MARKETING
Podcast Equipment You Need to Take Your Show from Good to Great in 2022
Want to start podcasting, but feel intimidated by the podcast equipment you’ll need? Don’t be! Professional-sounding podcast equipment is more accessible than ever.
With 26% of adults listening to podcasts weekly, the production quality of your show is important. In order to build a successful podcast, you need the right tools and services at your disposal.
Let’s review the top podcast tools and services to make your production more efficient and professional.
Podcast Equipment and Services
- USB or XLR Microphone
- Audio Interface
- Windscreen or Pop Filter
- Studio Quality Headphones
- Adjustable Microphone Arm Stand
- Skype
- Zoom
- Ringr
- Squadcast
- Riverside
- Pro Tools
- Reaper
- Logic Pro
- Whereby
- Zencastr
- Adobe Audition
- Audacity
- Descript
- Garage Band
- BuzzSprout
- Libsyn
- Anchor
Below, we’ll break down the tools and services into four categories: podcast recording equipment, podcast recording software, podcast editing software, and podcast hosting sites.
Podcast Equipment
To take your podcast show from good to great this year, you need to have the right equipment.
1. USB or XLR Microphone
The first thing you need to record your podcast is a microphone. The two most popular options are USB microphones and XLR microphones.
USB microphones can connect directly to your computer via a USB cable. They are easy to use and require minimal setup.
If you’re looking to have a bit more control over your audio, you can opt for an XLR microphone and cable for higher sound quality. A popular podcasting microphone that allows for both USB and XLR connection is the Audiotechnica ATR2100 microphone.
The RODE PodMic is a cost-effective XLR microphone that gives studio-quality sound.
2. Audio Interface
For those who opt to use an XLR connection, you’ll need an audio mixer to connect your microphone to your computer. Not only does a mixer or audio interface connect directly to your computer, but it also gives you more flexibility in terms of volume control and editing.
A simple audio mixer is the Focusrite Scarlette 2i2 which connects XLR microphones to your computer via a USB-C cable. This mixer offers simple volume control for up to two microphones.
For more studio controls, you can opt for the RODECaster which can connect up to four microphones, has eight programmable settings, and has Bluetooth capability so you can interview guests via telephone.
3. Windscreen or Pop Filter
Once you select your microphone, make sure you get a corresponding windscreen or pop filter to minimize popping sounds and record higher-quality audio that needs less editing to sound great.
4. Studio-Quality Headphones
Headphones are a must for podcasters, especially those who record interviews remotely. Wearing headphones while recording allows you to hear how the recorded audio will sound in real-time so you can make adjustments as needed to have the highest quality recording.
If you record virtual interviews on your computer, you’ll want to make sure both you and your guests use headphones to avoid having the mic pick up any sound that may come from your computer’s speaker causing an unpleasant echo.
5. Adjustable Microphone Arm Stand
Once you have a microphone, headphones, and audio interface, you’ll want to consider getting a microphone arm stand. A microphone stand will make it easier for you to record your podcast, so you aren’t chained to your desk or have to sit in an awkward position.
Most microphones will come with an adapter that’ll connect with any microphone arm stand. Before you buy a new stand, make sure you have that adapter.
Podcast Recording Software
Now that you have all the equipment to make your podcast the best it can be, you’ll need to make sure you’re using the right recording software.
6. Skype
Price: Free
With Skype, you can record video and audio right in the program. When you’re on a call, you can click the three dots on the bottom right and then hit “Start Recording.”
Skype is a great option for podcasters because it’s free and easy to use. There are also other options, if you want better audio quality. For instance, you can download recording software on your computer or buy an external digital recorder.

7. Zoom
Price: Free+
Zoom is another excellent free option (for calls up to 40 minutes long). You can easily record right in the program, by clicking the “Record” button and choosing where you’d like to save your audio file.
Skype and Zoom are fairly similar options, however, the recording files differ. Skype will give you a mono file, which means both your and your interviewee’s side of the conversation is on one audio track. However, Zoom splits both sides of the call, giving you two separate audio tracks. This is helpful when it comes to cutting and editing in post-production.

