Your questionnaire is finished and you’re ready to send it out. All that’s missing are the few lines at the top: the text everyone reads before they see the first question.
Those lines decide how many people start at all. They aren’t a foreword or a polite formality. They’re the moment someone decides to take part or close the tab. The catch is that most welcome messages manage to be too long and too vague at the same time.
Depending on the survey, a welcome message needs up to six pieces of information: a short greeting, who is asking, what it’s about, how long it takes, what happens to the answers (including a note that taking part is voluntary) and one sentence on why it’s worth joining in. Three to five sentences are enough to cover all of that.
📌 Key points at a glance
- Three to five sentences are enough for a welcome message.
- The purpose goes in the first two sentences.
- The time you announce is a promise, not an estimate.
- Only promise anonymity if your tool actually delivers it.
- The privacy notice and consent go on a separate page straight afterwards.
- In empirio.ai, you switch on the welcome page with a single click.
Create a survey for free
With empirio.ai you can create a modern online survey in minutes — with hosting in the EU.
- AI-built survey
- Adjust by drag & drop
- Real-time analysis
What is a survey welcome message and how is it different from the invitation?
A welcome message is the text that appears in a survey before the first question. It has one job: to turn an opened link into a started survey. Anything that doesn’t serve that job can go.
Anyone who clicks the link has three questions in mind at that moment. Who wants this from me? How long will it take? And can I answer honestly without it coming back to bite me? If the text answers those three questions, it has done its job.
In this employee survey, the introduction answers all three: the employees’ own company is asking, it takes ten to twelve minutes to complete and the answers are analysed anonymously.
The order matters here. The purpose belongs in the first two sentences, because people who only find out in the third sentence what it’s all about have often stopped reading by then. An opening such as “As part of an internal needs assessment, we would like to …” still gives nothing away after two sentences. “We’re rethinking next year’s club meetings and want to know which day suits you” says it straight away.
Not to be confused with the invitation
The welcome message sits inside the survey itself. The invitation comes first and makes sure people click the survey link in the first place. How people reach your survey determines how much the invitation can already explain:
- By email or message: The invitation has room for the sender, purpose, time needed and deadline. The welcome message can then be shorter, because much of it is already known.
- Within an online journey: for example after a purchase in an online shop, in a customer account or via a prompt on a website. Here the invitation is often just one sentence and a button, so the welcome message has to supply the key details itself.
- Via QR code: on a noticeboard, a flyer or a restaurant table. There’s usually only a single line next to the code, so the welcome message carries almost everything.
The rule of thumb: the less the invitation explains, the more the welcome message has to do, and vice versa.
An example: you create a survey and post the link in a WhatsApp group. In your message you explain what it’s about and why it matters that everyone takes part. In that case you no longer need a detailed welcome message in the survey itself. A short sentence on how long it takes is enough. Or you go straight to the questions. That way everyone gets to the point quickly.
It’s a different story if the link can do the rounds without your message, for instance because people forward it. Then the core details, meaning who is asking, what it’s about and how long it takes, still belong at the start of the survey.
6 things to include in a survey welcome message
What exactly goes into your welcome message depends on the kind of survey you’re running and how people get to it. A quick poll in a WhatsApp group needs little more than the time it takes. An employee survey, on the other hand, has to spell out who will see the answers.
The three questions participants ask themselves lead to six details at most. Pick the ones your survey needs. More details don’t make the text more trustworthy. They just make it longer.
- A greeting in one sentence, without titles or stock phrases.
- Who is asking, with the name of the person or organisation.
- What it’s about, in one sentence and without jargon.
- How long it takes, as a number of minutes.
- What happens to the answers and that taking part is voluntary.
- Why it’s worth taking part, specific and without exaggeration.
Two of these points carry the most weight. The time needed, because it decides whether people drop out. And what happens to the answers, because that determines how honestly people respond.
A privacy notice is not the same as the sentence “your answers will be analysed anonymously”. As soon as a club, a university or a company is asking, you also need a privacy notice and consent. They don’t belong in the welcome message but on a separate page straight after it, which puts them before the first question on your topic. There’s more on this further down.
