How to Calculate Survey Response Rate and What’s a Good One

Let’s keep things simple. Here’s the formula to calculate survey response rates:

Completed surveys: Only fully responded surveys. Partial responses, such as someone who answers 3 out of 10 questions, don’t count.

Total surveys sent: Consider only surveys sent successfully. Don’t count bounced emails or undelivered messages.

• Customer feedback survey
  • 500 surveys sent – 24 bounced = 476 delivered
  • 123 completed

📈 Response rate: [123 ÷ 476] x 100 = 25.8%

• Employee happiness survey
  • 134 surveys sent – 0 bounced = 134 delivered
  • 64 completed

📈 Response rate: [64 ÷ 134] x 100 = 47.7%

• Customer feedback survey
  • 914 surveys sent – 189 bounced = 725 delivered
  • 287 completed

📈 Response rate: [287 ÷ 725] x 100 = 39.5%

You can skip a step by adding two zeros to the number of your completed surveys instead of multiplying by 100 at the end. Mathematically, these are identical: (287 ÷ 725) x 100 = 28,700 ÷ 725.

Here’s the shortcut in action:

• 914 surveys sent – 189 bounced = 725 delivered
• 287 completed

📈 Response rate: 28700 ÷ 725 = 39.5%

This method works for any number. Just remember to add the two zeros.

Avoid these errors that can skew your data:

• Counting partial completions: Only count surveys where respondents reached the final submit button. A survey abandoned halfway through isn’t a completion.
• Including bounced emails: If 50 out of 500 emails bounced, your denominator should be 450, not 500.
• Mixing survey types: Don’t compare your customer survey response rate to industry benchmarks for employee surveys – they have different expected rates.
• Ignoring timing: Calculating response rates before your survey window closes gives you incomplete data. Wait until your survey officially ends.

To ensure no human error happens, we recommend using survey software like SurveyMonkey, which automatically tracks response rates in real-time and provides other relevant metrics, such as completion rate, average time spent, and drop-off points.

There’s no universal answer. A 15% response rate might be excellent for a cold email campaign but terrible for an internal employee survey.

Your target response rate depends on two main factors: how you’re distributing the survey and who you’re surveying.

Here are typical benchmarks for both:

Keep in mind that these benchmarks represent averages, not targets.

It’s fundamental to understand that factors such as survey frequency, incentives, and length can heavily influence the survey response outcome. That’s what makes providing a general good response rate difficult.

While context matters, here’s a general framework for evaluating your response rate:

• 40% or higher: Excellent
• 20–40%: Solid
• 10–20%: Acceptable (especially true for cold email surveys)
• Under 10%: indicates problems with survey design, distribution method, timing, or audience targeting

Professional survey platforms, such as SurveyMonkey, typically achieve higher response rates than basic email surveys because they offer mobile optimization, progress bars, automatic reminders, and professional design templates that reduce survey abandonment.

Most people think that the higher the response rate, the better, but that’s not entirely true.

100 thoughtful responses from your target demographic are more valuable than 500 rushed responses from people who don’t fit your criteria. Sample size and respondent quality often matter more than your response rate percentage.

Many people also believe surveys need a 30% response rate to be valid. This is a myth.

What actually determines validity is your total sample size and whether your respondents represent your target population.

Here’s what matters: the absolute number of responses and whether those responses reflect your audience’s diversity. Response rate is just one data point.

Take the following examples:

👉 Example 1: You send 10,000 surveys to customers and only get 300 replies. (3% response rate)

👉 Example 2: You send the same survey to 50 customers and only 15 reply (30% response rate)

In Example 1, the response rate is only 3%, but 300 responses from a diverse customer base likely give you enough data to identify trends and make decisions with confidence.

In Example 2, the 30% response rate looks impressive, but 15 responses are too small a sample to be statistically significant.

Ultimately, you shouldn’t fixate too much on achieving a specific response rate.

Sometimes you can diagnose issues with surveys by looking at a few indicators:

• A response rate of under 10% for internal and employee surveys: Lack of trust and company culture issues.
• Response rates declining over time: Survey fatigue. Space out surveys or reduce their length.
• Sudden drop from previous survey: Check your timing and compare survey length or complexity.
• Low rates despite incentives and follow-ups: Your survey method isn’t working. Try a different distribution channel or reconsider whether you’re surveying the right people.
• High response rate but limited demographic diversity: Only certain groups are responding, which creates biased data. You might need targeted outreach to underrepresented segments.

Depending on the issue, you might need to fine-tune your survey. Some quick and easy fixes include:

• Shorten your survey (aim for under 5 minutes)
• Improve your subject line and introduction
• Send at optimal times (mid-week, mid-morning)
• Offer meaningful incentives
• Ensure mobile compatibility
• Send one follow-up reminder only
• Clearly explain how you’ll use the data

Survey apps help improve the quality of surveys and prevent fatigue by offering features like skip logic, question randomization, survey scheduling, and built-in survey quality assessments and reports.

All of these tools combined allow you to yield better and higher response rates.

Response rate matters, but it doesn’t tell you the full story.

So, stop obsessing over hitting a specific percentage. Instead, ask yourself: “Do I have enough quality responses to make informed decisions?” If the answer is yes, your response rate is good enough regardless of the number.

Focus on your goals, create surveys accordingly, and only send them after having a clear idea of which insights you want to collect.