Why you shouldn’t ask as many questions as you like in your survey

>> Video: How many questions are useful in a survey? <<

The personal benefit of each survey participant

The personal benefit of each individual participant is decisive for participation in a survey.

If the participant does not see any benefit for him or herself, he or she will probably not take part in the survey.

What benefit the participant derives from the survey can have very different motivations.

For example, some participants feel the need to contribute to something larger, such as participating in a process and thus contributing to the common good. Others strive to share their know-how with other people and satisfy their need for knowledge transfer by participating.

In the case of an employee survey, there is almost a voluntary “compulsion” to participate due to the close ties to the employer. In this case, the personal benefit can be the improvement of work processes or workflows from which the employee profits.

However, the benefit can also be quite simple in the personal relationship with the author of the survey, for example the participation in the study survey of the best friend.

In addition to the personal relationship with the author, a personal relationship with the product and the associated identification with the brand can also be a possible motivation for participating in a survey.

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If the personal connection is missing, it helps to set an incentive, for example, in the form of a coupon or discount code or the download of a white paper, in order to motivate people without previous contact to participate (purchased commitment).

No matter what need motivates your participants to participate, it’s important that all of these needs have a common denominator: a relationship with the author.

If there is already a bond between you and the participants, you can assume that your participants will answer more questions. If, on the other hand, there is no personal relationship at all, the participants will probably not yet be willing to take part in a ten-page survey.

From this conclusion, you can derive the following rule of thumb for your next survey:

“The higher the bond, the more questions you can ask – and vice versa.”

A good starting point for planning a survey is therefore the approach of building the survey according to the bond with the respective target group.

In the case of an employee survey, loyalty is generally high due to the existing employment relationship. Thus, employees are more willing to answer more complex and longer surveys.

On social media channels, too, there is generally a high level of bonding between the influencer and his or her followers, so it can also be assumed here that the followers will willingly answer some questions.

In contrast, with a public survey, the bond is rather low and therefore also the willingness to answer complex and long questionnaires.

If, for example, I invite people to the survey via an ad without knowing the target group, there may not be any loyalty at all. At best, there is a connection to the topic; for example, in the case of a survey of razors, it can be assumed that men of all age groups identify with the topic.

Regardless of how high the bond is between author and participant, the dropout rate and quality of responses can be positively influenced:

Positively influence dropout rate and quality of responses

#1 Personal approach

The invitation is the first contact with your participants. If you are not convincing here, the first participants will drop out even before the actual survey starts.

With a short, charming address, you signal an easy survey that does not take much time. On the other hand, a complex, heavy text signals the opposite and could already scare participants.

Therefore, explain to the participants briefly and concisely what you want to achieve with the survey. Be honest and talk to your participants at eye level. In this way, you build a relationship and give the participants the feeling that they can actively participate.

#2 Questionnaire structure

The structure of the questionnaire also has a great influence on the response behavior of your participants.

If, for example, you ask long, complex questions, it will be more difficult for the participant to answer and will require more work and time.

If, on the other hand, you ask simple click questions that do not require the participant to think long and hard, he or she will probably answer more questions.

Use open-ended questions selectively. If you ask a lot of open questions, the participant has to write a lot, which is more time-consuming for him. It can happen that after a certain point questions are no longer answered or only with short “useless” answers.

If you place many questions on one page, the survey will look like a big effort. However, if you distribute the questions on several pages, the survey will look much easier.

>> Video: 8 tips for building your questionnaire <<

#3 Creativity

Questions strung together incoherently, boring context? That’s not likely to motivate anyone to take part in a survey.

Design your questionnaire to fit the topic and make participation an experience. Any participant who feels robbed of their time will not put much effort into answering the questionnaire truthfully.

#4 Anonymity

Inform participants both that participation is voluntary and that you guarantee 100 percent anonymity – if the survey can be done anonymously.

This way, you give your participants the assurance that no connection can be drawn between the answers and the person.

This is especially important in employee surveys, where the participant may fear a personal consequence from their answers.

#5 Incentives

One way to increase the participation rate is to use incentives. Here, you can use a lottery or a coupon code, for example, as a further incentive to participate in the survey.

As you can see, these are simple tips that can influence the success of your survey. Before defining the questions, take a quick look at the relationship with your participants. Based on that, you can define how many questions your survey may/should have already in the initial design phase.

Our tip for the questionnaire length

For low retention, the answer should take between 5 - 10 minutes – quick and easy. In the case of an employee survey, the survey may also take 30 minutes. That's how you can tell the difference. And if you're working with an incentive, just ask yourself the question: How much is the incentive worth to you in minutes that you need to answer the survey?