Rules and ethics
How to write a candidate experience survey invitation email
How to write a candidate experience survey invitation email: timing, sender choice, subject lines, reminders, UK GDPR consent and response benchmarks.
What to take away
- Send the invitation within 48 hours of the hiring decision, while the interview is still fresh in the candidate's mind.
- Choose a sender the candidate already knows, and name the survey and the time cost in the subject line.
- Ask for consent separately, with a stated purpose and a retention period, before any question is answered.
- Benchmark against your own previous cycles rather than an outside figure, and send one reminder.
Send the invitation while the interview is still fresh
Timing drives completion more than design. A candidate who is still deciding will answer. A candidate who accepted elsewhere three weeks ago will not.
Send within 48 hours of the outcome for unsuccessful candidates. For hires, send after the first week, so the survey captures early onboarding rather than relief.
Avoid Friday afternoons. Tuesday to Thursday, mid morning, sits above the commute and the evening lull.
Choose a sender the candidate recognises
The from name should match someone the candidate met: the recruiter, the hiring manager, or a named member of the talent team. A generic HR Team address reads like a system message and gets treated as one.
Use a person's name and a reply-to address that reaches that person. Replies often carry richer detail than the survey itself. The practical detail is set out in Recruitment marketing metrics every UK team.
A candidate who writes three paragraphs back to a named recruiter has given you something a five-point scale cannot.
Subject lines that name the survey and the cost
The subject line has two jobs. It identifies the survey and it sets the time expectation. Vague lines get filtered alongside newsletters.
Example
- Named and specific
- Your interview feedback, two minutes
- Interviewer reference
- Priya would value your feedback
- Stage reference
- How was your assessment centre?
Why it works
- Named and specific
- Names the task and the time cost
- Interviewer reference
- Points to a person the candidate met
- Stage reference
- Ties the survey to a recent memory
Consent wording that satisfies UK GDPR
Consent has to be separate, informed and withdrawable. Do not bundle it with a marketing opt-in or with the terms of the application.
State who controls the data, why you want it, what you will do with the answers, and how long you keep them. Offer a one-click withdrawal route in every message. The ICO's guide to GDPR consent sets out what valid consent requires.
If you collect demographic data, keep it optional and separate. The Equality Act 2010 covers protected characteristics, and survey answers should never feed selection scoring.
Reminder cadence
One reminder after four working days. A second after ten days, and only if the sample is small enough that each reply matters.
Never send more than two. Extra reminders raise complaint rates and unsubscribe rates faster than they raise completions.
Example: a three-touch invitation sequence
A three-touch invitation sequence
- Day 0invitation from the named interviewer, sent mid morning, with the survey name and the two-minute cost in the subject line.
- Day 4one reminder from the same sender, sent as a reply on the original thread so the context travels with it.
- Day 10a short close-out note that thanks the candidate either way and repeats the withdrawal route.
Keep the close-out note even when completion is low. It protects the relationship for future roles and costs one email.
Measuring completion by stage
Track completion rate by hiring stage, not just overall. A weak final interview rate usually means the invitation arrived late or the sender was unfamiliar.
ONS employment and employee types data gives context on how many candidates are active in your sector, which helps you read whether a low rate reflects the market or the email.
Once the invitation is written, you need survey questions UK employers ask to fill it. The companion guide covers each hiring stage, UK GDPR consent, the Equality Act 2010 and what to do with the answers.
Common questions
How long should the invitation be?
Three short paragraphs at most, under 120 words in total, with the survey link visible before any scrolling.
Should the survey be anonymous?
Anonymous responses raise honesty on sensitive points but stop you following up. Ask for optional contact details instead of forcing anonymity.
What happens if a candidate withdraws?
Honour the request within one working day, delete the response, and log it so no reminder follows.
Do internal candidates need consent too?
Yes, where answers are stored against a named record. The same rules apply to employees as to external applicants.
