My company is known for achieving very high response rates for surveys, usually 65% or more. Our record is an 80% response rate that we achieved for a membership survey for the Population Reference Bureau. The process to achieve a high response rate for a survey by regular mail involves an orchestrated strategy and today I will share some of our secrets with you.

1. Always start with a well-constructed questionnaire and be sure at least one person working on the project has taken a statistics course in undergrad or grad school. They also need to understand the software that will be used. We recommend The Survey System for mail or Internet surveys because it is powerful yet fairly easy to understand. In my opinion Survey Monkey, etc. is too limiting and SPSS is waaaay too complicated (been there, done that).

2. Print the questionnaire on lightweight paper in a small-booklet format. This stands out from other papers on a person’s desk and it can be up to 12 pages.

3. Include a personalized cover letter signed by the Executive Director or the President, and a postage-paid return envelope.

4. The mailing, including the lightweight booklet, cover letter, reply envelope, and mailout envelope will be under one ounce! (Take a bow please) Use first-class postage, preferably a stamp rather than a meter.

5. Send out the first mailing, then 10 days later send out a reminder postcard (it is a reminder plus it also says thanks if you already responded), and 14 days after that send out a second mailing to non-respondents.

6. If you want the most candid answers and a higher response rate, do not ask for the name of respondent or make it optional.

You will be well on your way to a high-response mail survey. Internet surveys get lower response rates and some of our clients like to combine the methods and do both mail and Internet, especially if they have international members. For more info call us at 703-772-5263 or e-mail AllegianceResearch@gmail.com