Drew | Business Insights

TOP 10: create a perfect survey invitation email

Written by Drew's editorial team | May 22, 2022 3:38:00 PM

Businesses appreciate the impact of surveys and that's why they love the tools that can help in the process. They know that surveys increase ROI, improve customer experience, provide an opportunity to collect customer feedback, etc.

The data you can collect from surveys is invaluable. But getting responses from customers is not that easy. If you want to get a large number of responses, your email survey has to be crafted the right way.

The survey invitation email will tell the customer if it's something they should spend their time on or skip. While an email invitation might seem like a trivial thing that requires a lot of effort, it couldn't be further from the truth.

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The survey email invitation is a deciding factor between the target respondent deleting your email or spending time answering your questions.

Make sure you have your best designers and copywriters on the job so you can create an email invitation that says "Come here."

 

10 helpful tips for creating the perfect survey invitation email

When planning to send a survey invitation to your audience, use this guide. Here are 10 tips on how to create the perfect survey invitation email:

1. Interesting subject line

Most of your customers decide whether or not to click on the survey invitation email based on the subject line. If they find that the subject line doesn't relate to them at all, they're highly unlikely to open it.

Think hard and plan the subject line of your survey invitation email. Write different sets of subject lines and see which one works best.

A good rule to follow when writing subject lines is to keep them as short as possible.

Remember that most mobile devices only display the first six words of a subject line, so it's important to keep your subject line as concise as possible. Make it intriguing for the user to want to open the email.

2. Explain the purpose of the survey.

If you want your email recipients to take action, you need to give them an idea of what you're trying to accomplish with the survey. Remember that your customers have no idea what they want to achieve and if they are not on it, they would be hesitant to spend time, even if it is as simple as 5 minutes.

"Your response will help us improve the performance of our customer service"
or
"We are looking to understand if there are inconsistencies in our brand"

Make customers think that their answers will help you make a business decision that will directly affect them. Otherwise, people who don't have a strong affiliation with your brand may not bother to take the survey.

3. Mention the time needed to complete the survey.

Even your most loyal customers may not want to spend 20 minutes on a survey. It's even worse when they don't know how long it will take.

As they complete each question, they want to know when it will end. If you can't give them an estimate of how long it takes them to complete the survey, at least tell them how many questions there are so they can estimate for themselves.

Allow your respondents to leave the survey without having to lose all the data that was already entered into the survey. Using terms like "brief" will only confuse your readers.

4. Avoid spam

The last thing any company wants is to end up in the spam folder. Your click-through rate will drop dramatically when your email goes to the spam folder. Make sure your subject line doesn't sound spammy and is personalized for your users.

Avoid using terms like "one-time offer", "unlimited offers", etc. Make sure your "from" address comes from a legitimate email address. Don't write a long email or let an image take up most of it. Using these best practices will help you avoid the spam folder.

5. What benefits do respondents get?

When someone does something, there is always a reason behind it. You must appeal to the motivation of your target market. There are many reasons why different customers may complete the survey.

Yes, people fill out surveys to feel important. They'll feel good when they find your subject line that says, "We need your help, Angie."

6. Don't brag about your company

It is common for companies to talk about themselves, the recipients of your emails do not want to know more about you. Unless you've accomplished something commendable, you don't need to present what you do over and over again. Perhaps at the end of your email, you can describe your company: "We are a company focused on developing solutions of genuine value to other companies."

This introduction cuts to the chase and tells your recipient what you're doing without going into details, most of which may be unnecessary. Keep your presentation as neutral as possible.

7. Keep it simple

Do not use many superfluous words that can confuse users. While we hope your survey will be brief, the rest of the focus should not be on impressing them. The only time you need to impress them is with the effectiveness of your products, don't do it with the survey invitation email. They should be able to understand the subject line of the email and what you expect of them as soon as they read the email.

Also, don't explain too much so they don't get confused. Remember that the use of jargon may not be beneficial to everyone. Don't share too many details with them as it will only confuse them.

8. Have a clear link and CTA

In this world of digital marketing, the CTA is something that will be present everywhere. No company will want you to walk away without doing anything. In the same case, have a clear call to action that includes a direct link to the survey.

Remember that many companies don't allow images larger than a certain size, so don't let your email take up too much space. Highlight the link and post it in bold for all to see.

9. Integrate the first question of the survey invitation email.

Before asking your users to click on the link to access the survey, give them an idea of what it looks like by integrating the first question in the email.

Once they click on an option, they will be redirected to the rest of the link. This will greatly increase the response rate of surveys.

10. Offer incentives

Nobody says no to an incentive, right? But you should be careful when offering an incentive as respondents may become more interested in completing the survey and thus earning the rewards rather than giving honest answers.

Also, you don't have to offer incentives for every survey. If it's something beyond your budget, then you don't have to bother at all.

Offer them an incentive for taking an action after finishing the survey, they can be asked to share the survey with 5 people and for each one of them, they will get rewards.

 

Conclusion

Designing a survey invitation email is not an easy task, we understand that. By now, you may have realized that there are so many things involved to make the surveys you take as useful as possible.

We've outlined the best practices you can follow to make your survey invitation email effective. Following these points will help you increase your response rates and gain a significant amount of information from your customers.

Keep working to improve your email surveys by A/B testing and improve the relationship with your customers.