The “what’s in it for me” has to be clear. Showing respect for time and opinion is essential and each survey should be a relationship builder between the brand and consumer. Rewards work.

Today we are bombarded with too many ads, promotions and surveys. Unfortunately, there’s just only so much time an individual has to offer. So incentives make sense because it’s a company’s way of saying, “Hey we know you’re busy and we respect your time for helping us.” There’s nothing wrong with that. Phone surveys seem long and outdated. I always suggest a quick five to 10 multiple choice short question computer surveys that allow the survey taker to add their comments. You can learn a lot if you ask the right questions. People typically respond more favorably to companies they like. Also, they will take a survey of a business they are dissatisfied with because it’s their chance to vent. But for the person getting the survey, most companies fall in the middle of that spectrum so incentives are wise to increase response.

This is a very interesting and important question in these times of needing customer feedback. The reported research only answers a small part of the question. The cash incentives definitely increased the response rate. What is not analyzed or reported is how the responses from those incented differ from those that did not receive an incentive.

Perhaps the more important question for retailers is how to engage customers in ways to continuously receive their feedback across many dimensions, e.g. web surveys, e-commerce sites, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Much as I wish that incentives were not required to obtain decent response rates, they are now a must. Consumers are over-polled and customers with a complaint are most likely to participate, which can skew results, making them non-scientific. Cash seems to be the best reward, that or a discount on a current or future purchase. The question I always think when asked to complete a survey is, “Will this really make a difference in how the company does business?”

The level and topic of the survey can drive the need for incentives, I’ve found. I’ve also seen that the majority of survey questions are not well-written and need to drive better, actionable insights. Once the survey format and content is really optimized in a way that encourages deeper responses from the audience, incentives tend to be less required.

I actually believe not incentivizing is more likely to skew or muddy the results. If someone’s time isn’t being respected, why would they give due diligence to responding open and honestly?

The type of incentive should be governed by the relationship with the respondent. If it is a survey of a base of loyal customers; points or exclusive discounts work. Otherwise, money talks.

Survey fatigue is pretty real. It is boring, especially filling long forms on mobile and/or inconvenient when you get a phone call out of the blue.

As a consumer, I should either have very positive or negative attitude to the organisation sending the survey to take part in it without reward/incentive.

So some sort of reward is a must for surveys that require more or less significant time if you want to have representative sample of responses, not only ones from the edges of your customer base.

A possible alternative is to collect micro data based on the interaction. E.g. for online stores have one question at the end of checkout process like “What was your experience?” with thumb up or down as an answer.