B2B Email Sampling – Increasing survey response rate trough verified and targeted B2B Emails

In response to the COVID19 crisis worldwide a lot of data collection methods have been modified and reshaped. The market research industry has been challenged to quickly adapt and create new solutions to emerge from the potential crisis.

In order to assist with the needs of the market research industry, Sample Solutions has developed new ways to support the market research studies of the customers. 

At times when almost every geographical location experienced a lockdown, people were not allowed to leave their homes and the only way to continue with the daily working activities was by connecting digitally, leaving the office spaces empty. 

As it became difficult to reach B2B respondents by company phone, the need arose for collecting survey responses through email. Sample Solutions developed different approaches to deliver both general company and direct contact email addresses. 

Detailed overview of the Email Coverage by biggest regions:

B2B Email Address Selection

B2B Emails can be selected based on different company features, such as industry, size of the company in terms of revenue and employee size.Prior to Sample delivery, all email addresses are verified for activity. For more detailed information on the selection, you can download our B2B Brochure here.

Direct B2B Email Addresses

•  Most often when conducting a B2B survey, the hardest part is not only getting to a respondent but also reaching out to the right type of respondent that is needed. If the survey is really niche most important would be to get directly via email or telephone number. As the B2B Sample we offer covers only the general company phone number, we worked through another way to bring our customer closer to the target group by offering direct B2B email addresses. The selection on direct B2B email address can be done based on several filters:

•  Job title hierarchy e.g C-Level, President, Manager, Director etc.

•  Department Level e.g HR, IT, Sales, Marketing, Finance etc.

The methodology behind this approach consists of two different ways of gathering the data:

1. Using publicly available data sourced from Company Websites, National Business registers, Social Media company profiles.

2. Using In-house technologies for generating email addresses which are followed by validation of the email address in order to ensure that only the working ones will be included in the Sample.

Mixed Mode – Email vs. Telephone

Taken into consideration the experience we have up till now, we emphasize the mixed mode way of conducting a survey – using both Email & Telephone. Some of the primary reason for doing so, could be one or all of the following points:Mixed Mode – Email vs. Telephone

• Reducing costs – If the goal is to reduce costs, it is a common way to collect as many responses as possible by using the cheaper mode, before deciding to switch to the more expensive one.

• Improving coverage – Mixed mode can be used to increase the coverage by providing different ways to contact the individual, for example company phone number, direct email address, general company email address etc.

• Improving response rate – Some individuals are more likely to answer their telephone instead of checking their email and responding to the online survey. Others may feel more comfortable answering the questions online rather than on the phone. Experience shows the response rate can be significantly improved by:

1. Sending an email to the individuals as an invitation to a telephone survey;

2. Using telephone survey to gather responses from those that haven’t participated in the previously sent email questionnaire;

3. Reaching out to the individuals by telephone in order to explain the purpose of the research study and later email them with the link that leads to the actual survey;