Four survey welcome messages to adapt
The four examples below cover the situations people ask about most often. Each one is as short as it can be. You can use them word for word and just replace the details in square brackets.
What all four have in common: no formal titles, no long run-up before the actual point and a number for the time needed. What differs is the reason to take part. It depends on who benefits from the results.
Customer survey
In a customer survey, brevity comes first, because someone who has just bought something doesn’t want a second task. Two minutes is the upper limit. Anonymity needs to be stated explicitly. Otherwise hardly anyone will write down criticism, which is exactly what you’re running the survey for. Everything else can wait.
Hello,
We’re [company name] and we’d like to know what we’re doing well and what we could do better. The survey has ten questions and takes about two minutes.
Your answers are analysed anonymously, so no individual response can be traced back to you.
Thank you for taking the time!
Start now
You’ll find a ready-made survey for this in our customer survey template.
Note
With a customer survey in particular, you might even consider leaving out the welcome altogether. If your invitation email or a notice on your website has already brought your customers up to speed, they know who is asking and what it’s about. The survey can then start straight away with the first question. That saves a click and works especially well for short surveys, such as those sent right after a purchase. If you collect personal data, you still need the privacy notice.
Employee survey
In an employee survey, the tricky part isn’t the length but trust. The text has to say who will see the answers and from what group size results are reported. Without those two details, part of the team will play it safe and give neutral answers. The survey then tells you nothing in precisely the areas it was meant to shed light on.
Hello,
We’re the HR team and we’d like to know how satisfied you are with your day-to-day work and where things get stuck. The survey takes around ten minutes and is voluntary.
Your answers are analysed anonymously and your line manager won’t see individual responses. Results are only reported for groups of five or more.
We’ll share the results with everyone and agree on next steps together.
Start now
The right questions for the main part are already in our employee satisfaction template.
Dissertation survey
In a survey for your dissertation, a single person is asking. It’s fine for the text to show that. Your university and topic build trust. Saying that you’ll delete the data after submission eases the worry that it might linger somewhere. Adding your own email address at the end costs nothing and comes across as more committed than any assurance.
Hello,
I’m writing my undergraduate dissertation on [topic] at [university] and would really value your views. The survey has 18 questions and takes about four minutes.
I’ll analyse all answers anonymously and delete them once my dissertation has been submitted.
If you have any questions, you can reach me at [email address].
Start now
To see how the rest of the questionnaire can meet academic standards, take a look at the dissertation questionnaire template.
Club or group survey
Here the reason to take part lies with the respondents themselves. That’s exactly what belongs in the text. People who know they’re helping to choose their own meeting day have a better reason to click than someone who’s simply offered a voucher. It also helps to say when and where the results will be presented, because that turns the promise into something people can check.
Hi everyone,
We’re rethinking our monthly meetings for next year and don’t want to decide over your heads. Twelve questions, about three minutes.
We’ll present the results at the AGM. The more of you take part, the more likely the new day will suit most people.
Start now
For a bigger survey of your club or society, there’s our club member survey template.
The biggest difference between the four messages lies in the reason to take part. In the customer survey it’s the prospect that criticism gets heard and something improves. In the club survey it’s having a say in your own meeting day. Miss that reason and you end up with a polite sentence that moves nobody.
How long a survey welcome message should be
Three to five sentences, short enough to be visible on a phone without scrolling. This isn’t a question of style. A text that fills half a phone screen doesn’t get read. It gets skipped along with the time needed and the note on anonymity.
If you have more to say, this isn’t the place for it. Detailed explanations of the topic or of key terms belong on a separate page after the welcome. Details of how the data is processed go in the privacy notice.
A test that always works: read the text out loud. If it takes you longer than twenty seconds, it’s too long. And if you stumble over a sentence as you read, rewrite it rather than defend it.
Create a survey for free
With empirio.ai you can create a modern online survey in minutes — with hosting in the EU.
- AI-built survey
- Adjust by drag & drop
- Real-time analysis
Common mistakes in survey welcome messages
The following five mistakes come up again and again. Most of them are quick to fix before you send the link.
