Why Surveys Close So Quickly

Don’t You Hate it When That Happens?

People sign up to take online surveys because they are excited to share their opinions, make a difference, and also earn rewards for their time. There are a variety of topics and many different types of respondents, and panelists usually receive invitations to surveys that are relevant to them and their individual lifestyles.

However some panelists find that when they follow the survey link from their email invitation that the survey is already closed and they are no longer able to take part. This can obviously be frustrating, especially if it happens more than once, so why does this happen and how can a survey taker ensure that they are able to access more open surveys?

Why Surveys Close

Most surveys are conducted because a business, company or service agency is looking for specific feedback from certain ademographics. This is why each survey begins by asking personal questions such as age, gender, education level and annual income. This information screens out some survey takers who fall outside of these pre-determined demographics, and those who do qualify continue on to complete the survey.

However, a panelist may meet the criteria that a company is looking for and still find that the survey is closed. This can happen when the company only needs 100 respondents for example, and if the panelist is number 101 they will be told the survey is closed.

Another reason a respondent may be told the survey is closed is that the survey itself was time sensitive. For instance, a survey regarding an upcoming election or the government’s latest budget may need to be ready for the next evening’s newscast. This means the survey must be created, the right amount of respondents found, completed, returned and analyzed within twenty-four hours.

Market research companies will leave their surveys open as long as possible, as they want to give a fair chance to all panelists to give their opinions. So survey takers will only receive a closed out notice when the survey has reached it’s target number of respondents or has a specified end time from the makers of that particular survey.

How Survey Takers Can Avoid Getting ‘Survey Closed’ Notices

There are several steps that a panelist can take to ensure they are not screened out of surveys. These are simple to follow and will allow respondents to complete more surveys and earn more rewards.

To ensure eligibility in time-sensitive surveys, panelists should check their email accounts at least once a day. It is important to check junk mail folders as well, and ensure that the email addresses of all panel pages respondents are members of are added to their contact list. Those with smart phones that have email accounts paired with their devices can get notified instantly and in some cases even complete the survey immediately right on their phone.

Panelists should also make sure to read each email survey invitation carefully, as most will state if there is a specified close date for that particular survey.

Keeping personal information updated with each panel a survey taker is a member of will ensure more accurate surveys are sent out in the first place. This means the panelist is less likely to get screened out even if they survey is still open.

Even when a panelist attempts to complete a survey and is told the survey is now closed, many survey companies still compensate the respondent by entering them in a monthly draw or give them a small amount of points as a thank you for their time.