8. Ringr
Price: $8/month+
Ringr is a long-distance podcasting and broadcast interview recording program. Although this option isn’t free, it has excellent sound quality. If you’re focused on bringing higher-quality sound to your interviews, Ringr is a good choice.
Additionally, they have three different plans you can choose from. With the basic plan, you’ll get a mono audio file, and unlimited calls and storage. If you decide to go with the premium or enterprise plan, you’ll get a split-track audio file, plus better sound quality and the option to use conference calling.
9. Squadcast
Price: $5/hour or $20/month+
Squadcast is an easy-to-use podcast recording software. Once you sign up, all you have to do is set up a meeting, click “Record,” and you’re set.
One unique element of this software is that you can pay by the hour, if you don’t think you need a monthly plan. Even with the hourly plan, you can host up to three guests and will receive a high-quality WAV or MP3 file.
Additionally, Squadcast plans to add video recording and transcription, which will help with your show notes and posting your podcast to YouTube.
One of the top reasons to use a podcast recording software like Squadcast, as opposed to Skype or Zoom, is that you’ll have a library of all your recordings in one place, online, where you can access them at any time, any place.
10. Riverside
Price: Free+
If you’re looking for multimedia recording, Riverside could be a good fit for you.
This tool offers local recording of audio and video with up to 4K video quality. One of the most notable features is “Clips” which creates AI-generated video and audio clips of your recording that can be easily customized and shared on social media.
Additional features include transcriptions, sharable links for guests, producer mode and controls, live streaming, one-click scheduling, and screen share recording.
11. Pro Tools
Price: $30/year+
If you’re ready to move beyond the beginner recording software above, Pro Tools is an excellent option.
Pro Tools is an advanced recording and editing software. You can record, edit, and mix numerous audio tracks. However, this is for the more advanced audio recorders/editors. The user interface (UI) isn’t as intuitive for beginners and may seem overwhelming at first.
Although, because it’s advanced, it also offers much more robust features. For example, since Pro Tools is known in the music industry, it has virtual instrumentation available, which can be helpful in creating the music to put in your podcast. Additionally, it offers plugins, collaboration, and hands-on audio mixing.

12. Reaper
Price: $60 one time payment+
Reaper is another advanced recording, editing, and mixing software. This type of program provides higher-quality recordings and more capabilities when it comes to editing and mixing.
The UI isn’t as intuitive as programs like Zoom or Squadcast, but it offers higher-quality sound. With your audio interface and microphone attached, you can record directly into the program, with as many audio tracks as you’d like.
The recording feature is more robust, offering simultaneous recording inputs, a dozen audio formats, and recording tracks.
Additionally, it also has strong editing capabilities as well.

13. Logic Pro
Price: $200 one time payment+
Logic Pro is the advanced version of Garage Band for Mac users. It’s a higher-quality recording program offering an easy-to-use UI.
Recording is as simple as setting up your microphone and USB audio interface and pressing record.
Logic Pro offers up to 1,000 audio tracks, software instrument tracks, and hundreds of plugins to complete any project.
Additionally, it has advanced editing capabilities.

14. Whereby
Price: $10/month+
Whereby is another option for recording remote interviews. It’s excellent for beginners and is easy to use.
Although there is a free plan, recording is only available in the Pro or Business plan. Recording is as easy as hitting the “Record” button, once you’re on a call. This will record both video and audio, so it’s easy to post to YouTube if you want.
While this is an easy option, it isn’t the highest quality recording.

15. Zencastr
Price: Free+
Zencastr is a web browser-based recording software that offers live sound editing, automatic postproduction, and automatic cloud backup of recordings.
The app recently launched a beta HD video recording feature and also has built-in chat and footnote features that make sharing information with guests and producers a breeze.
Podcast Editing Software
Once you record your podcast, it’s time to edit it. As you’ve read above, many software includes both recording and editing capabilities. Below are some tools known for editing, rather than recording.
16. Adobe Audition
Price: $20/month+
Adobe Audition is an excellent mid-level audio editing software. You can create, record, mix, edit, and restore audio content.
It offers high-quality sound, plus comprehensive tools to deliver polished sound. For example, Adobe Audition comes with a podcast template, which helps you set up a multi-track recording so you can mix and edit different audio tracks and voices. Plus, you can work in both waveform and multi-track editors, for more well-rounded editing.

