Why Discounts May Not Work

Companies are always looking for the types of incentives that are going to increase participation in surveys. Many companies offer discounts, coupons, or rebates as part of their incentive program to encourage participation from their current customers. But this may not be the best idea.

The perfect sample is one where every single person asked to fill out the survey is willing to complete it. The fewer people that fill out the survey, the more likely you are introducing a variable that affects the quality of your data. We see this from those that have left a company.

If you send a customer satisfaction survey to someone that is no longer using your company for goods and services, they have very little incentive to fill it out, and you are unlikely to get a very valuable piece of data. After all, they may have the best information out of your entire sample, because their opinion of your company was strong enough that they decided it was time to leave. Incentives are used to get people to fill out a survey regardless of their feelings about your company.

Yet most companies – especially retail shops – use incentives that are based on shopping again at the store. Many companies offer a 10% discount off their next purchase or a $5.00 coupon off their next shopping trip if the customer is willing to fill out the survey, because they assume that the customers will value this items and express a willingness to fill out the survey to receive them.

But any customer that is not fond of your company and either has no intention of coming back or plans to come back too infrequently to use the incentive is not going to find this incentive very valuable. It’s even possible that the customer is going to be less likely to fill out the survey, if their emotions are strong enough against your company that they do not want a reason to have to come back.

That is why you need to think about your incentive carefully, and make sure you’re not choosing one that does not appeal to those you want to fill out your survey. Incentives are very important, and you may want to offer discounts at your company or rebates, but you may also need to offer another incentive that appeals to those that are not fond of your business, so that you can also get their information into your database.