As an event survey company in Upstate, NY who has managed a number of exit survey projects from clients across the country, we know a thing or 2 about tips to increase intercept survey response rates. Event or intercept survey projects can prove to be a challenging venture, convincing attendees or customers to participate in a customer experience (CX) survey.
Lucky for you, we will be providing you with a number of unique tips below to help.
These go beyond the traditional event survey tips we discussed in prior blogs.
Those basic event survey tips included: focusing on the survey taker, limiting the length, looking credible, greeting and smiling, and keeping the respondent engaged. Read more about basic tips here.
In yet another informative post, we went beyond the basics and provided you 5 additional tips that covered: drawing attention, improving the introduction, increasing quality, and asking the client. Read more about those intercept survey tips here.
So we've covered basic event survey tips.
We've covered intermediate exit survey tips.
But let's now dive even deeper into the world of event surveys. Here are a few advanced tips to help you with your next event survey market research project. These are non-traditional out of the box ideas to help your organization.
Keep these simple but unique tips in mind for your next event survey market research project. They will help drive your response rates higher.
Tip 1: Use a Hunter
Perhaps the most difficult part of working as an exit survey interviewer is handling rejection. It's a numbers game. You ask enough people and you'll eventually get a "yes". Unfortunately, that also means you are going to get a lot of "no thank you". The "thank you" is if you're lucky, it's usually just a "no".
One strategy we've employed at the New York State Fair project in 2017 and in other projects is using what's called a "hunter" or "greeter" to corral survey takers as they exit. We have 1 or 2 team members who are exceptional at getting a "yes".
These interviewers are featured at the front of the crowd asking as many people as possible as they exit the event. If a participant agrees to assist and offer feedback, the hunter then passes this respondent to a ready-and-waiting survey interviewer in the wings.
The survey is then conducted with a separate interviewer while the hunter goes out and finds another participant. What if the entire survey team is busy with a survey participant? Easy. The hunter then completes the survey by his or herself.
This funnel-like approach helps maximize the number of survey completes. It also separates roles putting the survey team in spots where they can excel.
Those who are excellent at greeting and encouraging responses become hunters.
Those who are great at conducting surveys but not skilled at asking people to participate are relegated strictly to survey administration roles.
This works incredibly well. Try it on your next team project.
Tip 2: Pull Them Aside
This tip depends on the length of your exit survey. If it is a simple 5 or 10 question survey, pulling the survey participant aside to a seat or in the shade might not be worth the effort. The walk might be longer than the survey itself.
However, if your survey is a bit longer than that, it might be in your interest to pull your survey takers aside.
Regardless of whether you are inside or outside, once you get your survey participant to take a seat and relax they are significantly more likely to spend time with you. This could mean additional depth on open-ends or some valuable feedback that might not have been discussed if you were standing with the participant and they felt more rushed.
This tip works particularly well if they event survey takes place outside like at the New York State Fair. Finding a bench or shaded area to survey participants as they are leaving has worked wonders for our team.
After a long day of walking around in the sun (and a walk to the parking lot still to come), participants are typically happy to take a seat at our tent or on a bench under the shade.
This helps our survey interviewer relax and the interviewee relax. These surveys result in an excellent interview because participants feel less rushed and more willing to spend a few additional minutes and offer up some great Fair experience feedback.
Another unique exit survey tip you might not find in your market research textbook.
Tip 3: Have Fun and Be Creative
Having a boring and canned introduction doesn't help. Remember what I said about exit surveys being a numbers game? If you are not willing to have a little fun and be creative with your invite you'll likely end up with a higher proportion of "no" responses than "yes".
Some of the best exit survey interviewers we have use creative and fun invites. Some jokingly do not take no for answer, some are great at convincing respondents that everyone has 3 minutes to help, and others can build rapport through a quick comment or compliment instantly.
When rapport can be built quickly, it not only gives you a better probability of landing a "yes" but it also increases the chances of a higher quality complete and better feedback.
If your survey team has fun, that energy is contagious. You'll have more interested participants, better engaged respondents, and higher quality feedback.
Contact Drive Research
Drive Research is an intercept survey company in Upstate, NY. Our firm has managed a number of intercept survey and exit survey market research projects at events across Upstate New York and the country. These projects have ranged from the New York State Fair to Hays Regional Airport in Kansas.
Interested in receiving a quote on your next intercept survey or event survey project?
Contact us at 315-303-2040 or email us at [email protected].
Not into either? Use our contact form here to fill out your information and submit a message.