Incentives

Incentives may seem like an easy way to increase your survey response rate, but the data show otherwise.

Throughout Polco/NRC’s years of experience in gathering resident sentiment, we’ve found that incentives don’t have much of a positive impact on community survey response rates. There are a few reasons why offering incentives can cause more trouble than it’s worth:

• When it comes to civic participation, a monetary incentive can actually cheapen or undercut a resident’s sense of civic duty.
• Including proactive monetary incentives (e.g., sending a few dollars with every mailed survey invitation) would increase the cost of the survey implementation, and community members may feel that those incentives are not a good use of your jurisdiction’s funds.
• If you’re providing an incentive to a randomly selected participant, you’ll need some way to track and contact the winner; however, this can logistically be very difficult when conducting an anonymous survey (which we strongly recommend for the most accurate data).

Generally, Polco advises against offering incentives. We recommend instead crafting a strong promotional plan to boost engagement throughout your community, focusing more on representation than response rates. Inviting community members to participate through social media, local news outlets, community partners, jurisdiction/organization websites, and other available platforms can make a big difference. However, if you’re set on offering some kind of incentive, here are a few options you may consider:

• Funding incentives with private money (rather than government/taxpayer money) from partner organizations or donations
• Providing non-monetary incentives, such as a day pass to a community recreation center
• Hosting an open participation survey party: on a set day/time, provide popcorn or other light refreshments along with tablets/public computers and assistance (if needed) for residents to complete the survey

Offering incentives should not be done lightly, for all the reasons listed above. Take the time to consider whether it’s the right choice for your community, or reach out to us at Polco to discuss further!