17. Audacity
Price: Free
Audacity is an excellent free option for editing your podcast. It’s especially easy if you plan to use only one take, with few cuts. The UI is easy to use and beginner-friendly. However, if you have to make a lot of cuts or move audio around, it’s a little more difficult because of the simplicity of the program.
This option is great for beginners because of the simple cut, copy, and paste functionality. It isn’t the highest quality sound, but it gets the job done.

18. Garage Band
Price: Free
Garage Band is a free editing software that is available on and comes with most Mac computers.
It’s mostly used as a beginner editing program, but is capable of mixing up to 255 audio tracks. It comes with basic editing features including volume levels, cut, copy, and paste. You can use plugins to finish off your track and use audio effects such as compression.
Additionally, it features a sound library with effects that you can include in your podcast.

19. Descript
Price: Free+
If you can edit a Google Doc, you can edit a podcast. That’s the premise of Descript, a text-based audio, and video editing tool.
To use Descript, upload your file to the tool to get an AI-generated transcription. You can then review the transcription to make changes in real-time. Descript also has a feature that uses an AI-created version of your voice, so you can add words to your audio simply by typing.
Descript is incredibly easy to use for new podcasters and those who don’t have audio editing experience.
Podcast Hosting Sites/Services
Now that you’ve bought your equipment, recorded, and editing your podcast, you may be wondering what’s next? After you’ve produced your podcast, it’s time to find the right hosting site and service to publish it on.
20. BuzzSprout
Price: Free+
BuzzSprout is an excellent hosting option, because it gets your podcast listed in all the top podcast directories including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
Additionally, it offers advanced metrics, so you can track the progress of your podcast. You can see statistics about your listeners, total plays over time, and where people listen to your podcast. Plus, you can transcribe your podcast in BuzzSprout.
With paid plans, you’ll have unlimited storage and episodes hosted indefinitely.

21. Libsyn
Price: $5/month+
Libsyn is a hosting service that will get your podcast published on your audience’s favorite apps and platforms.
A unique feature is its monetization options. For example, it offers premium content subscriptions and opt-in advertising. These options keep you in control and allow you to customize your monetization.
You’ll also have access to detailed audience statistics, so you can also see what’s working and what isn’t.

22. Anchor
Price: Free
Anchor, owned by Spotify, is an easy-to-use platform that allows you to create, publish, and monetize in one place.
One standout feature of Anchor is its robust analytics system. Powered by Spotify, podcasts hosted on Anchor have access to powerful metrics allowing you to see exactly what the listening behavior of your audience looks like. This level of detail can help you tailor your content toward what your audience likes to hear.
Anchor also offers monetization options such as host-read ads, paid subscriptions, and dynamically inserted ad spots.
How to Set Up a Podcast Studio
Once you have your equipment, recording and editing software, and hosting services, it’s time to figure out where you’re going to record your podcast.
You’ll want to set up a podcast studio. This can be as basic as having the right equipment in any room or as advanced as creating a dedicated space for recording.
To set up a podcast studio, follow these steps:
Step 1: Buy the equipment — Before you can get your studio set up, you need the equipment. You’ll need a microphone, microphone arm, headphones, audio interface, desks, and chairs. You’ll also want to consider buying more than one of these items, in case you decide to bring people in for interviews.
Step 2: Set up room for sound conditioning — In order to achieve the best sound, consider buying soundproof foam wall panels to attach to the walls. This will stop the sound from bouncing off the walls. Additionally, you can buy pop filters for the microphones to reduce popping sounds.
Step 3: Set up lighting and cameras — Many podcasters choose to film their podcasts so they can post to YouTube or other social media. If you want to do this, you’ll need to set up lighting and cameras.
Anyone can start a podcast. That’s why you want your podcast to stand out among the rest. To take your podcast from good to great, make sure you purchase the right equipment, software, and studio setup.
MARKETING
OpenAI’s Drama Should Teach Marketers These 2 Lessons

