“Besides having a very busy audience, you are dealing with boundaries of nondisclosure and usually not being able to accept anything of monetary value as an incentive for participating in a survey.”

So what do you offer if you want to send a survey to C-level execs? The article’s got a lot of great advice, like instead of that iPod shuffle, offer to give a donation to their favorite charity, or an executive summary of the research findings.

They’ve got a few tips for copywriting and subject lines, too (I’d just add that you should include your company name in the subject line, to boost recognition).

Executive Survey Invitations: How to Get C-Levels to Respond 

And if you’re interested in putting together an online survey, check out: SurveyMonkey