Company surveys are a great way to gain insight into customer preferences and employee satisfaction. However, getting people to invest their time in completing surveys can be a challenge.
Offering an incentive like digital gift cards can significantly increase participation rates. Whether it’s a gift at their favourite coffee shop or online store, personalized incentives are a great way to show gratitude for their participation in your survey.
And by providing participants with multiple reward options, you’ll see even higher response rates while strengthening your relationships with customers and employees.
Why Surveys Can Be Highly Valuable
Surveys are an often underestimated strategy for gaining important business information. Below are some reasons businesses should prioritize creating and implementing high-quality surveys.
Provides Customer Insights
Surveys allow you to tap into what your customers are thinking. This feedback often tells you their expectations of your business and whether or not you are meeting them.
By creating effective questions, you can uncover a wealth of information. This data helps you refine your product or services and build stronger customer relationships.
Helps Businesses Improve
Every product or service has room for improvement, but identifying those key areas isn’t always easy. Relying solely on basic feedback like Google star ratings often fails to capture the full picture. It would help if you had more personal insights and detailed context.
Surveys offer a structured approach to collecting this valuable feedback. They create a controlled environment where you can learn information about the audience while being able to proactively address areas for improvement before they escalate into public criticism.
Increases Brand Awareness
Your brand’s perception is critical for building customer loyalty and increasing market share. Surveys help you discover how your brand is perceived and highlight any strengths or areas of improvement.
By conducting regular surveys, you can keep a finger on the pulse of market needs and ensure your brand always aligns with what your customers expect. This also allows you to adapt your business model quickly to any emerging trends.
How Gift Cards Can Increase Survey Participation
Although surveys are helpful for businesses, not everyone jumps at the chance to spend their valuable time providing feedback. That’s where incentives like gift cards come into play. Offering a token of appreciation for their time can significantly increase participation rates.
Here’s why gift cards are a particularly effective incentive for encouraging survey completion:
Easier to Redeem
Digital gift cards provide an immediate reward for survey participants. When they complete your survey, they receive a tangible reward they can use instantly.
This eliminates the wait times associated with traditional incentives like mailed discounts and helps to improve participation rates. Providing digital gift cards also appeals to a much wider audience, making it easier to give feedback across different market segments.
Customizable Rewards
Digital gift cards give decision-making power to survey participants. By offering a curated selection of gift cards, or even better, allowing participants to choose the rewards that resonate with them, you’ll make the survey more enjoyable for everyone.
Quick Distribution
Managing physical gift cards for large-scale surveys can be a logistical headache. Digital gift cards simplify the entire process.
Many platforms offer comprehensive solutions for purchasing, distributing, and tracking digital gift cards. This streamlines reward management, even for large organizations, and provides the transparency needed to track ROI and ensure your survey incentives deliver the desired results.
How to Add Gift Card Incentives to Your Surveys
Integrating gift cards into your surveys can be a great strategy, but implementing them correctly is critical. Here’s how you can maximize their impact:
1. Choose an Ideal Platform
Don’t rush into selecting a gift card provider. Research and compare different platforms. Prioritize reputable companies with transparent pricing, a wide gift card selection, and platform features that help streamline the redemption process. Offering a wider range of choices lets participants select rewards they’ll use and increases motivation when taking surveys.
2. Decide on the Right Gift Card Value
Think about your budget and the value of the data you’re collecting. Longer or more demanding surveys generally warrant higher-value rewards. Remember, you’re asking participants to invest their time and effort, so offer a fair incentive that reflects the value of their contribution.
3. Think About How You’ll Share Rewards
Think carefully about how you’ll deliver gift cards to participants. Mailing physical cards can be slow and cost more, lowering participation rates. Consider choosing a digital delivery system that allows you to seamlessly send rewards through email as soon as your surveys are completed.
4. Communicate Incentives Clearly
Once you’ve finalized your incentive plan, clearly communicate the reward value and any necessary steps participants need to take to qualify. Increased transparency builds trust and encourages participation. Ensure participants understand the incentive structure upfront and set clear expectations for the reward program.
Maximize the Value of Your Surveys
Surveys can offer several important insights for businesses. They provide valuable data that can be used to improve product offerings and build stronger customer relationships. However, to get the most value out of them, maximize your survey engagement.
By creating more engaging survey experiences and incorporating digital gift card incentives or other rewards, you can maximize participation rates and unlock the total value of your survey data. This encourages completion and ensures you gather more accurate and meaningful insights from your audience that drive your business’s smarter decision-making.
Author Name: Cindy Mielke
Author bio: Cindy is passionate about the incentive industry. In addition to her role as Vice President of Strategic Partners here at Tango, she is a Certified Professional in Incentive Management who proudly serves on two industry boards. When she’s not working, Cindy enjoys spending time with her family—including three cats, two dogs, and a horse—and sharing her love of nature as a Nebraska Master Naturalist.
