Maximizing Survey Participation Rates — Top 10 List

Customer feedback is invaluable to understanding your operational strengths and weaknesses and to ensure that you address the most pressing issues in a timely fashion.  It is important that you get enough survey responses to ensure statistically valid results.  And over time, its important to monitor trends in customer satisfaction and to understand the degree to which operational changes and/or outside influences are affecting customer satisfaction.

There are a wealth of differences between LibSat and a traditional “snapshot” customer satisfaction survey. One of the most significant, is that LibSat is operational 24x7x365. Completing a survey is typically an “impulse” rather than a planned action on the part of your customers. It is therefore important to "remind" your customers that their opinion counts and to simplify the process of participating.

There is a fine line between advertising that works and that which is annoying and counterproductive.  In the rapidly evolving world of the web, certain things are clear.  Widespread use of spam and pop-up blockers are a backlash to the tremendous growth in unsolicited email and proliferation of intrusive pop-up advertisements.   Our recommendations speak to the those things to avoid as much as they highlight good practices.

We've compiled a Top 10 List of effective techniques for maximizing survey participation rates.  This list is compiled based on our collective experiences and results of using LibSat to date. 

Top 10 List

1. Provide One-Click Access to Your Online Survey

Ensure that the access to your Library survey is available by clicking on a link and or ad banner, promoting the survey.  The easier you make it, the greater the likelihood of participation.  This includes links from your Home page and if suitable, every page on your web site. 

While some of our clients are having great success using specially designed splash pages that give web site visitors only two choices -- either take the survey or skip to the regular Home Page, this device has it's limitations.  Unless you go to the extent of ensuring that previous participants are not subjected to this Splash Page, you are likely to get some negative reactions.  There is a "cookie" mechanism that can be deployed to prevent the repeated presentation of the same information to regular visitors.  If you want more assistance with this, then please let us know.

2. Use our Ready-Made Buttons

Visit our collection of ready-made buttons to get started.  They come in different sizes and shapes.  They are animated to increase there ability to attract attention.  They come complete with one-click links to your survey.  They are easy to use and are free!

3. Ensure that all in-house Internet Workstations default to a page featuring a link to the survey.

As an impulse item, it's important to get noticed.  If your Library is like most, the Internet workstations are heavily used.  This is a great source for promoting the survey and increasing participation rates.  If possible, add links to the survey on all Internet enabled workstations, including database and catalogue workstations. 

Some Libraries provide an extra 10 minutes of Internet workstation use for those who are willing to participate in the on-line survey.  The average completion time is just over 8 minutes, so 10 minutes should be more than enough extra time.

4. Have paper-based versions of the survey available at all times.

Not everyone is comfortable using the computers.  For those customers wanting to participate, but who prefer a paper-based survey, it is a good idea to accommodate their wishes.  LibSat provides a simple mechanism for entering respondent data collected on paper-based surveys.  Once entered, they are integrated with other results, as if they were entered online by your customers.

5. Promote the use of the survey on specially developed Posters, Tent-cards, Bookmarks and other marketing collateral

LibSat has developed artwork that is available for creation of posters and bookmarks.  This artwork is available for free.  We can also quote on development of a custom version of the materials, should you require this assistance.

6. Add URL links to all of your communication materials, promoting participation in your survey

Whenever you are producing or reprinting marketing and communications collateral, it is a good idea to promote the link to your online customer satisfaction survey.

7. Promote your survey and encourage customer participation at all events and library functions (internal and external)

Promoting your Customer Satisfaction efforts is good PR.  Whenever you are front of your customers you should take a moment to remind them that their opinion counts.  It also keeps it top-of-mind for Library staff.

8. Promote your survey through related partners and their web sites (e.g., Municipal Web Sites)

This free source of advertising is a good way to promote your customer satisfaction efforts and to increase awareness and participation rates amongst your key constituents.

9. Provide incentives for participation

You can encourage participation through various incentives and/or contests.  Be creative.  The prizes do not have to be expensive to make a difference.  It could be as simple as a T-Shirt or coffee mug.  There may also be opportunities to promote your suppliers who may be willing to offer books, CDs and/or DVD's as incentives.

10. Don't send unsolicited spam email, regarding survey participation.

If your customers have previously indicated that it is OK to contact them from time-to-time, then by all means use that opportunity to announce the implementation of your online Customer Satisfaction Survey.  You can also use this method to share results from your survey, when the time is appropriate.

LibSat already includes an opt-in feature for survey participants to be reminded annually for their participation in your survey.  Our experience indicates that previous participants are an invaluable source of information and enable you to monitor trends in same-person customer satisfaction, year-over-year.

There may be other opportunities to ask customers if they are willing to be contacted via email.  This includes during renewals of library membership cards, newsletter and event sign-ups and at other times.  Speak to us about how to co-ordinate these various activities into the promotion of your survey.

If you have some suggestions, comments or want a quotation for custom developed materials, please let us know.