As an HR manager, you already have a lot on your plate – constantly managing the employees, overseeing recruitment, training, payroll, compliance, and whatnot.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that getting employees to participate in surveys (on top of all that) stresses you out.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through 11 employee survey invitation email templates so that you can quickly create invites that actually work. We’ll also show you how to write the perfect subject line that packs the punch along with some useful tips.
What Is the Best Way To Ask Employees To Complete a Survey?
This is probably the first question that pops into your mind. Because let’s be real—asking each employee to complete surveys is some work cut out. It’s frustrating and time-consuming and doesn’t really guarantee results.
That’s why it’s best to send out an online survey invitation (usually in the form of an email) asking employees to take some time out and do the needful.
This has multiple benefits:
- You can quickly reach everyone with a single bulk email.
- Everyone gets the same message, which helps keep the tone consistent across the company.
- Employees can complete the survey at their own convenience while maintaining privacy.
- You can easily track who has completed the survey and send reminder emails to those who haven’t.
However, an employee survey invitation is more than just sending an email. There’s a lot that goes into creating the right invitation:
- You need to choose the right time to hit send so that respondents feel relaxed and ready to share their feedback.
- Besides emails, you can also leverage other communication channels to boost participation. Offering incentives (such as a gift card) could be an overkill, but still a great way to increase survey responses.
- Setting the right tone goes a long way in motivating employees to take the survey. It’s important they don’t feel forced.
- The survey invitation must convey the importance of the survey so that employees don’t consider it “just another task”. They should understand that their response can directly influence decisions made at the top.
- The invitation should contain all the necessary information regarding the upcoming survey. For example, how long it takes to complete the survey, confidentiality, when the survey closes, etc.
Remember, the right timing and clear communication are key to a successful survey invitation!
11 Employee Survey Invitation Email Templates
Different types of employee surveys require different invitation formats. That’s why we’ve gathered 11 best sample emails asking employees to take a survey:
You can easily copy, paste, and edit these email examples as per your liking.
1. General employee satisfaction survey invitation email template
| Subject: Your Opinion = A Better Workplace Dear [Employee Name], We’re always looking for ways to make [Company Name] a better place to work, and we’d love to hear from YOU! Please take a few minutes to complete our employee satisfaction survey. [Survey Link] This is a completely anonymous survey and it takes less than 5 minutes to complete. Thank you for your time. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
2. New hire feedback survey invitation email template
| Subject: We’d Love To Hear About Your New Hire Experience! Hi [Employee Name], Welcome to [Company Name]! We hope your time here has been off to a great start! Now that you’ve settled in, we’d love to hear about your onboarding experience. Please take a few minutes to complete our new hire feedback survey. [Survey Link] Your insight will help us make onboarding even smoother for future team members. Thank you for your time and input! Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
3. Employee suggestion survey invitation email template
| Subject: Got Any Ideas? We’re Listening! Hi [Employee Name], At [Company Name], we’re always on the lookout for suggestions that could improve our products and services. Please take a moment to share your thoughts: [Survey Link] Your input will help us create a more innovative workplace! Thank you for participating. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
4. Remote work experience survey invitation email template
| Subject: How’s Working From Home? Let Us Know! Hi [Employee Name], We care about your well-being while working remotely, and would love to hear how things are going. Please share your thoughts in our remote work experience survey so we can continue to improve our remote work setup. [Survey Link] Thank you for your feedback. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
5. Post-event feedback survey invitation email template
| Subject: How Was [Event Name]? We’d Love Your Feedback! Dear [Employee Name], We hope you enjoyed [event name]. To ensure our future events are even better, please complete our post-event feedback survey. [Survey Link] Your feedback is important to us, and we appreciate your time! Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
6. Pulse survey invitation email template
| Subject: Help Us Stay On Track—Take Our Pulse Survey! Dear [Employee Name], We’re doing a quick pulse check to see how things are going across the team. This survey will only take 2 minutes—so please fill it out and help us stay informed. [Survey Link] Thank you for sharing your feedback. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
7. Employee engagement survey invitation email template
| Subject: How Engaged Do You Feel? Tell Us How We Can Help Dear [Employee Name], At [Company Name], we’re focused on creating an engaging work environment and we want to hear your perspective. Please take a few minutes to fill out our employee engagement survey and tell us how we can better support you. [Survey Link] Your insights are valuable to us. Thank you for participating. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
8. Employee training survey invitation email template
| Subject: Share Your Training Experience! Dear [Employee Name], We hope you found your recent training session valuable. To help us improve our future training programs, please take a moment to complete the survey given below. It will only take 5 minutes. [Survey Link] Thank you for your suggestions. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
9. Leadership feedback survey invitation email template
| Subject: You Can Help Improve Our Leadership Effort Hi [Employee Name], At [Company Name], we’re committed to strengthening leadership and fostering open communication. To help us get there, we need your input via our leadership feedback survey. [Survey Link] Your feedback is completely confidential. We appreciate your participation. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
10. Exit interview survey invitation email template
| Subject: Share Your Experience At [Company Name] In Our Exit Interview Survey Hi [Employee Name], We’d love to hear about your experience at [Company Name] as you transition out. Please take a moment to fill out our exit interview survey. Your honest feedback will help us create a better workplace for everyone. [Survey Link] Thank you for helping us grow. We wish you luck in your future endeavors. Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
11. Diversity and inclusion survey invitation email template
| Subject: Let’s Build A More Inclusive Culture Together! Hi [Employee Name], We’re working to enhance diversity and inclusion at [Company Name], and we want to hear from you. Please take a few minutes to complete our survey and share your thoughts on how we can improve. [Survey Link] Your input will help us build a more inclusive environment for everyone. Thank you for being a part of this important initiative! Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Position] |
What Should the Subject of an Employee Survey Invitation Email Template Be?
