ThoughT SYSteMAtIC ChAnGe bRInGS SIGnIFICAnt beneFItS leadershIp bY dAVe RothSteIn • When possible, we let respondents know the sponsor of the research, RTi Research and how their feedback will influence our clients’ business • We mandate a mobile first strategy – vital to respondent experience, representative sample and quality of data • We’ve virtually done away with traditional grid questions, using more Like anyone reading this handbook, our business relies on hundreds of creative research design and/or technology to capture the required in- thousands of willing, thoughtful, and engaged research participants each formation in far less tedious ways. year. Doing our part to ensure this ecosystem remains healthy and vi- • Our questionnaires are now written like actual human beings having brant goes beyond simply providing respondents with economic incen- a conversation – brief, friendly, casual, fun – survey takers do not need tives. We must prove our respect, and the value we have for respondents lengthy instructions to understand the task/question through the working environment we provide them. Yes, just like we do • We use motivational language – “thanks for all of your answers so far, for our employees – an equally vital group of people critical to our compa- you’re doing great” to encourage them to press on midway through ny’s success. the survey; we also include transitions that keep people interested and engaged, such as “we’d love to hear what you think about some im- To that end, RTi Research has participated in the ENGAGE coaching pro- portant issues. Next up…” gram and I thought I would take this opportunity to highlight what we • Where possible, we include a fun lifestyle question in our surveys, typ- did and the impact it’s had on key stakeholders: ically around the midpoint and we share the results at the end so re- spondents can see how they stack-up to other survey takers acTIon sTeps: • Finally, and perhaps most importantly for sustainability, we show grati- • We’re realistic and transparent about with respondents how long sur- tude – we close our surveys with a brief video of an RTi staffer thanking re- veys will take to complete spondents for their time and explaining how it helps us do our jobs better ENGAGE 2.0 - 30 TIPS TO IMPROVE THE RESEARCH PARTICIPANT USER EXPERIENCE – A GRBN Handbook © 2020 GRBN 19