A week or so ago, the extraordinary drama happening at OpenAI filled news feeds.
No need to get into all the saga’s details, as every publication seems to have covered it. We’re just waiting for someone to put together a video montage scored to the Game of Thrones music.
But as Sam Altman takes back the reigns of the company he helped to found, the existing board begins to disintegrate before your very eyes, and everyone agrees something spooked everybody, a question arises: Should you care?
Does OpenAI’s drama have any demonstrable implications for marketers integrating generative AI into their marketing strategies?
Watch CMI’s chief strategy advisor Robert Rose explain (and give a shoutout to Sutton’s pants rage on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), or keep reading his thoughts:
For those who spent last week figuring out what to put on your holiday table and missed every AI headline, here’s a brief version of what happened. OpenAI – the huge startup and creator of ChatGPT – went through dramatic events. Its board fired the mercurial CEO Sam Altman. Then, the 38-year-old entrepreneur accepted a job at Microsoft but returned to OpenAI a day later.
We won’t give a hot take on what it means for the startup world, board governance, or the tension between AI safety and Silicon Valley capitalism. Rather, we see some interesting things for marketers to put into perspective about how AI should fit into your overall content and marketing plans in the new year.
Robert highlights two takeaways from the OpenAI debacle – a drama that has yet to reach its final chapter: 1. The right structure and governance matters, and 2. Big platforms don’t become antifragile just because they’re big.
Let’s have Robert explain.
The right structure and governance matters
OpenAI’s structure may be key to the drama. OpenAI has a bizarre corporate governance framework. The board of directors controls a nonprofit called OpenAI. That nonprofit created a capped for-profit subsidiary – OpenAI GP LLC. The majority owner of that for-profit is OpenAI Global LLC, another for-profit company. The nonprofit works for the benefit of the world with a for-profit arm.
That seems like an earnest approach, given AI tech’s big and disruptive power. But it provides so many weird governance issues, including that the nonprofit board, which controls everything, has no duty to maximize profit. What could go wrong?
That’s why marketers should know more about the organizations behind the generative AI tools they use or are considering.
First, know your providers of generative AI software and services are all exploring the topics of governance and safety. Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and others won’t have their internal debates erupt in public fireworks. Still, governance and management of safety over profits remains a big topic for them. You should be aware of how they approach those topics as you license solutions from them.
Second, recognize the productive use of generative AI is a content strategy and governance challenge, not a technology challenge. If you don’t solve the governance and cross-functional uses of the generative AI platforms you buy, you will run into big problems with its cross-functional, cross-siloed use.
Big platforms do not become antifragile just because they’re big
Nicholas Taleb wrote a wonderful book, Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder. It explores how an antifragile structure doesn’t just withstand a shock; it actually improves because of a disruption or shock. It doesn’t just survive a big disruptive event; it gets stronger because of it.
It’s hard to imagine a company the size and scale of OpenAI could self-correct or even disappear tomorrow. But it can and does happen. And unfortunately, too many businesses build their strategies on that rented land.
In OpenAI’s recent case, the for-profit software won the day. But make no bones about that victory; the event wasn’t good for the company. If it bounces back, it won’t be stronger because of the debacle.
With that win on the for-profit side, hundreds, if not thousands, of generative AI startups breathed an audible sigh of relief. But a few moments later, they screamed “pivot” (in their best imitation of Ross from Friends instructing Chandler and Rachel to move a couch.)
They now realize the fragility of their software because it relies on OpenAI’s existence or willingness to provide the software. Imagine what could have happened if the OpenAI board had won their fight and, in the name of safety, simply killed any paid access to the API or the ability to build business models on top of it.
The last two weeks have done nothing to clear the already muddy waters encountered by companies and their plans to integrate generative AI solutions. Going forward, though, think about the issues when acquiring new generative AI software. Ask about how the vendor’s infrastructure is housed and identify the risks involved. And, if OpenAI expands its enterprise capabilities, consider the implications. What extra features will the off-the-shelf solutions provide? Do you need them? Will OpenAI become the Microsoft Office of your AI infrastructure?
Why you should care
With the voluminous media coverage of Open AI’s drama, you likely will see pushback on generative AI. In my social feeds, many marketers say they’re tired of the corporate soap opera that is irrelevant to their work.
They are half right. What Sam said and how Ilya responded, heart emojis, and how much the Twitch guy got for three days of work are fodder for the Netflix series sure to emerge. (Robert’s money is on Michael Cera starring.)
They’re wrong about its relevance to marketing. They must be experiencing attentional bias – paying more attention to some elements of the big event and ignoring others. OpenAI’s struggle is entertaining, no doubt. You’re glued to the drama. But understanding what happened with the events directly relates to your ability to manage similar ones successfully. That’s the part you need to get right.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
The Complete Guide to Becoming an Authentic Thought Leader

