If you’re sending a bunch of survey invites and hoping for decent response rates, you already know the generic “Dear Customer” approach is dead on arrival. People ignore impersonal emails. The good news? If you’re using Survey Sparrow, and you’ve got your contacts organized, you can actually make your invites feel like they came from a real person. This guide is for anyone who wants to use Survey Sparrow’s contact lists to send smarter, better survey invitations—without getting lost in pointless features or sales pitches.
Let’s get into the nuts and bolts of making your survey invites less spammy and more human.
Why Bother Personalizing Survey Invites?
Quick reality check: Most people don’t want to take surveys. If you want a shot at a real response, you need to make each invite feel like it’s meant for the person who gets it. Personalization isn’t magic, but it’s one of the few things that reliably boosts open and completion rates.
Here’s what actually helps: - Using the person’s name (yes, really) - Mentioning something relevant to them—like their last purchase or role - Sending from a real person, not a faceless “no-reply” address - Keeping it short and clear
Survey Sparrow gives you the tools for this, but you need to know where to look. Let’s walk through the steps.
Step 1: Clean Up Your Contact List First
Before you start personalizing, make sure your contact list isn’t a mess. Garbage in, garbage out. Survey Sparrow lets you import contacts via CSV or manually add them, but if your data’s outdated or missing fields, nothing else you try will matter.
What to check: - Names: Make sure first and last names are in their own fields—don’t dump “John Doe” into a single column. - Email addresses: Obvious, but double-check for typos or duplicates. - Custom fields: If you want to reference things like company, department, or order number, add those fields now. - Consent: Don’t send surveys to people who never agreed to be contacted. It’s not just spammy—it’s risky.
Pro tip: Take an hour to clean your CSV before importing. It saves a ton of headaches later.
Step 2: Import (or Update) Contacts in Survey Sparrow
Once your contact sheet is tidy, log in and go to the “Contacts” section. You can import your file or add folks one by one. Here’s what matters:
- Map your fields: When uploading, Survey Sparrow will ask you to match your columns to its fields. Don’t rush this. If you’re adding custom info (like “Last Product Purchased”), create a custom field.
- Use lists and segments: Group people logically—by department, purchase history, or whatever matters to your survey. This will let you send targeted invites later.
Things to skip: Don’t bother filling out fields you’ll never use. It just makes things harder to manage.
Step 3: Set Up Dynamic Variables for Personalization
This is where the magic happens. Survey Sparrow lets you drop “variables” into your email subject lines and bodies—like {{first_name}}, {{company}}, or any custom field you’ve added.
How to set it up:
- When writing your email invite, use the “Insert Variable” button or type the variable code directly (e.g., {{first_name}}).
- Use these in the subject line and in the body. For example:
- Subject: “{{first_name}}, we want your feedback on your recent {{product_name}} order”
- Body: “Hi {{first_name}}, thanks for being a customer since {{signup_year}}...”
- Test your invite by sending it to yourself, with your own info in the contact list. Make sure the variables actually fill in.
What works: - First names and company names are safe bets. - Reference one or two things that show you know who the person is (not just that you have their email).
What to ignore: - Don’t overdo it! If your invite mentions three different personal facts, it’ll feel creepy. - Don’t rely on variables for basic info you don’t actually collect—blank spaces look worse than no personalization.
Step 4: Segment Your Audience for Even More Relevant Invites
Personalization isn’t just about names. Segmenting—sending different messages to different groups—goes a long way.
How to do it: - In Survey Sparrow, create multiple contact lists or use “segments” (filters based on custom fields). - For example: - Send one version to “Customers who bought in the last 30 days” and another for “Leads who never converted.” - Segment by role or region if your questions change based on that. - Write slightly different invites for each segment. Tweak the intro line or the reason you’re asking for feedback.
Pro tip: Don’t make a dozen segments unless you actually need them. Two or three well-chosen lists cover most use cases.
Step 5: Personalize the ‘From’ Name and Reply-to Address
People are more likely to open emails from a real person. In Survey Sparrow, you can set the sender name and reply-to address for each invite.
What to do: - Use a real person’s name and email, ideally someone the recipient recognizes. “Jessica from Acme Co.” beats “Customer Support.” - If you can’t use a real address, at least avoid “no-reply@.” - Make sure replies actually go somewhere. Sometimes people will hit reply with a question or issue—don’t miss it.
What’s overrated: Fancy graphics or email templates. A plain, straightforward invite from a real person works better almost every time.
Step 6: Write Like a Human, Not a Marketing Bot
All the personalization fields in the world won’t help if your email sounds like a robot. Keep it brief, clear, and honest.
What helps: - Address the person by name. - Give a reason for the survey (“We want to improve our support for you”). - Say how long it’ll take (and mean it). - Thank them, but don’t grovel.
Example:
Subject: Quick question for you, {{first_name}}
Hi {{first_name}},
I’m reaching out because you recently used our service, and I’d love your honest feedback. It’ll take about 2 minutes.
If you have any thoughts (good or bad), just hit reply—I’m all ears.
Thanks, Jessica
What to skip: Overblown promises (“This will only take a second” when it’s 10 minutes) and fake urgency.
Step 7: Test Before Sending to Everyone
Nothing kills trust like a “Hi {{first_name}},” greeting because the field was empty. Before blasting your survey, do a test:
- Send invites to yourself and a couple of coworkers with different data in the fields.
- Check for missing info or weird formatting.
- Make sure links work and the email looks okay on mobile.
Fix issues before you go live. One embarrassing mistake is all it takes to undo your hard work.
Step 8: Track What’s Actually Working (and Adjust)
Survey Sparrow gives you basic analytics—open rates, click rates, and completions. Watch these numbers, but don’t obsess.
What matters: - Open rate: Good personalization and subject lines should boost this. - Completion rate: If this is low, your survey is probably too long or not relevant. - Segment performance: If one group never responds, try changing the message or how you segment.
Don’t bother: Chasing tiny percentage point gains. If you’re getting 20-30% response rates, you’re doing well.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
A few things that trip people up: - Over-personalizing: If you use every data point you have, it gets creepy fast. - Bad data: “Hi ,” or “Dear [blank]” is worse than generic. - Ignoring consent: Don’t email people just because you can. - Too many follow-ups: One reminder is usually enough. More than that, and you’ll get flagged as spam.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Personalizing survey invites with Survey Sparrow isn’t rocket science, but it does take a little setup. Clean your contact list. Use variables for names and key details. Segment when it actually matters. And, above all, write like a human.
Don’t stress about getting every detail perfect on your first try. Send a batch, see what works, and tweak from there. The more natural and respectful you are, the better your results will be. Simple wins.