How to Optimize Your Texting Response Rate

Recently a customer asked me “What’s a typical response rate for a corporate event audience?” I told him that in in audiences >200 people, we’ve seen everything from 40% to 100%. What’s more interesting is discussing, “Why?”
 
When we reference “all communication channels” below, we are generally referring to your event’s printed materials, the projector or big screen, and the verbal channel.

These factors increase response rates:
  • Direct incentives for participation
    •  Credit for participation, or inferring attendance (only applies to non-anonymous polls)
    •  Entry into a raffle
    •  The poll is interesting or humorous
  • The poll is intended to be 100% anonymous, and this fact is reinforced over all communication channels
  • The presenter makes a good case for why everyone’s participation is vital for data collection
  • The poll is used to reveal a surprising finding or shared opinion
  • The poll is used as part of a corporate mobile game (team-based jeopardy with scoring, or a mobile scavenger hunt, for example)
These factors decrease response rates:
  • The “worst case cost” of $0.20/message for those with no texting plan is not disclosed over all communication channels 
  • The “You will never receive follow up text messages” message is not disclosed over all communication channels 
  • There’s no “How To” visual, or verbal instructions are not spoken
  • The event does not run a confidence-building practice poll first, including feedback of success such as a reply message or on-screen confirmation
  • The subject matter is contentious and poll is anonymous (“They won’t know I didn’t participate, so I’m not going to risk it”)
  • The audience demographic does not text and doesn’t have the belief in their ability to figure it out in time to participate
  • One of the mobile carriers had marginal cell phone reception (this is much rarer than we had feared in the early days of Poll Everywhere)
All event producers will of course be mindful of the tradeoffs – you’re trading valuable event time to do things such as a text-to-screen warmup. But hopefully this list will give you the tools to decide how to plan your cell phone participation event.

 

Brad is Poll Everywhere’s CTO, co-founder, and head of coffee quality. Before creating the magic of live polling for the masses, Brad did a stint at Deloitte Consulting and graduated Indiana University at the ripe age of 19.