Introduce your processes: If you’ve streamlined a particular process, share it. It could be the solution someone else is looking for.
Jump on trends and news: If there’s a hot topic or emerging trend, offer your unique perspective.
Share industry insights: Attended a webinar or podcast that offered valuable insights. Summarize the key takeaways and how they can be applied.
Share your successes: Write about strategies that have worked exceptionally well for you. Your audience will appreciate the proven advice. For example, I shared the process I used to help a former client rank for a keyword with over 2.2 million monthly searches.
Question outdated strategies: If you see a strategy that’s losing steam, suggest alternatives based on your experience and data.
5. Establish communication channels (How)
Once you know who your audience is and what they want to hear, the next step is figuring out how to reach them. Here’s how:
Choose the right platforms: You don’t need to have a presence on every social media platform. Pick two platforms where your audience hangs out and create content for that platform. For example, I’m active on LinkedIn and X because my target audience (SEOs, B2B SaaS, and marketers) is active on these platforms.
Repurpose content: Don’t limit yourself to just one type of content. Consider repurposing your content on Quora, Reddit, or even in webinars and podcasts. This increases your reach and reinforces your message.
Follow Your audience: Go where your audience goes. If they’re active on X, that’s where you should be posting. If they frequent industry webinars, consider becoming a guest on these webinars.
Daily vs. In-depth content: Balance is key. Use social media for daily tips and insights, and reserve your blog for more comprehensive guides and articles.
Network with influencers: Your audience is likely following other experts in the field. Engaging with these influencers puts your content in front of a like-minded audience. I try to spend 30 minutes to an hour daily engaging with content on X and LinkedIn. This is the best way to build a relationship so you’re not a complete stranger when you DM privately.
6. Think of thought leadership as part of your content marketing efforts
As with other content efforts, thought leadership doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It thrives when woven into a cohesive content marketing strategy. By aligning individual authority with your brand, you amplify the credibility of both.
Think of it as top-of-the-funnel content to:
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Build awareness about your brand
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Highlight the problems you solve
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Demonstrate expertise by platforming experts within the company who deliver solutions
Consider the user journey. An individual enters at the top through a social media post, podcast, or blog post. Intrigued, they want to learn more about you and either search your name on Google or social media. If they like what they see, they might visit your website, and if the information fits their needs, they move from passive readers to active prospects in your sales pipeline.
MARKETING
How to Increase Survey Completion Rate With 5 Top Tips

