Updated for 2023
Having top-notch NPS survey response rates help ensure a true representation of loyalty and sentiment along your customers' journey. An advantage of a simple, quick NPS survey is that it garners higher response rates from customers and clients. While the average email click-through rate ranges from 3 to 9%, done correctly NPS survey click through and response rates can be as high as 40% or more. Weâre going to explain why and how to make your response rates even better.
Think about this from the customer's view. Everything they receive in their email inbox, including an NPS survey, is competing with all other emails they received. Customers wonât respond to your survey if they donât open it. So for the moment letâs think of your customerâs inbox.
Source:(Convince and Convert)Â Â Â Â Â
The next factor to understand is that an emailâs subject line is also the second most important part of an emailâs success.
Source: SuperOffice.com
People get so many emails on a daily basis that weâve all learned to skim. We look for words that set off internal alarms and send those straight to trash. You can find an extensive list of alarm words here. (Note: spam filters analyze subject lines in much the same way.)
Speaking of spam filters, beware of urgency in your subject line. Spam filters also look for words that imply urgency and will filter them.
Some experts believed that the shorter the subject line the better the open rate. This has been hotly debated over the years. Thinking about how your customers get their emails is more important than following a rule about the number of words or characters in your subject line.
Current wisdom is that mobile phone users prefer shorter subject lines. It might pay to test a couple of subject lines to see what length best encourages your customers to respond.
Survey subject lines are competing with the other close to 150 emails your customers get every day. Letâs take a look at some things that have proven to work:
âThe most simple form of service personalization is to learn and use your customerâs name.â â Becky Roemen, CX expert.
âPersonalizing subject lines can increase open rates by 50% and lead to 58% higher click-through rates, according to data by Yes Lifecycle Marketing made available in a press release. Personalized subject lines with names are opened 21.2% of the time, and those with pronouns are opened 22% of the time. Non-personalized subject lines only had an open rate of 14.1%. Remember your customers canât take a survey if they donât open it.
Emails that include the first name of the recipient in their subject line had a higher click-through rate than those that don't (HubSpot). Subject lines with your customerâs name in them are less likely to be filtered out by spam filters.
What do we mean by personalizing a subject line? Personalization calls the customer by name or uses a personal pronoun. Â
No names available? Use a personal pronoun, but remember that it is best to use their name:
Customers will open surveys that drive a relevant emotion.
Create a message that corresponds to their âmoment of truthâ in the customer journey.
Incentives to fill out a survey can drive higher response rates. A word of caution: be careful with incentives as they can skew survey results and people can try to game the system to earn more rewards.
If you use them, itâs best to make the incentive relevant to your customer base. Incentives can be as simple as helping your customers feel like they have a voice in your product.
A few years back, Marketing Sherpa did a study on subject lines that tested clarity against creativity and found âOn average, each channel garnered 541% more responses from the clear subject lines.â Thatâs a big difference.
âHow do you know whatâs clear and not misleading?
People are hard-wired to notice a question. It can be as simple as Would You Recommend Us?
As discussed earlier, shortness is hotly debated. That said, brevity is not only easier to read on a mobile device, but it is less work for the customer. Less work can equal a higher response.
âď¸ PersonalÂ
â Emotive
âď¸ Relevant  Â
âď¸ Sweet (Offer an Incentive)Â
âď¸ Clear
âď¸ Intriguing (Ask a Q)Â
Remember, a high response rate is key to understanding how your customers feel about your business and identifying areas for improvement. So, take the time to craft compelling subject lines, and watch your NPS survey response rates soar!
â
