Maximizing Email Surveys: Top Examples and Proven Strategies

As a business owner, email surveys are essential tools to gather valuable insights about your customers, products, or services. Properly utilized, surveys can inform your customer experience, product ideation, and marketing strategies. Here’s an in-depth look at some of the best examples of survey emails and tips on crafting your own.

The Top 10 Survey Emails and Why They Work

Different strategies can be employed when crafting survey emails, resulting in different types of emails based on their objectives. Here are the top 10 successful survey emails in different categories and their key success factors.

Rewards-Based

1. Birdy Grey: A bridal company that offers a chance to win a $1,000 Amazon gift card for taking its survey. The reward, which appeals to brides-to-be on a budget, is highlighted within the email.

2. Contra: A freelancing tool company that offers $500 for survey participation. Starting the subject line with “$500” grabs attention immediately and increases open rates.

Time-Based

3. H-E-B: A Texas-based grocery store chain sends a survey post purchase. Labelling the survey as a 3-minute task encourages customers to respond quickly while their experience is fresh in their minds.

4. Quince: An online store uses a simple subject line, ‘Question for you,’ which suggests the survey will be fast.

Requesting Help

5. Superpath: Superpath, a content marketing community, uses urgency in their subject line to encourage participation for an annual salary survey.

6. Spindrift: Instead of feedback, Spindrift, a sparkling water brand, asked customers to help choose which flavours to add to their lineup, effectively engaging their customers.

Embedded Surveys

7. Wave: This invoicing software brand embedded their survey in the email, making it easier and faster for clients to respond.

8. Mangools: As an SEO tool company, Mangools embedded a short survey in their email to collect feedback from former customers. The embedded mechanism made the survey quick and easy to complete.

Survey Reminder Emails

9. Accounting Today: They use a straightforward message that reminds busy people that their survey is due for completion. They also provide different ways to access the survey for user convenience.

10. Adobe: They effectively use personalization in their subject line and use bulleted lists to outline potential rewards for easy scanning.

Constructing an Effective Survey Email

To craft a great survey email, your email should have a catchy subject line, include personalization, have a concise body copy, an easy-to-find CTA, a highlighted reward if applicable and a plan for sending a reminder. After analyzing these elements, here’s a template you can use:

Hi [First Name],

Your opinion is valuable to us. We've put together a short survey, and we'd greatly appreciate your feedback. It should take no more than one or two minutes of your time!

And here's the best part: You'll be automatically entered for a chance to win a $100 gift card. 

Please submit your response by [date] to be entered into the draw.

Thank you,
[Your Team]

Mastering Your Survey

Survey emails can be a powerful source of information for businesses. The best ones attract attention with compelling subject lines, offer rewards, and make participation easy and efficient. Every element of the email, from the subject line to rewarding participants, must be customer-focused and straightforward. By following these tips, you’ll be able to create effective survey emails that enhance your understanding of your clients, leading to targeted marketing strategies and improved products or services.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are survey emails important?
Survey emails are essential for collecting valuable customer insights which can inform the improvement of products, services and overall customer experience.

2. What makes a good survey email?
A good survey email has a catchy subject line, is personalized, has concise body text, offers an easy-to-find CTA, and emphasizes the reward for completion if applicable.

3. How can I increase survey response rates?
You can increase survey response rates by providing rewards for completion, personalizing the email, making the completion process simple, and sending reminder emails.

4. Should I offer a reward for completing the survey?
Offering a reward can increase participation. However, make sure your reward is appealing to your target audience to maximize responses.

5. How often should I send survey reminder emails?
If you need responses by a certain date, it’s recommended to send at least two reminder emails.