What they have in common is that they don’t come from carelessness but from good intentions. Playing down the time needed is meant to avoid putting anyone off. That’s exactly why these mistakes rarely stand out when you proofread your own text.
The time needed is guessed rather than measured
“Only takes two minutes” is simply wrong if there are 30 questions. People then drop out halfway through the questionnaire. Fill it in once yourself, time it and add half as much again. As the person who knows the questionnaire best, you read faster than anyone else, which makes you the worst benchmark for how long it takes.
Shaving the figure down doesn’t help either. Mirta Galesic and Michael Bosnjak showed that announcing a longer completion time leads to fewer people starting and fewer questionnaires being completed (Galesic and Bosnjak 2009, Public Opinion Quarterly). The lesson is a shorter questionnaire, not a nicer number in the text.
Also put the number of questions in the text, not just the minutes. “Twelve questions, about three minutes” can be checked. “Won’t take long” can’t. The number feels more binding because people see it confirmed as they go, or not.
Anonymity is promised but not delivered
The text says “completely anonymous”, while in the background the tool stores IP addresses and the questionnaire asks for department and age. Check your settings before you use the word. What anonymous really means is explained in our article on anonymous surveys.
The text explains the method instead of the purpose
“As part of a quantitative study using a standardised questionnaire” means nothing to participants. They want to know what’s being decided, not which method you’re using. The sentence usually comes from the methodology chapter, where it’s perfectly correct. In a welcome message it costs half of people’s attention for zero information.
There’s no reason to take part
Without a reason, all that’s left is politeness. In a survey, that’s rarely enough. The reason doesn’t have to be a prize draw. “We’ll present the results at the AGM” works better with club members than a voucher, because taking part then visibly changes something. An outside incentive can’t replace that.
The welcome and the questions strike different tones
If your welcome is relaxed and chatty but your questions sound like an official form, it reads as if two different people wrote them. Decide on one tone and stick to it, in the answer options and on the final page too. The break happens most often when questions are copied from an older survey without being read through again.
Adding the welcome message to your survey
In most survey tools, the welcome message isn’t a question but a page of its own before the questions. That matters, because a text question with no answer options can show up in your analysis as an unanswered question and distort the completion rate.
In empirio.ai, you switch on this start page in the editor with the welcome page toggle at the top of the sidebar. You can then edit the heading and text directly in the preview and add an image if you like. The start button is already included.
Two more steps are worth taking afterwards. Open the preview on your phone and check that the text is visible without scrolling. And read it out to someone who doesn’t know the topic, then ask them what the survey is about.
Note
In empirio.ai, the welcome page automatically appears before the first question. You can switch it off again at any time without touching the questions. You add the privacy and consent statement as a separate page straight after it, ready-made and in one click.
What else belongs in the introduction besides the welcome
The welcome message is the biggest part of the introduction, but not the only one. Depending on the survey, two more things belong at the start, each on a separate page after the welcome:
- Privacy notice and consent (if needed): As soon as a club, a university or a company is asking, you explain what happens to the data and obtain consent via a tick box. Both come before the first question on your topic.
- Further explanations (optional): If the topic needs more context, explain after the welcome exactly what it’s about and how you understand the key terms. In an employee survey, for example, that might mean: “By line manager we mean your direct team leader, not senior management.”
That keeps the welcome short while still giving all respondents the same information before they answer. How the start page, privacy page and explanations fit together is covered in our article on how to structure a survey.
Conclusion
A good welcome message is shorter than you think and more specific than you dare. Three to five sentences, a number for the time needed, an honest sentence about the answers and a reason that matters to your respondents rather than to you. Anything beyond that costs you participants.
If you’re not sure whether a sentence still belongs, cut it and test the text on someone who doesn’t know the topic. If they understand what it’s about within twenty seconds, the text is done.
Where to go next
- Want to know what comes after the introduction? How to structure a survey
- Still need the wording on data protection? Data protection in surveys
- Need the text for the last page? End of Survey: Thank-You Message and Closing Text
- Still looking for participants? Finding survey participants
Welcome page, questions and closing page all in one go?
In empirio.ai, the welcome page and end page are part of the survey. All you do is fill in the text.