The Power of Reminders: Driving Survey Completion with the Right Strategy

Sep 26, 2025

Relentlessly nudge users until they finish your surveys. 😀

Collecting feedback through surveys is one of the most effective ways to collect subjective feedback. But while creating a well-designed survey is crucial, ensuring that people actually complete it is an even bigger challenge. This is where Fitrockr Reminders come into play.

We have made reminders flexible so you can decide when and how often you would like to remind participants to complete a survey. In the Fitrockr Research & Control Center, you can now create as many reminders per survey as you want, allowing you to make them an essential part of survey strategy.

Why Reminders Matter

Even highly motivated participants may overlook or postpone filling in a survey. Competing priorities or simply forgetting can quickly derail response rates. Reminders act as gentle nudges that:

– Bring the survey back into the participant’s awareness.

– Reduce procrastination (“I’ll do it later” turns into “I’ll do it now”).

– Signal importance—if the survey is worth reminding, it’s worth completing.

– Show respect for participants’ input by actively seeking their response.

Studies across market research, healthcare, and academic contexts show that well-timed reminders can boost survey response rates by 20–40% compared to a single invitation alone.

Striking the Balance: How Often to Remind

The effectiveness of reminders hinges on balance. Too few, and participants forget. Too many, and you risk frustrating them or causing opt-outs.

Best practices suggest the following cadence:

1. Initial Invitation – this is automatically done by the Fitrockr platform for any survey.

2. First Reminder (50% towards deadline) – a first nudge for those who missed or postponed.

3. Second Reminder (75% towards deadline) – a second reminder for the few left who missed or postponed.”

4. Final Reminder (just before the deadline) – a last chance call.

For longer studies or recurring surveys, spacing reminders weekly or bi-weekly works well, ensuring the topic stays top of mind without overwhelming participants.

Final Thoughts

Reminders are more than follow-ups; they are an essential part of survey strategy. When thoughtfully timed, reminders not only boost completion rates but also improve participant engagement and the quality of collected insights.

The sweet spot? Typically two to three reminders spread across the survey period. Done well, reminders respect participants’ time while ensuring your research gets the attention it deserves.

Ready to rock your project?

Fitrockr is a leading health and fitness data analytics platform that empowers organizations to connect, manage and analyze data from wearables. Designed for research, clinical studies, healthcare, coaching and fitness gamification, Fitrockr enables seamless integration of biometric and activity data, providing deep insights through advanced analytics, dashboards, reports and raw data downloads. Automated alerting, push notifications, surveys and outcome assessments support data collection. With a focus on data privacy, security, and local hosting options, Fitrockr supports global institutions in transforming raw health data into actionable outcomes. Learn more at www.fitrockr.com.