8 ways to boost your response rate

Response rates are fragile. For example, they are at risk of dropping off a little after your first few weeks because the novelty effect wears off. Use some of the following good practice to boost your response rate:

1. Build rituals for teams

Use your first few weeks of goodwill to build rituals around the measurement of happiness. We recommend creating space in team meetings to discuss results each week, so little-by-little improvements can be made.

2. Build rituals for senior leaders

Friday provides forward-looking insights into the health of the business and the productivity, retention and creativity you can expect in the coming months. Find ways to report on happiness and plan for its improvement in strategic meetings and key decision-making arenas at least once a quarter.

3. Report response rates to the C-Suite

Friday provides an easy to understand Participation report each week. Some users of Friday have successfully introduced response rate data into regular reports for the C-Suite, including finance and commercial directors, to emphasise the centrality of employee voice to the running of the day to day business.

4. Celebrate teams with the best response rates

In your Participation report, Friday lists the teams who have the highest response rates – celebrate these teams widely in the business to encourage others to take part.

5. Use the power of appreciation

Each week Friday encourages colleagues to thank one another. Research shows we feel good when we express gratitude towards others. And we get a spring in our step when we are the one being thanked. Saying thank you is so quick to do and so rewarding to be part of.

6. Use responses as “teasers”

Share some of the answers from the team building question or some of the company's celebrations from early responders to encourage others to participate. One CEO using Friday adds a couple of responses to her company-wide emails to spark interest, engagement and participation.

7. Communicate successes

Showcase changes and improvements made as a result of previous feedback, so the value of feedback given in Friday is front and center in people's minds. Celebrate the teams who have made efforts to improve how they work together. And be honest about more strategic issues that have arisen and are taking time to resolve. We find employees are realistic about the pace of change, so long as they can see something is happening – a conversation, a shift in perspective, a new approach.

8. Curate responses to build connections

Collate and share responses to the team building question in company-wide communications. Happiness champions in one company have curated lists of things like colleagues’ favourite books, how they like to holiday and what keeps them up at night in their all company newsletters. Employees enjoy learning about each other and finding out what they have in common, plus participation remains strong.

Have you used other ways to boost your response rates? Share your ideas with us at hello@fridaypulse.com