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Increasing SERU and gradSERU
Response Rates: Best Practices
Mark Miazga
Before Survey
Launch
Campus Communication,
Marketing, Planning,
Incentives, and More
Goal: prioritize SERU in the minds of key university
personnel.
•Reach out to partners across campus who would benefit from quality
data and the higher response rates associated with it.
•Offer them input/questions in your wildcard module so they are
invested
•In return, they can promote SERU via flyers, their website, and emails
to their department.
•Encourage friendly competition!
•Examples of partnerships from past administrations
Campus Partnerships
- Student
Affairs
- Career
Center
- Dept of Edu
- Residence hall directors
- Deans
- Department heads
TI P
Review past SERU
administrations to
identify which groups
have the lowest
response rates. Those
are the groups you
should focus on getting
buy-in from.
•Emphasize (to both students and stakeholders) that SERU
is THE MOST IMPORTANT SURVEY of the year
•Identify recent staff changes and reach out to new leaders
so they are aware of the importance
Campus Communication
•Encourage communications to
highlight that student responses will
be used to inform decisions around
x topic(s), reference past examples
•Make sure NO OTHER LARGE
SURVEYS are in the field during the
SERU administration
•Print Media: an editorial from a university leader discussing
importance of SERU
•Social Media: Discuss results from previous years, post URL’s in
areas where students regularly check
•Advertising: Reach out to the communications department for
assistance
•University Portal
•In-person events
•Bus advertisements
Increasing Survey Visibility
•Design is an important aspect of branding SERU
•Create an attractive landing page for accessing the survey. This
should have similar branding as other marketing efforts (table tents,
flyers, posters, etc)
•Consider using student personnel in early activities to diminish costs
and increase available FTE resources
Marketing & Design
•Invitation and Reminder schedules
should be carefully planned
•A high number of reminders does not
always equal a high response rate
•What groups do you want to target?
(include them in your seed file)
•Consider who should be the “author” and
get their buy-in ahead of time
•Timing based on when the invitation is sent,
as well as on campus advertisements,
events, incentives
Planning I nvites & Reminders
Email Content
•Everything should be well
thought out and planned in
advance
•Personalized (i.e. “Dear Bob”)
•Hyperlink near the top
•Limit graphics and colors
•Short and to the point
•Incentives
•Provide contact info and opt-out
link
•Alter content for the targeted
emails
•Emphasize that you need students
help to improve the university
•Monday and Tuesday are the best
times
•Incentives are HIGHLY
ENCOURAGED
•Options for big and small budgets
•Consider campus culture and “social
good” giveaways
•Time sensitive reminders are a great
option for saving money and increasing
response rates
•If you complete the survey within the next 24 hours
you will receive ___
•The next 100 people to complete the survey will
receive ___
•The 100th person who completes the survey starting
now will receive ___
Choosing Incentives
•Consider local businesses for
coupons/giftcards.
•They are popular with students
•You may be able to get them donated
•Assuming a limited budget,
sweepstakes/lotteries can be
effective
•High variability
•Cash incentives have been shown to be
more effective for international and
transfer students
Choosing Incentives continued
During Survey
Launch
Communicate, Promote,
and Adapt
Communication During Admin
•Update them every two
weeks regarding
response rates, results,
etc.
•Include people who
provided wildcard
questions
•Communicate regularly with the partners and
departments you have built relationships with
•Check in with Residence Hall Directors weekly at the
beginning of administration
Promote the Survey
•Publicize results and
prize winners
•Landing pages
•Social media
•Campus portal
•Free media
•Communication
departments
•Department websites
Keep Records and Adapt
•Request response rates by department from OMS (must
include this field in your seed file if you want to do this)
•Record what you are doing to target each population
•What populations have the highest response rates?
•what you did to promote SERU to them?
•Modify your existing
reminder schedule
to target
populations with
low response
rates
After Survey
Launch
Share Results, Encourage
Change, and Repeat
Share Results
•Provide a one-pager to interested
parties across campus
•Administrators
•Department Chairs
•Deans
•Student Affairs Leadership
•Find a way to share results with
students
•Emails
•Social media
•University websites
•Landing pages
Encourage Change & Repeat
•Students are more likely to
complete SERU if they think you
are listening to the results
•Analyze your data to find areas
where improvements/changes
can be made
•Keep track of any changes
made because of SERU. You will
want to promote these prior to
your next administration
•SERU is an on-going endeavor.
Its never too early to start
planning for next administration!
Questions?