Increasing Survey Awareness and Response Rates

Written By Craig Brace

To maximize response rates for patient experience surveys, it is important your practice(s) create awareness and make it easy for patients to participate. This guide provides strategies to help improve patient engagement before, during, and after survey distribution.

 

Before Sending the Survey

Inform Patients About the Survey

  • Train Front Desk Staff and Clinicians

    • Have staff mention the survey during check-in or check-out.

    • Sample script: "We recently started a short survey about the care you receive here. If you wouldn’t mind completing it when you see it, your feedback will help us improve."

  • Display In-Office Notices

    • Use posters, table tents, or digital signage in waiting areas to inform patients about the survey.

    • Distribute a half page notice about the survey during the check-out process or write a brief message on appointment reminder cards.

    • Include a simple message: "We value your feedback! Once a year, you’ll receive a quick survey from thesmartmeasures.com. We’ll use what you share to improve how we provide care."

  • Prep the target

    • Send an email or notice through the patient portal to the group of patients about to receive the survey that it’s coming and you’d appreciate them completing it. Mention it will come from thesmartmeasures.com and it only takes a couple of minutes.

    • Consider the subject line of your message. For example, you could write, “Your voice matters - we improve care starting with you.”

Verify Patient Contact Information

  • Encourage front desk staff to confirm email addresses and cell numbers at check-in to ensure surveys are delivered successfully.

  • After fielding in EASY, download the failed emails and/or cell numbers and flag them in the EHR to ask about the next time the patient comes in.

Promote the Survey Online

  • Website and Patient Portal

    • Include information on your website or portal explaining the survey's purpose and how responses are used.

  • Social Media & Email Newsletters

    • Announce upcoming surveys on the practice’s social media pages.

    • Do you send birthday notes to patients with reminders of upcoming preventive services they should schedule? Consider mentioning the survey on that note.

    • Add a message to email newsletters:
      “Your voice matters! Look out for a survey and help us improve your experience.”

During Survey Distribution

Optimize Engagement

  • Send the survey at different times

    • Set EASY campaigns up for different days of the week and/or different times of day.

      • Monday morning or Friday afternoon might not be the ideal time to entice a patient to respond to your text or email. Try Tuesday afternoon or Thursday morning instead and see if response rates increase.

      • Sometimes holidays are great times to send the survey out - we often see increased response rates during off-work times.

  • Craft a strong email

    • Short & Clear Subject Line:

      • Quick feedback request from Dr. Smith’s Office

      • How is our practice doing? Share your thoughts!

  • If possible, set EASY to send from the practice’s domain (e.g., surveys@clinicname.com)

  • Ensure you use the customization feature in EASY that allows the survey landing page to clearly represent your practice (e.g., Dr. Smith’s Office Feedback)

After Survey Distribution

Send Reminders

  • By default, EASY will send reminders to non-responders on days 7 and 10. While provided as an option, we do not recommend toggling this feature off when creating a campaign. Note: reminders are only available when a campaign is sent via SMS or Email.

Acknowledge & Share Impact

  • Generic Thank You - via portal or other practice communication, send a message to those who were included in the campaign. For example, “Thank you for responding to our patient survey. We appreciate your time and we are already working on your feedback. If you haven’t responded yet, there’s still time!”

  • If possible, communicate how feedback has led to improvements (e.g., "Based on your feedback, we’ve extended office hours!").

Additional Strategies

Offer Multiple Survey Formats

  • If SMS surveys aren’t enabled, consider offering them as an option for higher engagement.

Final Thoughts

To boost survey response rates, practices need to focus on patient awareness, convenience, and engagement. By preparing patients before surveys are sent, optimizing survey communication, and following up effectively, you can significantly improve patient participation.

For further support, contact Smart Measures by clicking the button below!

 
Craig Brace
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