You’ve crafted your survey with care—tweaked questions, tested phrasing, and launched it, ready for insights to pour in. But instead, you’re met with inconsistent, shallow, or sparse responses. Frustrating, right? It’s a common challenge for anyone seeking meaningful feedback through surveys.

Here’s the key insight: To unlock the full potential of surveys, you need to treat them like a product. That means tracking performance, learning from the data, and iterating. By measuring metrics like survey open rates, survey completion rates, and survey response quality, you’ll gain the insights needed to refine your approach and gather the meaningful feedback you’re after.

In this blog, we’ll explore the key metrics to measure for every survey. You’ll learn why these metrics matter, how to use them, and how to make adjustments to get better results. For an in-depth guide on structuring surveys, writing questions, and analyzing data for actionable insights, download our ebook: Navigating Surveys in Pre-Release.

1. Survey Open Rate: The First Hurdle to Great Responses

Sending out a survey doesn’t guarantee responses. Survey open rates are often the first barrier to overcome. They tell you whether your invitation grabs attention and prompts people to take the first step: opening your email.

How to Measure Open Rate

Divide the number of people who opened the survey by the total number it was sent to.

• Example: 400 opens from 1,000 emails = 40% open rate.

Low open rates might mean your subject line or timing needs work. For instance, a beta team testing a home automation app, DwellingWell, sent a survey with the subject line “We Want Your Feedback” on a busy Monday morning. Response rates were poor. A simple tweak—sending on a Wednesday with a more engaging subject line like “What’s Your First Impression of DwellingWell?”—could dramatically improve open rates and bring in valuable feedback.

2. Completion Rate: Keeping Participants Engaged

Getting someone to open your survey is a win, but ensuring they complete it is the real challenge. Survey completion rates reveal whether your survey holds attention or loses it along the way. A high completion rate means you’re capturing the full picture, while drop-offs leave you with incomplete insights.

How to Measure Completion Rate

Divide the number of completed surveys by the number of opens.

• Example: 250 completions from 400 opens = 62.5% completion rate.

Low completion rates often indicate friction in your survey. As an example, the team behind a fitness app, Runner’s Life, noticed a sharp drop-off at Question 8 in their First Impressions Survey. The culprit? A daunting open-ended question. Rephrasing and repositioning the question helped keep testers engaged, leading to richer, more complete feedback.

3. Time to Complete: Finding the Right Survey Pace

Surveys that drag on can frustrate even the most committed participants. Time to complete surveys measures how long respondents take, giving you a sense of whether your survey flows naturally or feels like a slog.

How to Measure Time to Complete

Calculate the average time it takes for respondents to finish.

• Example: If your estimated time is 5 minutes but the actual average is 9 minutes, there may be complexity or redundancy issues.

The DwellingWell team found that testers took twice as long as expected to complete their survey. On closer inspection, a few questions were overly complex or unclear. Simplifying and trimming these questions brought the average completion time closer to their goal, ensuring responses remained thoughtful and focused.

4. Partial Completions: Spotting Drop-Off Points

Sometimes, even enthusiastic participants start a survey but don’t finish it. Partial survey completions can help you pinpoint where drop-offs happen and why. Maybe a question is too complex, or perhaps it’s poorly placed, disrupting the survey’s flow.

How to Measure Partial Completes

Identify the question where the largest number of respondents drop off.

• Example: 150 respondents dropped off at Question 7.

Testers of Runner’s Life abandoned their Final Thoughts Survey en masse at an open-ended “favorite feature” question. By making this question optional and moving it to the end, the team kept more testers engaged while still collecting valuable insights.

5. Response Quality: Getting Meaningful Feedback

High response rates are great, but if answers lack depth, your survey isn’t delivering real value. Survey response quality measures how thoughtful and actionable feedback is, especially for open-ended questions.

How to Measure Response Quality

Review open-ended responses and categorize them (e.g., high, moderate, or low quality).

• Example: “The setup was straightforward, but navigation was confusing” (high quality) vs. “Good” (low quality).

DwellingWell’s team found a mix of detailed insights and one-word answers in their First Impressions Survey. Rephrasing questions to be more specific and encouraging examples led to richer responses, helping drive meaningful improvements.

Wrapping Up: Measure What Matters

Surveys are powerful tools—if you’re tracking the right metrics. By focusing on survey open rates, completion rates, response quality, and other key metrics, you can refine your approach and gather more accurate and more meaningful data. These metrics help identify what’s working, what needs adjustment, and how to create a seamless feedback experience for your audience.

Ready to take your surveys to the next level? While this blog focuses on survey metrics, our ebook delves into how to craft impactful surveys for every testing phase—from pre-test readiness to post-launch follow-ups—and how to analyze your results effectively. Download the comprehensive guide, Navigating Surveys in Pre-Release, using the button below and start creating surveys that deliver meaningful insights.