Email Survey

SurveySparrow
9 min readMay 21, 2019

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Email Survey: Overview

Email Surveys have been the go-to stop for collecting feedback and emails have, since its inception, remained one of the most popular and widely used forms of communication. Quick as light and smooth as a breeze, an active internet connection and a valid email address are the only requirements to set off communication with an email survey.

Businesses everywhere take customers and their experience very seriously nowadays. When you communicate with your customers, the medium you pick is essential. So it comes as no surprise that the first and preferred choice of online surveys when it comes to means of sharing would be using an email survey. Thus despite the many ways to collect feedback, email survey is one of the most result-oriented ways amongst them. While social media is still a great way to reach your customers, the open rate for an email is very high making email survey a viable and cost-effective means of collecting feedback.

In other words, the users who have subscribed to your email newsletter are much more inclined to fill a survey than someone who follows you on a social media platform.

Why Email Survey is the Real Game-changer

Email services today come with a plethora of functions that make it a handy form of communication channel. The ability to combine multiple types of content in a single email easily makes email survey the popular pony. Let’s see why email survey supersedes the alternatives like telephone, in-person interviews, focus groups, postal mails and such.

Track Responses

With an excellent survey software by your side, it is not only possible to send out efficient an email survey but also keep track of your respondents. In this manner, you can identify your partial responders and non-responders. You can set up reminder emails gently urging these folks to take up and complete your survey.

Multiple Content Formats

One of the most significant advantages of using an email survey is the ability to add multiple content formats. External clickable links, audios, images, call to action buttons, the list is endless, and so are the possibilities using email survey. Make the survey more entertaining and informative by educating the respondent about your products using audios, videos, and such with the email survey.

Easy on the Pocket

The cost of conducting an email survey is meager as opposed to other methods. All that email survey requires is an account, an email service provider, and an active internet connection. On the other hand, postal mails need spending on marketing collaterals; in-person interviews requires substantial investment regarding both money & time and, phone calls burn a hole through your wallet!

Ease of use and Speed

The simplicity and speed email survey provides is unbeaten. While postal surveys take ages to get a response in hand, the responses via email survey arrive as soon as the respondent hits the submit button. Using an email is no rocket science either. Couple the two and you have a very proficient form of feedback collection right at your fingertip.

Choosing an Email Survey Tool

Owing to the plethora of advantages offered by an email survey, it’s a no-brainer how quickly and effortlessly email survey has created quite the stir when it comes to collecting feedback. So it’s imperative to wisely pick your email survey tool; one that checks all the boxes in your checklist. Here are some features which you must look for in online survey software having an email survey tool integrated within it:

Automated Pulse Surveys

Sending out the same surveys over and over again can easily tire one out. Not to mention the redundant investment of time and efforts while manually doing it all. You can bypass all this if you have an email survey tool that will do the work for you by sending out periodic pulse surveys automatically. all you need to do is configure the initial settings; the email survey tool will take it from there, rest assured.

Report & Data Management

Pick out a survey tool that can slice & dice the email survey data with ease. It is from this in-depth analysis that you can gain a whole new perspective about your business. Find out what’s amiss and what can be improved to take the success of your business to the next level. The whole purpose of sending out the email survey if futile if you are unable to gather valuable insights from it and take necessary actions.

Audience Management

Sending the email survey to the wrong audience can be catastrophic; you can easily find your email surveys under the ‘Spam folder.’ Therefore, it is wise to pick an email survey tool that segments your audience based on various profiles. In this manner, you can easily sort out which survey must be sent out to which group and ensure that your email survey reaches your target audience, spot on.

Templates Collection

Why waste time figuring out the right questions that must go in your surveys when you can use tailor-made templates loaded with researched questions! An email survey tool having a repository of sought-after templates pertaining to various spheres like market research, customer feedback, employee satisfaction and more, is a great pick. You can use the templates as such, or give it a spin to suit your needs.

10 Can’t-Miss Email Survey Strategies

Like most business processes, sending an email survey require a thorough of planning and foresight. The more you understand about your objectives and the needs of the end-consumer, the better will be your prospects to create the desired email survey. Here are some email survey strategies you would find extremely useful.

Email Survey Strategy #1: Know Your Audience

The first step in any marketing outreach campaign is knowing who the target audience is. Without identifying the characteristics of your audience, your marketing campaign will be akin to shooting a dart in the dark. If you sell financial services, then targeting school children is indeed not the best way to go about it. Thus ensure you send out your email survey to the right audience.

