How to Ask Survey Respondents for a Follow-Up Interview

Decide whether you need the original answer

Use a separate signup if you can recruit with a short question in the signup itself. For example, asking volunteers whether they tried the download can help you find people who attempted it. You give up the ability to choose someone based on their exact survey comment, but you avoid building a list that pairs emails with feedback you don't need to attribute.

Sometimes the exact answer matters. If you need to clarify a description of an intermittent error, ask for permission to contact the respondent about that answer and explain that the contact details will be linked to it. Keep the feedback complete even if the person skips the invitation. Decide who can see the linked records and how long you need them before collecting them.

A separate page alone doesn't establish anonymity. Check whether shared IDs, personalized links or other records can reconnect contact details to answers. Describe the actual setup to respondents, including any linkage you intend to use.

Make the invitation clear before asking for an email

Show a confirmation that the feedback was received. Then say who would contact the volunteer, what the conversation would cover, how long it would take and how soon they might hear from you. Let the person leave at that point. A contact field that looks required or a button labeled “Finish survey” can make an optional invitation feel like part of submitting the feedback.

Treat volunteering as permission to send the invitation you described. Explain the session itself before asking someone to take part, including any recording you plan. The GOV.UK Service Manual sets out what participants should understand about the purpose, activity and use of their data before agreeing to research.

Separate recruitment results from survey results

Keep track of how many people saw the invitation, volunteered and took part, where you can count those stages reliably. If people see the invitation but few sign up, check whether they understand the request and can use the form. If they sign up but few take part, look at the delay before outreach, the available time slots and whether people received your message. The first pattern points you toward the invitation or signup. The second points you toward what happens after signup.

Use interviews to investigate possible causes and decide what to test. Interviewees have passed several filters, including seeing the invitation, volunteering and finding time to talk. If three interviewees describe the same obstacle, you have a candidate problem to reproduce. The interviews alone give you no estimate of how often it happens across customers.

Example: find out why customers miss a course download

Suppose a course creator wants to decide whether to move a resource link or investigate an access error. The survey asks what happened when learners tried to get the resource. The creator can recruit separately with one question about whether the person tried the download, since they can ask the volunteer to demonstrate the steps in the interview.

After confirming receipt of the feedback, the creator shows this optional invitation: “Would you show us how you looked for the course download? The course team may email you within two weeks to arrange one 15-minute call.” A button labeled “Volunteer for a 15-minute interview” opens the signup. The feedback stays submitted if the person closes the page.

The creator invites people who found the file as well as people who couldn't. Comparing their paths can reveal whether they began in different places or reached the same link and got different results. If everyone recruited used a desktop, the creator still needs to check the mobile path before drawing a conclusion about it.

Set up the handoff and test both paths

In QuizFlow Labs, use an Open a link action under Outcomes to send interested respondents to a separate signup page. Use a plain destination URL for a signup that does not need the original answer. Review what both pages collect before making any promise about how the two records are handled.

Walk through the flow twice. First, submit feedback and leave without volunteering. Then follow the invitation and check that the signup describes the same conversation and time commitment. If both paths are clear, send the survey with a plan for who will review volunteers and what decision the interviews will inform.