Inviting your participants through email is one of the most widely used data collection methods. There are different ways to do this - you can share the link, hide it under the call to action button, or embed the survey's first question into your email.

In this article, we'll explain how to embed the survey's first question in the email's body and how it can help increase your survey's response rate.

Research run by Survey Practice proves that embedding the first question directly into your email is more effective at encouraging survey responses. The results compared included embedded NPS® (32% click rate) vs. hiding the link to the survey under a CTA button (26.2%).

The question in the email captures respondents' attention faster, and they are more likely to click on it instead of the link or a button leading to a survey. In short, removing unnecessary steps or friction will make the experience smoother and faster.

To embed a survey's first question in an email, please use one of the below question types to start with:
​Single Answer Selection, Smiley Scale, NPS, Rating, or Welcome Message.

You can either start the survey with a Welcome Message and use this question type to describe the survey to your contacts:

Or skip the Welcome Message and include a Single-Answer Selection, Smiley or Rating Scale, or NPS right in the email's body:

It's up to you to decide whether to share a survey link, embed the first question, or hide the link under a call to action button. We suggest testing different approaches to find the best option for your survey emails. We recommend dedicating time to the invitation email structure. Doing so may result in more respondents and higher-quality responses.

Net Promoter, NPS, and the NPS - related emoticons are registered U.S. trademarks, and Net Promoter Score and Net Promoter System are service marks, of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc. and Fred Reichheld.