You’ve crafted the perfect survey, sent it out to your audience, and… crickets. Low response rates are one of the most frustrating challenges in market research and customer feedback.

The good news? Response rates are largely within your control. With the right strategies, you can double or even triple your completion rates.

In this guide, you’ll learn 15 proven techniques to get more people to complete your surveys.

Understanding Response Rates

Before diving into tactics, let’s establish a baseline. What’s a “good” response rate?

Survey Type	Average Rate	Good Rate
Customer satisfaction	10-30%	40%+
Employee engagement	30-50%	60%+
Email surveys	10-15%	25%+
Website pop-ups	1-3%	5%+
Post-purchase	5-10%	20%+

If you’re below these averages, there’s significant room for improvement.

1. Keep It Short

This is the single most impactful change you can make. Every question you remove increases completion rates.

Research from SurveyMonkey shows:

10-question surveys: 89% completion rate
20-question surveys: 87% completion rate
40-question surveys: 79% completion rate

Action step: Review your survey and ruthlessly cut any question that isn’t absolutely essential. If you’re unsure whether to include a question, leave it out.

2. Show Progress Indicators

People are more likely to finish something when they can see how close they are to the end.

A simple progress bar reduces abandonment by up to 20%. It sets expectations and creates a sense of accomplishment as respondents advance.

Best practices:

Use a visual progress bar (not just “Question 3 of 10”)
Place it at the top of each page
Make sure it’s accurate (don’t show 90% complete on question 2)

3. Optimize Your Subject Line

For email surveys, your subject line determines whether people even open your request.

High-performing subject lines:

“Quick question about your recent order” (specific + brief)
“We’d love your feedback (2 min survey)” (time estimate)
“Help us improve [Product Name]” (purpose-driven)

Avoid:

“Take our survey”
“We need your feedback”
“Customer satisfaction survey”

These generic subjects get ignored.

4. Choose the Right Timing

When you send your survey matters as much as what’s in it.

Best times to send:

Customer feedback: Within 24 hours of purchase/interaction
Employee surveys: Tuesday-Thursday, 10am-2pm
B2B surveys: Tuesday-Wednesday, mid-morning
Consumer surveys: Saturday-Sunday for longer surveys

Worst times:

Monday mornings (inbox overload)
Friday afternoons (weekend mindset)
Holiday periods

5. Personalize the Invitation

Generic survey requests get generic responses (or none at all).

Personalization tactics:

Use the recipient’s name
Reference their specific interaction (“your order on January 5th”)
Acknowledge their relationship (“as a customer since 2023”)
Explain why their input matters specifically

Example: “Hi Sarah, you’ve been using [Product] for 6 months now, and we’d love to hear what’s working and what isn’t. Your feedback directly shapes our roadmap.”

6. Offer an Incentive

Incentives work, but they must be appropriate for your audience.

Effective incentives:

Discount codes (for customers)
Gift card drawings (broad appeal)
Exclusive content or early access
Donation to charity on their behalf

What to avoid:

Incentives so large they attract dishonest responses
Complicated redemption processes
Incentives mismatched with audience

A $5-10 gift card or 10% discount typically provides good ROI without attracting low-quality responses.

7. Mobile-Optimize Everything

Over 60% of surveys are now completed on mobile devices. If your survey isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing most of your potential responses.

Mobile optimization checklist:

☐ Forms render correctly on small screens
☐ Touch targets are at least 44px
☐ No horizontal scrolling required
☐ Text is readable without zooming
☐ File uploads work on mobile

8. Use Conditional Logic

Nothing frustrates respondents more than irrelevant questions. Conditional logic (also called skip logic or branching) shows questions based on previous answers.

Example: If someone answers “No” to “Have you contacted support?”, don’t ask them to rate the support experience.

This keeps surveys shorter and more relevant, which dramatically improves completion rates.

9. Start with Easy Questions

The first few questions set the tone for the entire survey. Start with simple, low-effort questions before asking anything complex or sensitive.

Good opening questions:

Multiple choice selections
Rating scales
Yes/no questions

Save for later:

Open-ended text responses
Sensitive personal information
Complex ranking exercises

10. Send Reminders (Strategically)

A single follow-up reminder can increase response rates by 30-50%. But timing and tone matter.

Reminder best practices:

Wait 3-5 days after initial send
Acknowledge the previous message
Keep the reminder shorter than the original
Limit to 1-2 reminders maximum

Example reminder: “Hi [Name], I wanted to follow up on the survey I sent last week. Your feedback would really help us improve. It only takes 2 minutes — [link]. Thanks!“

11. Explain the “Why”

People are more likely to help when they understand the purpose and impact.

Effective framing:

“Help us improve your experience”
“Your feedback shapes our product roadmap”
“We use this data to serve you better”

Be specific about how responses will be used. Vague purposes (“to help us improve”) are less compelling than specific ones (“to decide which features to build next quarter”).

12. Use the Right Question Types

Different question formats have different completion rates:

Question Type	Effort Level	Best For
Multiple choice	Low	Categorization
Rating scale	Low	Satisfaction/agreement
Ranking	Medium	Prioritization
Matrix/Grid	Medium	Multiple items, same scale
Open-ended	High	Detailed feedback

Minimize high-effort questions. If you need open-ended responses, make them optional or place them at the end.

13. Test on Real Users

Before launching broadly, test your survey with a small group:

Does it work on all devices?
Are questions clear and unambiguous?
How long does it actually take?
Where do people abandon?

Even 5-10 test responses can reveal major issues.

14. Follow Up with Results

Want better response rates on future surveys? Share what you learned and what changed as a result.

“Thanks to your feedback, we’ve implemented [change]. Your input directly influenced this decision.”

This closes the feedback loop and shows respondents their time wasn’t wasted.

15. Choose the Right Form Builder

Your survey tool significantly impacts response rates. Look for:

Fast loading times (slow forms = abandoned forms)
Beautiful, modern design (ugly forms feel untrustworthy)
Built-in progress indicators
Mobile responsiveness
Conditional logic support

Putting It All Together

You don’t need to implement all 15 tactics at once. Start with the highest-impact changes:

Shorten your survey — Cut any non-essential questions
Add a progress bar — Set expectations upfront
Mobile-optimize — Test on actual phones
Personalize invitations — Make it feel human
Time it right — Send when people are receptive

These five changes alone can double your response rates.

Ready to Improve Your Survey Response Rates?

The right form builder makes implementing these tactics effortless. Pixelform includes progress indicators, conditional logic, mobile optimization, and beautiful designs out of the box.

Create your first survey free and start collecting more responses today.

15 Proven Ways to Increase Survey Response Rates