The big day finally arrives! If many thousands of emails are being sent it’s a good idea to spread the load rather than send them all out in one big hit. This makes better use of the server resources and avoids a huge spike of activity immediately following the initial mail out.

A mailbox should be set up to capture any email replies including automated out of office replies. If the survey email reply address is set to be that of a colleague or client you should give them advance notice as they may be wondering why their inbox suddenly says ‘you have 723 new messages’, all of which are from strangers announcing that they are on holiday or maternity leave!

Each study has its own characteristics but generally you will find most of the activity takes place within the first 48 hours. After that the survey invitation email tends to drop out of sight in peoples inbox and responses will slow considerably. When the response levels have dried to a trickle its worth sending out a reminder to those that have not yet responded. Often this can be targeted to only those not yet having completed the survey. If this can’t be done this then it’s a good idea to include a line that makes clear the reminder should be ignored by those already having taken part. Without this many people will reply wanting to know whether you have their responses or not, all of which will have to be replied to.

Our advice is to only send one reminder, two at the very most. If people haven’t taken part after that then they probably never will and you risk annoying them and being accused of spamming if you persist further.

If you are an ORS client then a mailbox will be provided to capture any email replies. These will be responded to by ORS on your behalf if of a technical nature or forwarded to you if its something else that needs to be actioned. You will also be able to login and monitor the results and response levels as they build.