A good newsletter reader survey has 5 to 8 questions: one score you ask the same way every year, one about why people read, one or two open questions in their own words, and a few you'll act on. Every question should change something you write, send or sell. Below are 12 to pick from, and how to read what comes back.
Keep it short on purpose
Dan Oshinsky of Inbox Collective suggests a survey should take 3 to 5 minutes. Five or six questions is typical, and responses drop off past about 10 (Inbox Collective). His test for every question is a good one: if you can't say what you'd do with the answer, cut it.
Open questions cost the most. On Pew Research Center's panel, people skip open questions about 18% of the time on average, against 1% to 2% for multiple choice, and questions asking for several sentences get skipped more than ones asking for a word or a phrase (Pew). So use one or two, ask for something short, and put them where they matter.
12 questions, grouped by what you'll do with the answer
The score you'll track every year
- "On a scale of 1 to 10, how useful is this newsletter to you?" This is Inbox Collective's suggested opener. Ask it the same way every time so this year's number can be compared with last year's.
Why people read
- "What does this newsletter do for you?" Offer a short list (keeps me up to date, saves me time, helps at work, I enjoy the writing) plus "Something else". The top answers tell you what to protect and what to say on your sign-up page.
- "In one sentence, how would you describe this newsletter to a friend?" Open. The best replies are better sign-up copy than anything you'd write yourself, and you can ask permission to quote them.
What to write next
- "What's one topic you'd like me to cover that I haven't?" Open, and deliberately not a list. More on why below.
- "Which recent issue was most useful to you, and why?" Open. Tells you which kind of issue to make more of, in the reader's words.
- "Is there anything that would make this newsletter better for you?" Open, and one of Inbox Collective's two suggested open prompts. The other, "What do you love most about our newsletter?", works if you'd rather ask for what's working.
How and when they read
- "How much of each issue do you usually read?" All of it / the first few items / I skim the subject line / it depends.
- "How did you first find this newsletter?" Analytics often record new subscribers as "direct" or "unknown", so asking is the only way to know.
Money, if you charge or plan to
- For paying readers: "Which parts of your subscription do you actually use?" Shows what people are paying for.
- For free readers: "What would make a paid subscription worth it to you?" Open. Ask it before you build the paid tier, not after.
Who's reading, only if you'll use it
- "What best describes your work?" A short list. Only worth asking if you'd write differently for different groups, or you sell sponsorships.
- "Would you be up for a 20-minute call about the newsletter?" Yes/no plus an email field. The people who say yes are your best source for the next round.
Pick five to eight. A strong default set is 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8.
Why "what should I write about?" works better open
It's tempting to list ten topics and let people tick boxes. The trouble is that a list shapes the answer.
Pew Research Center asked the same question two ways after the 2008 US election: "What one issue mattered most to you in deciding how you voted for president?" When the economy was on the list, 58% picked it. When people wrote their own answer, 35% named the economy, and 43% gave an answer that wasn't on the list at all (Pew).
A topic list in a reader survey works the same way. People pick from what you offered, and the topic you never thought of doesn't show up. Ask it open this year, and if you want a list next year, build it from the answers you got.
How to read the replies
Here's what to do with the written answers once the survey closes.
- Read the first 20 replies straight through before you sort anything.
- Give each reply a short label for what it asks for, like "more on hiring", "shorter issues", "fewer links, more opinion". Make the label specific enough to act on.
- Count the labels. A spreadsheet works: replies in one column, labels in the next, then sort.
- Reread every reply under your top three labels before you decide anything. A label is your summary, and summaries drift.
Our guide on how to analyze open-ended survey responses goes through this step by step with a worked example.
One caution from Inbox Collective: the people who answer tend to be your most engaged and most opinionated readers. Treat the results as a strong signal from your core readers, and check them against what your open and click numbers say.
A worked example
The numbers below are invented to show what a result can look like. They are not from a real newsletter.
Say a weekly newsletter with 3,000 subscribers gets 110 replies, and 92 people answer question 4, "What's one topic you'd like me to cover that I haven't?" After labelling:
| What people asked for | Replies |
|---|---|
| How other people price their work | 21 |
| Tools and setups, with screenshots | 17 |
| Interviews with people a few years ahead | 14 |
| Shorter issues | 9 |
| Something else (one-offs) | 31 |
The top row is a series, not a single issue. And "Shorter issues" is a useful surprise in a question about topics: 9 people used their one open box to ask for less. That's worth reading in full before the next issue goes out.
The "Something else" row is big, which is normal for a topic question. Skim it for anything you'd happily write anyway. You don't have to cover all of it.
Close the loop
The survey isn't done when it closes. Write the issue that says what people told you: the top three things, a couple of quotes (with permission), and what you're changing. It also gives people a reason to answer the next one.
If you'd rather not do the labelling by hand, Enform reads every reply, counts what people said, and every count opens to the replies behind it. If you're running the survey in Google Forms or Tally today, see how they compare in Enform vs Google Forms and Enform vs Tally, or check pricing.
FAQ
How many questions should a newsletter reader survey have?
Five to eight is a good range. Inbox Collective suggests 3 to 5 minutes, says five or six questions is typical, and notes that responses drop off past about 10.
How often should I send a reader survey?
Once a year is common, with the same core score each time so you can compare. Inbox Collective suggests late in the year for the annual survey, plus a short one to new readers a month or two after they sign up.
What response rate should I expect from a newsletter survey?
Inbox Collective suggests aiming for 2% to 5% of your audience. Promote it for several days in the newsletter itself, rather than mentioning it once.
Should reader survey questions be open-ended or multiple choice?
Mostly multiple choice, with one or two open questions. Use open questions where a list would put words in people's mouths, like "what should I write about next?"