Here at SurveyGizmo we are always getting great questions from our customers about the best ways to build better online survey email invitations. We have some great suggestions!
Once you have written a great subject line (Learn more here: Improve your email campaign rates with better subject lines), you can get down to the business of writing your email.
Based on our experience, all good email survey invitations follow the same pattern; they start with a greeting, develop into body copy, include the survey link and end with a signature.
Greeting
- Your greeting should consist of a welcome message, preferably personalized with the recipient’s name (if you have a clean and accurate database).
- The greeting should be followed by an introductory sentence. This should express the value that this survey will provide the recipient. For example, if your survey is about customer satisfaction, then your introductory sentence should be about what you are going to do with the valuable feedback that this customer is going to give you.
- The most powerful greetings are concise and valuable to the recipient of the email.
Body Content
- The second part of an email body is the actual content of the email. Aside from the first one or two sentences, which make up your greeting, much of the rest of the email will likely not be read. This is unfortunate, but true.
- Keep the body content very brief. If you have qualifications for your survey you should summarize them here to keep unqualified individuals from clicking on the survey, only to be disqualified. This is very important, because when an individual is disqualified after clicking into your survey, it can be very frustrating for that individual. It’s best to let them know up front. It is even better to segment your audience and only send the survey to individuals who are likely to match your qualifications.
The Survey Link
- The most important thing in this email is the link to the survey itself. The link should be no longer than 70 characters. It should be on a line of its own; don’t put it at the end of the paragraph. There should be a paragraph break before and after the link to make it stand out. Ideally the link should include several keywords having to do with the subject of the survey.
Signature
- Just like all good business correspondence, an email inviting someone to take a survey should finish with a kind and sincere signature. This is where the personality of your brand will come in. Remember to sincerely thank your survey respondent for taking the time to answer your survey.
- To increase deliverability and be in compliance, it is important to include a contact name, a postal address, and an easy way to unsubscribe from further email messages. These items can be in the signature or in the footer of your email.
Try this pattern for your next online survey email invitations and let us know if your click-thru rates improve!