I am a sucker for emails that want me to take a survey.

Your feedback is important. Take a quick survey. Tell us how we did…

I read them all – the good, the bad and the ugly go straight to spam. Do they encourage me to click-thru? Not always. Do we get ideas to adapt for our own emails? Absolutely! There are always opportunities to learn.

Here is a very good example. A LinkedIn email landed in my inbox yesterday and it ticked a lot of boxes.

Four things we like about LinkedIn’s survey invite:

From: LinkedIn Advisors

Subject: Your Expertise is Requested

1. Brevity

The entire email, footers and all, are in the screenshot. It doesn’t feel like hard work.

2. Just 29 words in opening paragraph

29 words in two sentences are enough to say what the survey is about and how long will it take. Then we get the link: click. Job done.

3. The full link to the survey is also displayed

If you are unable to click the link, please copy & paste the full URL below into your browser … 

This copy does two things. First, if for any reason the link is not clickable (it happens) – here’s the link you need and how to use it. This instruction applies to all devices (mobiles and desktops).

Second – and I think this is very important – I like the prominence of the link close to the call to action. It’s good for transparency, allaying concerns where does the link ‘let’s get started’ actually go. (It also helps anyone who doesn’t realise those words are a link).

4. Banner graphic

The banner graphic is often wasted with a logo or decoration. The your feedback is important line is used here, so it doesn’t clutter up the main body of text. It remains scannable without getting in the way of what is more important and what we want our potential survey respondent to see and do next.

Could the email be improved?

Personally, I prefer a named person in the signature but LinkedIn are using the display name (From = LinkedInAdvisors) to get their branding across. This might be in keeping with how other LinkedIn emails are configured.

The subject rubs on me (Your Expertise is Requested). I’ve done these types of surveys before and I’d argue experts not required for their research, but I’d bet they did some A/B testing and found actually, it stands out in the inbox and drives a few more members to take their survey. My point here is slight tweaks, mixing it up a little might pay dividends.

Overall, nice work!

When we think about our surveys – for customer feedback, to employees or any other needs – a lot of effort goes into the survey itself and sometimes the communications are somewhat neglected until the last minute. The email content is just one part of the survey comms. Take a look at requests for surveys you’ve received – there may be little gems of good practice, current trends to help your open and click-thru rates.

Can Surveylab help? Want to have a chat about our services, or discuss your survey project? We’d love to hear from you.