How to Boost Survey Responses with Outbound Calling Campaigns

Despite how much technology grows, the phone is still one of your most valuable business assets. Fortunately, when you use it well, it will serve to deliver all of the support that you need. such is the case with outbound calling campaigns. You can set these up for all kinds of purposes, although most people use them for cold sales or telemarketing purposes. 

What if you’re just looking for insight or information? What if you just want to make sure that you’re doing the best by your audience and need some survey responses to help build your strategy and determine your next move? Outbound calling campaigns can be used for that, too. And, you can use those calling campaigns in any way that you want to get the insight and data that you need. 

Find the right time to call 

For this, we’re referring both to the actual time you’ll make a call to a prospect as well as the stage in the engagement process at which you’ll launch your outreach campaigns. If you’re seeking survey responses, this will likely be a post-sale endeavor, although you might send user surveys to visitors from your website if you’re in the middle of making changes or doing some type of A/B testing, for example. You can’t start bombarding people and asking them for things like survey responses when they haven’t even committed to being a customer of your business. 

Have a goal 

You can’t go into this simply wanting “more” responses. That’s not going to be a very effective effort to undertake. More could mean a few more or twice as many—make sure that your strategy here includes goals and metrics so that you can quantify what you’re doing. That will make it easier to get actual survey responses and monitor them accordingly because you can use analytics and metrics to create a specific set of measurable goals and milestones. 

Goals should also be flexible so that they can be changed or updated over time. It’s important to make goals that are measurable and will still scale with the growth of the business. Once you start hitting the smaller goals, you can start aiming for the higher ones. You might even start as simple as getting a survey response from people and then go into which types of responses you’re getting, the source of the traffic, and so forth. 

Ask simple, quick questions 

People don’t have a lot of time to waste. They don’t want to waste a lot of time, either. You should make sure that your survey is filled with a few quick, simple questions that people don’t really have to think about. Give them the space to explain their answers in further detail, but don’t require it. Most people will be fine with the rapid-fire questions and answers because they, too, are busy. 

Focus on keeping it simple and getting the major information that you need. An in-depth product survey is often better completed by a focus group than your audience based on their survey responses. And yet, many people often try to take these surveys further than they’re intended to go. Stick to simplicity. It will serve you well. 

Offer a time estimate right away

Someone may not want to take some random survey about “their experience” because that sounds vague and time-consuming. On the other hand, if they are asked to give a short, five-second thumbs up or down for your business, that’s going to be a lot easier for them to swallow. And, if you promise a certain time, make sure you deliver. If you promise people two minutes and you take 15, they’re going to complain (or worse, leave the survey before finishing). 

Know your audience

It’s hard to generalize and survey every single person that contacts your company. However, if you can focus on people who have called back multiple times, asked for a specific service or need, or even used multiple channels to interact with the company, they could be a great choice to ask for a survey. When you’re able to identify potential markets in advance, you’ll be better able to customize your questions and get the answers that are needed. 

Know the people that you are trying to reach and the response that you are trying to get. This will help you set yourself up for success in many different ways. Not only will it help with your survey responses, but it can boost your brand authority and make you likable, which counts for a lot more than most people realize. 

Testing and trials 

Perhaps one of the best ways to ensure that your survey response efforts are on point is to use testing to try out a few different methods. Test the survey in a pilot environment before launching it so that all the kinks can be worked out. This also allows people to identify and remove weak questions and ensure that there are no technical mistakes to be found. 

Testing and refining your efforts will reflect in all that you do. If you’re a good company and you do right by your audience, people will typically follow you through all the testing and trials along the way. If nothing else, it ensures that you’re maximizing the chance to get a response from your surveys and outbound calling campaigns. 

Let someone else do the work

If all else fails (or even if it doesn’t), it could be time to consider a partnership with the dedicated virtual receptionists at Smith.ai.

Ask about our solutions for outreach campaigns, as well as how we can assist with lead intake, appointment scheduling, outbound sales and support, and so much more. We can streamline a solution to boost engagement and event registrations at the same time. Schedule your consultation now to discuss how we can help improve your outreach campaigns and more. You can also reach us at hello@smith.ai or (650) 709-2987.