What happens when no one answers your customer satisfaction surveys?
Nothing, unfortunately.
When you don’t hear back from your guests, you have no way of knowing if their expectations have been met. Without their feedback, it’s impossible to know what changes to make to better your experience.
This is why it’s crucial that your customer feedback surveys reel in as many responses as possible. The more opinions you can collect, the better you’ll understand how to satisfy your customers.
In this post, you’ll learn how to craft the perfect email feedback survey as well as useful tactics to boost your response rates. Let’s dig in.
What is an email guest survey?
What should you include in a survey email?
8 actionable tactics to get more customers to fill out your survey
- 1. Keep it simple
- 2. Personalize your email surveys
- 3. Write an enticing subject line
- 4. Show them how much their feedback matter
- 5. Provide a realistic time estimate
- 6. Embed the first question
- 7. Include a clear call to action
- 8. Thank them
What is an email guest survey?
Email feedback surveys are an essential feedback tool for tours and attractions. After a guest visits your attraction, you’ll reach out with a customer satisfaction survey to learn more about their experience. The feedback you receive can help you understand how happy your guests are with your customer service, facilities, and company as a whole.
These surveys are typically sent automagically from your booking software, like Xola, to the email that guests provide you with when they purchase their tickets. A survey can be linked or embedded within the email to make it easy for guests to respond right then and there.
There are three ways to format your email survey:
- Embedded email surveys: This is when you embed the entire questionnaire into the original email message. Guests can then respond in the email body itself without having to open another window.
- Linked email surveys: The most common type of email survey is one that is linked within an email message asking for feedback. Upon clicking the link, customers are redirected to a new window with the survey.
- Embed a single question: Another option is to only embed the first question of your survey in your email body. The initial response will be recorded, and then guests will be prompted to continue the rest of the survey at their leisure in another window.
Pro Tip: You can experiment with different email survey formats to see what resonates most with your customers.
What should you include in a survey email?
Before creating a feedback survey, you should define the objective behind it. What is it that you’re trying to measure or prove?
Let’s say your waterpark recently switched food vendors. Now you want to find out if guests are enjoying the new dining options.
Your feedback survey questions will then focus on this specific aspect of your visitor experience. You’ll likely ask guests if they purchased food at your venue, why or why not, and if they were satisfied with their meals.
Your email, then, would be sent to guests who have recently visited the waterpark. In the email body, you’ll explain to them why they’re receiving this survey.
First, you’d include a short description of your company so that guests understand who the survey is coming from. Then, tell them why they’re receiving it in the first place (i.e. because they have recently visited your waterpark). Always be transparent about the survey topic and what your company plans to do with the feedback.
Don’t forget to add a note about how long the survey will take to complete.
The goal behind this email is to introduce the survey to your guests and ultimately convince them to complete it.
Here’s an example your attraction can use to craft your own email survey:
Hi [First Name]!
We hope you enjoyed your recent visit to [Attraction]. Your opinion matters to us, and we’d love to hear more about your experience.
Would you mind taking a short survey to help us improve our guest experience? It should only take 5 minutes!
Click here to complete the survey 🙂
Thank you in advance for your time. We will use your feedback to provide you and future guests with an even better visitor experience. We look forward to welcoming you back soon!
For any questions, please contact [Customer Support email].
Thank you,
[Someone from your organization]
8 actionable tactics to get more customers to fill out your survey
Now that you have an example of what a feedback survey email should look like, it’s time to look over a few tactics that can help boost your response rate. Whether it’s writing an enticing subject line or ensuring your call to action is clear, we’re sure that these tips will help you craft better survey emails.
1. Keep it simple
This rule applies to most customer satisfaction surveys, especially ones delivered by email. You want your survey email to be informative and easy to read. It should tell respondents what the survey is about and how long it’ll take them to complete it.
2. Personalize your email surveys
Start off your email with “Hey, Tom!” instead of “Dear valued client.” Addressing a guest by their first name makes them feel like your company is specifically reaching out to them for feedback. Individual attention makes guests feel more valued and will hopefully persuade them to answer the survey.
Consider using your customer data to further personalize your email surveys: Are they repeat customers? Can you mention something notable about their recent visit?
3. Write an enticing subject line
Even if you’ve crafted the best survey email, a poor subject line can keep readers from opening it. Your subject line is the first thing guests will see before deciding whether to open your email. Make a good first impression by personalizing it — “Hi Jennifer, We’d Love Your Feedback!”
You can also appeal to the customer’s emotions by stressing how valuable their opinion is to your company: “Your feedback means the world to us, Jennifer” Another trick is to ask a question in your subject line, such as “How was your recent visit, Jennifer?”
Still stuck on a subject line? Here are a few more options:
- Got a minute, [first name]?
- Be honest — what do you think of our new website?
- Hi [first name], can we talk?
4. Show them how much their feedback matter
Use your email message to show guests how their feedback can help your company improve. Present them with an example of a time where guest feedback helped you significantly improve your customer experience.
For example, let’s say a guest once expressed that it was difficult to navigate through your venue. You responded by updating your signage.
5. Provide a realistic time estimate
Guests will want to know how long your survey will take to complete. Make sure to answer this question in your email. And be specific: If the survey takes 10 minutes to complete, make sure you state “10 minutes” instead of “few minutes.” Guests will appreciate your transparency, and once they see how quick the survey is, they’ll be more inclined to start it.
6. Embed the first question
A proven way to boost your response rates is to embed a survey question in your email body. Email campaigns with an embedded survey have an average click-to-open rate of 31.7%. You can embed simple questions like:
- Customer Satisfaction score: To understand overall happiness.
- Net Promoter Score: To measure customer loyalty.
- Multiple choice: Ask any question with multiple answers.
After answering the first question, customers will be prompted to continue the survey in another window. Even if they don’t follow through, though, at least you’ll have their response from that first question.
You can also try embedding the whole survey itself. Embedded surveys get 135% more clicks than links to external online surveys.
7. Include a clear call to action
If you’re linking your questionnaire in an email, make sure the survey button or image stands out. Some email servers may block images, so it’s a good idea to link the survey in the text body of your email in addition to any survey buttons used. Your survey should be the only call to action in this email. Don’t include any other links or CTAs that will distract the reader away from the survey.
8. Thank them
Show your guests how much you appreciate their feedback. Always include a quick “thank you” note to let guests know that you value the time and effort they put into answering your survey.
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To recap the tips you learned in this post, you can get more responses if your emails are:
- Simple and to the point
- Target specific audience segments
- Personalized
- Have an enticing subject line
- Show how much their opinion matters
- Include a realistic time estimate
- Have the first question embedded
- Feature a clear call to action
- Have a thank you note
