The short version
Most of the response rate is set before anyone opens the link. People who don't answer have mostly forgotten, seen nothing come of the last survey, or weren't sure who would see their answers. Reminders, a named sponsor and a visible readout deal with all three.
Inside the survey, the wins are small: say how long it takes and who sees what, keep it short, and make it easy to answer on a phone.
Points, badges and story worlds make surveys more fun, but in controlled tests they raised drop-out and made answers less reliable. We leave them out.
Where people drop out
Each step loses people for a different reason, so each needs its own fix. In italics is what someone is silently asking at that step, followed by what helps.
- Hear about it. Does anyone I trust want this? A leader announces it a week ahead, managers mention it, and the purpose and the results date are clear from the start.
- Open the link. Is it worth it, and is it for me? A short invitation from a named person, with the minutes and the deadline. Then reminders, because most people who don't answer simply forgot.
- Get in. Can I get in without hunting for a password? Everything people need to get in travels in the same message as the link.
- Start. Is it safe, and is it quick? How long it takes, when it closes and who sees what, before the first question. No wall of legal text.
- Finish. How much is left? Does this fit me? Short, clear questions that work on a phone, and a way to stop and come back.
- Next time. Did anything happen last time? A readout within weeks, and what changed, before the next survey goes out.
The evidence pins down three of these: most people who don't answer forgot (step 2), break-offs cluster on the first screens and at section intros (step 5), and people who refuse doubt that anything will happen (step 6).
What's built into our surveys
- One question per screen, with large tap targets and no grids, sliders or drop-downs, the formats phones handle worst.
- Choosing an answer moves you on, and every question has a Back button to change it.
- Answers save as people go, so they can close the tab and come back to the same link later.
- People see only the questions for their path. Where a survey has more than one, like the 360°'s engineering and business paths, nobody wades through questions that don't fit them.
- Invitations and reminders go out for you. When you launch for a list of email addresses, the invitation goes out in your name with the closing date. Reminders go only to people who haven't answered: by default three days after the invitation, and again the day before the survey closes.
- Your company's name, or your logo, is on every screen, so people know who is asking.
- Checks for careless answers. On the 360°'s engineering path, one question offers options that don't exist, and picking one flags the response in the report. In AI Adoption Barriers, the belief statements alternate direction, so agreeing with everything doesn't pass.
- Open questions are rare, and always optional. People skip them about 18% of the time, against 1–2% for questions with set answers.
- No points, badges or streaks.
Sources: Selkälä & Couper 2018 · Antoun, Couper & Conrad 2017 · Pew Research Center 2021
What the research says
Findings on who answers surveys, and how honestly. Many of the studies used students or online panels rather than employees, and vendor figures are marked as such.
Reminders bring in most of the answers
In a survey of 15,651 students, the invitation alone got 6.2% to answer, and three reminders took it to 31.2%. Most people who don't answer simply forgot: only about 15% had decided not to. Changing the wording of each reminder raised the odds of a response by more than 30%, while the day and hour they went out made no reliable difference.
Sources: Van Mol 2017 · Rogelberg et al. 2003 · Sauermann & Roach 2013
Who asks matters
Across 2,037 organizational surveys, advance notice, personalization, a relevant topic and a credible sponsor all went with higher response. A personal greeting raised response from 53.5% to 62.9% and cut break-off from 14.2% to 9.0%. Short invitations beat long ones, and the word "survey" in a subject line lowered response.
Sources: Anseel et al. 2010 · Heerwegh & Loosveldt 2006 · Cochrane review 2023
The topic decides who shows up
Teachers answered a survey billed as being about education at 56%, and a general one at 39%. An AI survey will hear mostly from AI enthusiasts unless the invitation makes clear that everyone's answer counts, including people who never use AI.
Source: Groves, Presser & Dipko 2004
Say how long it takes, honestly
Told a survey would take 10, 20 or 30 minutes, 75%, 65% and 62% of people started, and answers late in a long survey got faster, shorter and more uniform. Understating the length wins more starts but loses them to break-offs, so the final response comes out about the same. People put the ideal length at 10–15 minutes, and the most they'd accept at 20–28.
Sources: Galesic & Bosnjak 2009 · Heerwegh & Loosveldt 2006 · Revilla & Höhne 2020
Design for the phone first
Across 12 European countries in 2021–23, between 35% and 57% of people answered web surveys on a smartphone. With a simple design, phone answers matched computer answers. Sliders were among the worst formats: in one study they raised the odds of breaking off 6.9 times.
Sources: Claassen et al. 2025 · Antoun, Couper & Conrad 2017 · Funke, Reips & Thomas 2011
Privacy changes what people say
When people can be identified, they soften what they say: subordinates who had to put their names to ratings of their managers rated them higher. Promises of confidentiality help when the topic is sensitive, and AI use at work is one.
