can decide the optimal time for survey distribution.
Best time or day
Other than the factors mentioned above, determining the best time or day is pivotal for optimizing response rates.
For example, midweek tends to yield higher engagement as people have settled into their weekly routines. Additionally, later mornings or early afternoons have been shown to be more effective.
Knowing your audience intimately is the key to identifying the best time or day. To get a careful balance, you need to regularly test and adjust your strategy based on response patterns.
Seasonal considerations
Seasonal variations impact customers’ behavior and mood when engaging in a survey. When planning when to send surveys, aligning with seasonal changes can enhance response rates.
For example, in the retail industry, conducting a survey on the holiday shopping experience right after the festive season can help you capture real-time and honest feedback.
Moreover, adapting survey content to reflect the seasonal theme makes it more relevant and relatable.
Utilizing trigger points
Leveraging trigger points involves aligning survey distribution with specific events or interactions. Identifying trigger points will require a deep understanding of the customer journey.
For example, a post-purchase survey sent immediately after a customer completes a transaction will help you capture their sentiment at a high point in their journey.
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Best practices of when to send surveys
Learn how to capitalize on your survey by strategically determining the optimal time for survey distribution. Here, we will explore some best practices to maximize the effectiveness and relevance of your surveys.
Understand your audience:
Before you dive into the nuance of determining survey timing, it’s crucial to understand your audience. Different demographics may have different preferences and schedules. So, it is important to consider factors like time zones or the nature of the audience’s engagement to tailor your survey distribution.
Define the purpose of the survey at the start:
When you are asking people to take your survey, it’s best to ensure transparent communication and include the purpose of the survey. Telling respondents why you want their feedback helps set expectations and encourage honest responses.
Design mobile-friendly surveys:
Mobile surveys record a 99% complete rate in the annual research by MRS. Mobile-optimized surveys also reduce the dropout rate and enhance engagement. This makes it ideal for designing surveys for mobile users.
Utilize survey reminders efficiently:
Survey reminders can impact the final response rates. A reminder or two a few days after the initial survey can help engage your audience more. However, it’s important to effectively utilize survey reminders and not spam the respondents.
Conduct A/B tests to identify optimal timing:
Your respondents are not all alike, so leveraging A/B tests can help identify the timing strategy that works best for your unique audience. Uncover the most effective time for your audience and strategically refine your survey distribution.
Voxco helps the top 50 MR firms & 500+ global brands gather omnichannel feedback, measure sentiment, uncover insights, and act on them.
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Conclusion
In the evolving survey landscape, recognizing the importance of survey timing is critical. Timing is not a one-size-fits-all concept, and by understanding your audience, industry trends, and the nature of your survey, you can refine your strategy of when to send surveys to maximize the impact.
Leverage a survey tool like Voxco Online to distribute and track surveys sent via online channels. With our robust tool, you can utilize multiple channels, brand them, and monitor their statuses.
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