What is survey fatigue?

Survey fatigue occurs when individuals become tired or disinterested in participating in surveys.

What causes survey fatigue?

It can result from various factors such as the length and complexity of the survey, the frequency of survey requests, or a lack of perceived value in providing feedback.

What is the impact of survey fatigue?

When people experience survey fatigue, they may either decline to participate or provide rushed and less thoughtful responses, which can compromise the quality of the data collected.

How can you manage survey fatigue?

Survey timing

• Send your survey at an appropriate time, which will depend on your organisation context. For example, be mindful about what else is going on in the organisation that may distract people from the survey, what other changes are taking place, and what other business communications they are receiving. 

Survey complexity

• Ensure your surveys are to the point and are simple to complete. 

Communication

• Have good internal communications before the survey is sent about why the survey is important. It can also be helpful to have messages and support from key stakeholders / sponsors. 

Feedback and action

• Ensure previous survey results are shared with everyone who participated in the survey to complete the feedback loop so they feel listened to. 
• Show you are taking or planning actions based on previous results to show there is value in taking the survey and that there is a value exchange where they provide their time and thought to respond, and receive tangible improvements in return. 
• Use the findings from all company surveys to inform sending surveys that are specific and targeted to individuals e.g. send a neuroscience survey to a particular group with a low score in that area to delve deeper.