“When it comes to employee survey invitations, you’d want something that immediately conveys the purpose of the email while making it compelling enough for the employees to click through.”
Vineet Gupta – Founder, 2xSaS
Most people think it’s important to have an email subject line that’s unique, creative, and attention-grabbing. While that is true, the most significant quality of a good subject line is its ability to convey more in less.
So, if you’re wondering what should the subject of an employee survey email template be, here are some tips to help you achieve that:
- Be clear and not overly creative. Your employees should understand what the email is about at first glance.
- Including a call-to-action (CTA) adds a sense of urgency to the email. This way, you can encourage survey participants to act now instead of delaying the survey.
- An ideal email subject line should communicate the importance of their valuable feedback. Use phrases like “Your voice matters” or “We value your feedback” in the subject line to show how much their individual responses matter.
- If you’re worried your employees might skip the survey thinking it will take too much time, highlight the time commitment in the subject line. Let them know what to expect with something like “Help us improve in just 2 minutes.”
- Personalized email subject lines foster a sense of connection, adding an overall friendly tone to the mail. For instance, if you’re a big data solutions company, you can write “Hey [Employee Name]! We’d love your feedback on the Data Analytics and AI Integration Training.”
- Always A/B test your email subject lines to see which one gets more open rates.
How do you write a survey invitation email?
As we said before, writing an employee survey invitation is more than just asking employees to take a survey. It’s about communicating the value of their feedback while making the process as seamless as possible for them.
So, how do you write a survey invitation email?
Besides the above 11 employee survey invitation email templates (that you can always customize), here are some important tips to keep in mind while drafting such invitations:
- Start with a personalized greeting to establish a human connection with the recipient. You can either directly address the employee by their name or go with something like “Hey Team” to add that personal touch.
- Explain the purpose of your survey—what it is about and why you’re conducting it. Employees will only participate when they understand how the survey results will be used. For example, if you’re preparing an employee professional development training survey, explain in brief how (and why) it aims to gather collective employee opinion on the training program.
- Employees are more likely to fill out the survey honestly when they understand why their feedback matters. So, make sure your email survey invitation highlights the benefits of sharing employee experience.
- Most employees hesitate to complete a survey when they are unsure about its confidentiality. Your survey invitation should clarify whether it is an anonymous survey. And in case it’s not, you must reassure the respondents that the survey data will be used ethically.
- Provide clear instructions regarding the survey and include the link in a way that makes it stand out in the survey invitation. (You can refer to our invitation templates for that.)
- If you cannot include the time commitment in the email subject line, always ensure to mention it in the survey invitation. Most importantly, be honest about it. However, avoid using spammy phrases like “urgent”, “act now”, “deadline”, etc.
- Finally, express your gratitude and appreciation to employees for taking the time to complete the survey. Reassure them that their feedback is integral to the success of the company.
- Don’t stress about adding too many details or over-explaining yourself in the survey invitation. Be clear, crisp, and straightforward. Approach the employees in a friendly tone and keep it short.
What’s Next?
Customizing employee survey invitation email templates and sending them out is just the precursor. The real work begins after that.
The first thing you must do is follow up with employees who haven’t filled out the survey yet and encourage them to do the needful with reminder emails.
Next, gather all your survey responses to understand the feedback and identify any common threads (if any).
The most important step is to turn the survey results into action. Use employee insights to make the necessary changes in areas like leadership, training programs, employee engagement, employee experience, etc.
Lastly, don’t forget to maintain transparency and communicate the improvements to the employees to build trust. You can follow up again after some time to measure the effectiveness of the implemented changes (such as through an NPS survey) and see if there’s scope for further improvement.