Sources: Antonioni 1994 · Singer, Von Thurn & Miller 1995
Close the loop
People who refuse surveys tend to believe nothing will come of them, and only 8% of employees strongly agree that their organization acts on survey results. Across more than 4,500 companies, sharing results broadly went with about 7 points higher participation in the next survey.
Sources: Rogelberg et al. 2000 · Gallup 2023 (vendor) · Culture Amp (vendor)
Game layers backfire
A review found that gamification mostly made surveys more enjoyable, with unclear effects on completion and data quality. In a two-wave study, the gamified version had 10.3% break-off against 4.8%, took 15.6 minutes against 12.7, and gave less reliable answers. Coins for each completed survey raised response among the people who spent them, and made their answers less reliable.
Sources: Keusch & Zhang 2017 · Mavletova 2015 · Dejonckheere et al. 2024
Incentives
Across 32 experiments, material incentives raised the odds of starting by 19% and of finishing by 27%, but a charity donation lowered response in an experiment with 6,162 people. Few employers pay people to answer an internal survey, so protected time and a useful result are the practical incentives.
Sources: Göritz 2006 · Pedersen & Nielsen 2016
Honest answers about AI
Using AI at work still carries a stigma, which makes an AI survey a sensitive one.
- 52% of AI users are reluctant to admit using it for their most important tasks (31,000 people).
- 48% of desk workers would be uncomfortable telling their manager they use AI (17,372 people).
- 57% hide their AI use at work and present AI output as their own (48,000+ people).
Experiments back these figures: people who use AI are judged lazier and less competent, and they expect to be. Misreporting can go either way, though. Where a company mandates AI, people may overstate their use instead.
Sources: Microsoft Work Trend Index 2024 · Slack Workforce Index 2024 · KPMG & University of Melbourne 2025 · Reif, Larrick & Soll 2025
What that means in practice
- Say confidential, not anonymous, when a name or email is kept, and say who sees what.
- Welcome non-users. "Whether you use AI every day or never, your answer counts the same." Otherwise you mostly hear from enthusiasts.
- Keep the results for development, not performance reviews. Across 22 studies, ratings collected for administrative decisions were about a third of a standard deviation more lenient. Say "development only" in the announcement only if you commit to it.
- Read self-ratings as self-perception. Across 22 meta-analyses, the link between people's self-rated skill and their measured performance averaged r = .29, and people using AI also overestimated their own performance.
Sources: Jawahar & Williams 1997 · Zell & Krizan 2014 · Fernandes et al. 2026
Your launch plan
A two-week window, adapted from employee-listening practice. If you launch for a list of email addresses, we send the invitations and up to two reminders. The rest is yours.
| When | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks before | Decide who sees what, the readout date and one or two commitments. Brief managers and AI champions. | HR or the program owner |
| 1 week before | Leader announcement: why, what's asked, how many minutes, who sees what, the readout date, and that it isn't a performance review. | CEO, CTO or CHRO |
| 1 day before | Managers mention it in team meetings and book 10–15 minutes of protected time. | Managers |
| Launch day | Post the link in your main work channel, with everything people need to get in in the same message. Avoid holidays and crunch weeks; the day and hour matter little. | Sponsor |
| Day 3 | First reminder in your main channel, worded differently, with company-wide progress. | Program owner |
| Day 7 | Second reminder, from managers, with 10 minutes set aside in team meetings. | Managers |
| Day 10 | Last call, 72 hours before the survey closes. | Sponsor |
| Close + 1 day | Thank people, and share the participation rate. | Sponsor |
| Close + 3–5 days | Headline results, and one or two commitments. | Sponsor |
| Close + 2 weeks | Team conversations, only for groups of 5 or more. | Managers, champions, HR |
| Close + 4 and 8 weeks | Short updates on what changed. | Sponsor or HR |
| 2 weeks before the next run | Recap what changed, then announce the next survey. | HR |
Don't chase 100%. Full response can come with complaints of coercion, and a team at 95% or more is worth a second look.
Sources: Viva Glint rollout templates (vendor) · Anseel et al. 2010 · Van Mol 2017 · Holtom et al. 2022
Do and don't
Do
- Send two or three reminders, each worded differently.
- Have a named leader announce it, and have managers mention it.
- Say how long it takes, when it closes and who sees what.
- Invite people who don't use AI, in so many words.
- Book 10–15 minutes of protected time.
- Share results within weeks, and say what changed before the next survey.
Don't
- Promise anonymity when a name or email is attached.
- Share rankings of people, or show who hasn't answered.
- Use the answers for performance decisions.
- Understate the time.
- Add points, badges or leaderboards.
- Survey again before showing what changed.