The Respondent progress section of the 
Survey launchpad provides live information which allows you to:
- track how many times your survey has been started but not completed; and
- determine on which page(s) your respondents dropped out of the survey.
The Respondent progress table shows you the last page visited by respondents before they left the survey. A number ‘8’ below ‘p.2’, for example, indicates that 8 respondents got to page 2 and then dropped out of the survey.
While a respondent will drop out of a survey for a variety of reasons (e.g. a lost internet connection, an interruption, or a lack of interest in the survey topic), a high drop-out rate for one particular page of your survey could indicate that there is something about the page that is putting respondents off.
If the page that shows a high drop-out rate:
- is very long;
- has a large number of questions; and/or
- has a series of very complex questions (e.g. several grids);
you may wish to consider redesigning the page for future iterations of the survey.
A high drop-out rate on the second last page of your survey could indicate that your instructions are unclear. Remember that a respondent must click on the ‘Finish’ button to submit their answers. If you thank a participant for completing the survey before they have clicked on the ‘Finish’ button, this may confuse them and they may close their browser without submitting their answers.
Two types of respondent progress charts
Respondent progress (all visits)
If you are not tracking respondents using Survey Access Control, then you will be shown just one progress chart titled Respondent Progress (all visits) (see below). Because you are not tracking respondents, this chart will just show you how many times each page of the survey has been accessed. The same individual may have accessed the same pages of a survey more than once.
In the above example of a six-page survey:
- there were three instances of respondents accessing the first page and then leaving the survey.
- there was one instance of respondents moving on to the second page and then abandoning the survey, two instances of respondents continuing to the third etc.
- there were three instances of respondents completing the entire survey and submitting their responses.
Respondent progress (per SAC respondent)
If you are tracking respondents using Survey Access Control, you will be presented with two charts. You’ll be shown the Respondent progress (all visits) chart as above, but you’ll also be shown a chart titled Respondent Progress (per SAC respondent).
This second chart uses a respondent credentials in Survey Access Control to track an individual respondent’s furthest progress.
The above charts show progression in the same survey. But the second chart shows that there are only five unique respondents that have taken part. Unlike the first chart, the second tracks one unique progression, so will provide a better understanding of where respondents have dropped out.