Collecting high-quality data is crucial to making strategic observations about your customers. Researchers have to consider the best ways to design their surveys and then how to increase survey completion, because it makes the data more reliable.
I’m going to explain how survey completion plays into the reliability of data. Then, we’ll get into how to calculate your survey completion rate versus the number of questions you ask. Finally, I’ll offer some tips to help you increase survey completion rates.
My goal is to make your data-driven decisions more accurate and effective. And just for fun, I’ll use cats in the examples because mine won’t stop walking across my keyboard.
Why Measure Survey Completion
Let’s set the scene: We’re inside a laboratory with a group of cat researchers. They’re wearing little white coats and goggles — and they desperately want to know what other cats think of various fish.
They’ve written up a 10-question survey and invited 100 cats from all socioeconomic rungs — rough and hungry alley cats all the way up to the ones that thrice daily enjoy their Fancy Feast from a crystal dish.
Now, survey completion rates are measured with two metrics: response rate and completion rate. Combining those metrics determines what percentage, out of all 100 cats, finished the entire survey. If all 100 give their full report on how delicious fish is, you’d achieve 100% survey completion and know that your information is as accurate as possible.
But the truth is, nobody achieves 100% survey completion, not even golden retrievers.
With this in mind, here’s how it plays out:
- Let’s say 10 cats never show up for the survey because they were sleeping.
- Of the 90 cats that started the survey, only 25 got through a few questions. Then, they wandered off to knock over drinks.
- Thus, 90 cats gave some level of response, and 65 completed the survey (90 – 25 = 65).
- Unfortunately, those 25 cats who only partially completed the survey had important opinions — they like salmon way more than any other fish.
The cat researchers achieved 72% survey completion (65 divided by 90), but their survey will not reflect the 25% of cats — a full quarter! — that vastly prefer salmon. (The other 65 cats had no statistically significant preference, by the way. They just wanted to eat whatever fish they saw.)
Now, the Kitty Committee reviews the research and decides, well, if they like any old fish they see, then offer the least expensive ones so they get the highest profit margin.
CatCorp, their competitors, ran the same survey; however, they offered all 100 participants their own glass of water to knock over — with a fish inside, even!
Only 10 of their 100 cats started, but did not finish the survey. And the same 10 lazy cats from the other survey didn’t show up to this one, either.
So, there were 90 respondents and 80 completed surveys. CatCorp achieved an 88% completion rate (80 divided by 90), which recorded that most cats don’t care, but some really want salmon. CatCorp made salmon available and enjoyed higher profits than the Kitty Committee.
So you see, the higher your survey completion rates, the more reliable your data is. From there, you can make solid, data-driven decisions that are more accurate and effective. That’s the goal.
We measure the completion rates to be able to say, “Here’s how sure we can feel that this information is accurate.”
And if there’s a Maine Coon tycoon looking to invest, will they be more likely to do business with a cat food company whose decision-making metrics are 72% accurate or 88%? I suppose it could depend on who’s serving salmon.
What is survey completion rate?
Survey completion rate refers to the number of completed surveys divided by the number of total survey respondents. The result is then multiplied by 100 to get a percentage. Survey respondents include those who completed the survey, and those who started the survey but didn’t complete it.
While math was not my strongest subject in school, I had the great opportunity to take several college-level research and statistics classes, and the software we used did the math for us. That’s why I used 100 cats — to keep the math easy so we could focus on the importance of building reliable data.
Now, we’re going to talk equations and use more realistic numbers. Here’s the formula:
So, we need to take the number of completed surveys and divide that by the number of people who responded to at least one of your survey questions. Even just one question answered qualifies them as a respondent (versus nonrespondent, i.e., the 10 lazy cats who never show up).
Now, you’re running an email survey for, let’s say, Patton Avenue Pet Company. We’ll guess that the email list has 5,000 unique addresses to contact. You send out your survey to all of them.
Your analytics data reports that 3,000 people responded to one or more of your survey questions. Then, 1,200 of those respondents actually completed the entire survey.
3,000/5000 = 0.6 = 60% — that’s your pool of survey respondents who answered at least one question. That sounds pretty good! But some of them didn’t finish the survey. You need to know the percentage of people who completed the entire survey. So here we go:
Completion rate equals the # of completed surveys divided by the # of survey respondents.
Completion rate = (1,200/3,000) = 0.40 = 40%
Voila, 40% of your respondents did the entire survey.
Response Rate vs. Completion Rate
Okay, so we know why the completion rate matters and how we find the right number. But did you also hear the term response rate? They are completely different figures based on separate equations, and I’ll show them side by side to highlight the differences.
- Completion Rate = # of Completed Surveys divided by # of Respondents
- Response Rate = # of Respondents divided by Total # of surveys sent out
Here are examples using the same numbers from above:
Completion Rate = (1200/3,000) = 0.40 = 40%
Response Rate = (3,000/5000) = 0.60 = 60%
So, they are different figures that describe different things:
- Completion rate: The percentage of your respondents that completed the entire survey. As a result, it indicates how sure we are that the information we have is accurate.
- Response rate: The percentage of people who responded in any way to our survey questions.
The follow-up question is: How can we make this number as high as possible in order to be closer to a truer and more complete data set from the population we surveyed?
