How To Find Survey Respondents

April 12, 2016

Finding survey respondents can be tough, but it doesn’t have to be.

You put so much time and effort into designing a great survey, but when it comes time to release it into the world for respondents to find, we often find that surveyors are daunted.

I have good news! There are a number of options for finding qualified survey respondents. We like to refer to these as ways to distribute your survey.

The first step is to identify your target audience or population: the type of people you want to access and complete your survey. Once you have identified your target audience, you can identify the best distribution method to reach them. Here are some that we recommend:

  • Email a campaign or web link to an existing list – If you have an existing list of contacts that have opted-in to receive email from you, then you can send your survey to them. Just know that you should send your survey to a sample of this population and not the entire list of contacts.
  • Social media post – You can post your survey link to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or any other social platform that you think that your audience will visit. This is sometimes a quick and affordable way to get lots of respondents. Be sure to add disqualification questions to your survey, so that you do indeed get the target audience that you were anticipating.
  • In-Person – Just because your survey lives online with Alchemer, doesn’t mean you can take it to the real world. Set up a tablet in your store or at your trade show booth. No internet? No problem. Alchemer’s offline mode has you covered.

There is one more option that is a great way to hone in on ideal survey respondents: Panels. A panel company is an organization that matches online respondents to a market researcher’s survey for a fee (per complete response).

There is a large variety of online survey panel companies to choose from, which specialize in different types of target audiences. You can contact one of these panel companies, describe your project, and a panel project manager will help match your survey with the best sample to meet your needs.

Interested in having a Alchemer Panel Specialist walk you through the panel process? Fill out our Panel Request Form and a team member will assist you every step of the way (only available for Pro and Team Edition Users).

Learn more about finding the right people to take your survey. Download our ebook, Reaching Your Audience: Distribution Strategies That Increase Response Rates for a detailed overview of how these methods can work for you.

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