Email Survey Strategy #2: Email Content

Once you have identified who your target audience will be, the next step is to determine the survey objective. Draft questions that are relatable and open-ended based on survey goal. Round-up the questions you are planning to ask through the survey. Keep it clean and crisp. Employing personalized content and branding can add further appeal to your email survey.

Email Survey Strategy #3: Sharing Channels

The distribution of the email survey must be well thought-out and meticulously executed. Ensure your email survey get the desired reach & maximum visibility. Sharing surveys across various channels is the easiest way to ensure higher completion rates.

Email Survey Strategy #4: When to Send Surveys

Timing is essential when you send an email survey to your customers. Sending an email as soon as a customer interacts with you will elicit higher response rates than when you send the email survey at a later time. Keep in mind to send it based on your customers’ preferences.

Email Survey Strategy #5: Offer Incentives

Offer your audience incentives that will make them spend those 2 minutes taking your email survey. Think of the entire process as an exercise in Marketing and therefore warranting a budget for it as well. Offer a small discount to customers who finish the email survey.

Email Survey Strategy #6: Clickbait Subject Lines

The decision to open an email has a lot of influence on the subject line it carries. Therefore it is essential that your email survey have a subject line that’s catchy and propels your audience to open the email. Subject lines like “Customer Satisfaction Survey,” “Please fill out this survey” and “Spend 2 minutes to fill this survey” are a big ‘No-No.’ Here are a few that works like a charm:

  • Did you like the experience with us? Please take this survey
  • We would love to pick your brain
  • Here is a 20% offer on your next purchase with us if you fill this survey

Email Survey Strategy #7: Attractive Design

The multitude of emails arriving in an inbox every day means that you need to make your email survey as attractive as possible. The email survey you draft must instill a sense of curiosity in the end consumer. This is when you get high open rates and survey completion rates. When you spend a considerable amount of time in drafting the email content, arriving at the right questions and so on, it is wise to invest a little more time in embellishing it with a great design.

Email Survey Strategy #8: Embed Questions

Being redirected to a website from their email inboxes might not be something that many customers would prefer. Why not remove the problem by embedding the survey questions in the email survey you send? It is not possible to include the entire survey within the email but adding the first question or two can provide a higher click-through-rate.

Email Survey Strategy #9: The Unsubscribe Button

Although it might seem counterproductive, providing the unsubscribe button in the email survey gives a sense of freedom and flexibility to your audience. In this manner, they can be sure that the company respects their wishes and privacy.

Email Survey Strategy #10: A/B Test Your Surveys

You never know what your audience would love; so be open to trying out variations in building your survey and the entire approach for feedback collection. A/B test your email surveys and round in on a strategy that has given you the best results. Don’t play out the traditional games & gut-driven strategies, hoping they’ll pan out for good.

SurveySparrow as an Email Survey Tool

Now that you know the whats, hows, whens and, ifs of email survey, it’s time to pick out a survey tool which can help you achieve everything you just read! Wish to why you must pick SurveySparrow for sending out your email survey?

Dual UI

With a dual, conversational UI, SurveySparrow offers a refreshing survey experience contrary to the infamy surveys are known for. And you got the first and crucial factor out of your concern list- survey completion rate.

Easy Tracking

Track your survey easily to find out the visits, completion rate, the average time taken to complete your email survey and much more! When you have the flexibility to create unique links and share across different channels, you can discover which medium has brought in more responses.

Recurring Surveys

Why waste precious time and manual efforts in resending the same email survey over and over again. The recurring feature enables you to send out email survey, more than once, based on your preference. Configure it once, and you are good to go!

Reminder Mails

Wish to ensure your email survey receive maximum open-rates and completion rates? SurveySparrow offers reminder emails which you can send both non-responders and partial responders. You can set when the reminders must be sent; we take it from there.

Segment Your Audience

SurveySparrow also offers the ability to segment your audience into different custom lists so that you can target them appropriately. Send out your email survey accordingly.

Analyze and Realize

The rich dashboard comes with various analytics option using which you can draw insightful conclusions. Utilize it to make robust, game-changing measures for your business.

Templates

With the most sought-after templates readily available, sending an email survey to its customers is breezy. The templates are loaded with thoroughly researched questions to get you started in a click. Furthermore, you can give it your spin to suit any survey needs.

Automate your email survey by using an excellent survey tool which can significantly reduce the time and efforts spent building a feedback system, allowing you to work on the other vital areas. Keep in mind that email survey can dramatically improve your business success by helping you refine your product and processes.

Originally published at https://surveysparrow.com.

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SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow lets you turn surveys into conversations.