There’s more to learn about response rates and how to bump them up as high as you can, but we’re going to keep trucking with completion rates!
What’s a good survey completion rate?
That is a heavily loaded question. People in our industry have to say, “It depends,” far more than anybody wants to hear it, but it depends. Sorry about that.
There are lots of factors at play, such as what kind of survey you’re doing, what industry you’re doing it in, if it’s an internal or external survey, the population or sample size, the confidence level you’d like to hit, the margin of error you’re willing to accept, etc.
But you can’t really get a high completion rate unless you increase response rates first.
So instead of focusing on what’s a good completion rate, I think it’s more important to understand what makes a good response rate. Aim high enough, and survey completions should follow.
I checked in with the Qualtrics community and found this discussion about survey response rates:
“Just wondering what are the average response rates we see for online B2B CX surveys? […]
Current response rates: 6%–8%… We are looking at boosting the response rates but would first like to understand what is the average.”
The best answer came from a government service provider that works with businesses. The poster notes that their service is free to use, so they get very high response rates.
“I would say around 30–40% response rates to transactional surveys,” they write. “Our annual pulse survey usually sits closer to 12%. I think the type of survey and how long it has been since you rendered services is a huge factor.”
Since this conversation, “Delighted” (the Qualtrics blog) reported some fresher data:
The takeaway here is that response rates vary widely depending on the channel you use to reach respondents. On the upper end, the Qualtrics blog reports that customers had 85% response rates for employee email NPS surveys and 33% for email NPS surveys.
A good response rate, the blog writes, “ranges between 5% and 30%. An excellent response rate is 50% or higher.”
This echoes reports from Customer Thermometer, which marks a response rate of 50% or higher as excellent. Response rates between 5%-30% are much more typical, the report notes. High response rates are driven by a strong motivation to complete the survey or a personal relationship between the brand and the customer.
If your business does little person-to-person contact, you’re out of luck. Customer Thermometer says you should expect responses on the lower end of the scale. The same goes for surveys distributed from unknown senders, which typically yield the lowest level of responses.
According to SurveyMonkey, surveys where the sender has no prior relationship have response rates of 20% to 30% on the high end.
Whatever numbers you do get, keep making those efforts to bring response rates up. That way, you have a better chance of increasing your survey completion rate. How, you ask?
Tips to Increase Survey Completion
If you want to boost survey completions among your customers, try the following tips.
1. Keep your survey brief.
We shouldn’t cram lots of questions into one survey, even if it’s tempting. Sure, it’d be nice to have more data points, but random people will probably not hunker down for 100 questions when we catch them during their half-hour lunch break.
Keep it short. Pare it down in any way you can.
Survey completion rate versus number of questions is a correlative relationship — the more questions you ask, the fewer people will answer them all. If you have the budget to pay the respondents, it’s a different story — to a degree.
“If you’re paying for survey responses, you’re more likely to get completions of a decently-sized survey. You’ll just want to avoid survey lengths that might tire, confuse, or frustrate the user. You’ll want to aim for quality over quantity,” says Pamela Bump, Head of Content Growth at HubSpot.
2. Give your customers an incentive.
For instance, if they’re cats, you could give them a glass of water with a fish inside.
Offer incentives that make sense for your target audience. If they feel like they are being rewarded for giving their time, they will have more motivation to complete the survey.
This can even accomplish two things at once — if you offer promo codes, discounts on products, or free shipping, it encourages them to shop with you again.
3. Keep it smooth and easy.
Keep your survey easy to read. Simplifying your questions has at least two benefits: People will understand the question better and give you the information you need, and people won’t get confused or frustrated and just leave the survey.
4. Know your customers and how to meet them where they are.
Here’s an anecdote about understanding your customers and learning how best to meet them where they are.
Early on in her role, Pamela Bump, HubSpot’s Head of Content Growth, conducted a survey of HubSpot Blog readers to learn more about their expertise levels, interests, challenges, and opportunities. Once published, she shared the survey with the blog’s email subscribers and a top reader list she had developed, aiming to receive 150+ responses.
“When the 20-question survey was getting a low response rate, I realized that blog readers were on the blog to read — not to give feedback. I removed questions that wouldn’t serve actionable insights. When I reshared a shorter, 10-question survey, it passed 200 responses in one week,” Bump shares.
Tip 5. Gamify your survey.
Make it fun! Brands have started turning surveys into eye candy with entertaining interfaces so they’re enjoyable to interact with.
Your respondents could unlock micro incentives as they answer more questions. You can word your questions in a fun and exciting way so it feels more like a BuzzFeed quiz. Someone saw the opportunity to make surveys into entertainment, and your imagination — well, and your budget — is the limit!
Your Turn to Boost Survey Completion Rates
Now, it’s time to start surveying. Remember to keep your user at the heart of the experience. Value your respondents’ time, and they’re more likely to give you compelling information. Creating short, fun-to-take surveys can also boost your completion rates.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2010 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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