Table of Contents
Introduction
The most important part of any market research survey is the responses that you get back. If your potential respondents aren’t incentivised to take your survey, then you won’t get the answers that you need. You might think this is easy but it’s actually quite tricky. That’s why we’ve put together this list of six ways you can incentivise B2B survey respondents for a market research survey that will help ensure they complete your research properly and provide useful data:
1. Check the data quality before paying respondents
Before you pay to incentivise a B2B survey respondent, make sure that they are providing high-quality data. It’s usually better to wait and ask more questions until you can get the right people involved in your study. If the participant is unwilling or unable to provide useful information, then you may have wasted your time and money on the study. It’s also important to note that there are many free sources for B2B market research data (e.g., Google Analytics). If possible, try finding similar datasets before deciding whether or not it’s worth paying for one from an external source like a Qualtrics Insight Panel.
2. Consider giving away gifts in kind to B2B survey respondents
Use the following tips to incentivize B2B survey respondents for your research project:-
- Give away a gift card.
- Give away a subscription to a magazine or newsletter.
- Give away a free product sample.
- Offer a free trial of your product or service (e.g., one week’s free use of your software).
The catch here is that you will want to make sure there is enough value in the offer for respondents who do not purchase after their trial expires so that they continue using your product and recommend it to others in the future, which will increase sales for you down the road.
3. Exclusivity
Incentives can also be exclusive. Make sure that you don’t offer the same incentive to everyone who completes your survey. The best way to do this is by limiting the number of respondents who get the incentive. For example, 100 people could be entered into a draw for a $100 gift card if they complete and submit their survey by a certain deadline, but only 20 people will actually receive one as long as all 20 responses are received by the deadline.
Another way you can make an incentive exclusive is by making it unique or specialised in some way—for example, offering a cash prize when no other incentives are being offered in your industry (e.g., offering a $1 million prize for completing an online poll).
4. Think outside of the box
To incentivise your respondents, you can offer them access to your content marketing. This could be something as simple as offering them a chance to see the next blog post you publish. You could also offer them access to exclusive content or information by giving them a chance to win prizes like product samples or subscriptions for a certain period of time. Some businesses have even gone so far as to host events where people get a chance at winning prizes just by being there.
Another great way you can incentivise your respondents is by giving them the opportunity to meet with someone from your company in person. Your sales team may want this opportunity so they can answer any questions potential customers have about their products and services firsthand, while other businesses might prefer simply talking over the phone or via video call instead of meeting face-to-face. It really depends on what works best for each individual business.
If none of those ideas sound appealing enough yet still want something outside-the-box then think about being innovative with social media campaigns that encourage engagement among users. These platforms often provide plenty of opportunities for interactions between brands and consumers on different levels (e.,g sharing posts).
5. Free access to your content marketing
A content marketing strategy is a great way to build relationships with your audience. By giving people a reason to come back to your site, you are providing them with something of value. Content marketing can be an excellent way for you to increase the number of leads generated from a survey, if it is done correctly.
In order for content marketing to be effective in creating leads from B2B market research, it needs to be relevant and valuable for your target audience. If this isn’t the case then it may not work as well as you had hoped.
6. Make sure your incentives align with your research goals
One of the most important things to keep in mind when it comes to incentives is that they should be relevant and appropriate. If you’re trying to get a group of CEOs and CMOs from major companies to take your survey, offering them a free lunch might not be the best way to go about it. Likewise, if you’re conducting research on millennial consumers, giving them cash could be seen as insulting.
If you need help deciding what kind of incentive will work best for your research goals, there are several tools that can help. You can partner with a data collection company that can streamline the process of running the survey.
Conclusion
In summary, the best way to incentivise B2B survey respondents is by keeping it simple. Ensure that your incentives are relevant to the research question being asked and that you can keep track of who has been incentivized and who hasn’t. You should also use incentives as a way to create exclusivity around your brand or content marketing offers so that this can be leveraged as another source of ROI for your business.
