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JANUARY 2003
CAN RESPONSE
RATES BY MAIL/TELEPHONE BE IMPROVED?
Over
the course of the last few years, response rates to traditional mail surveys
have slipped. Several reasons have been offered to help understand this
problem.
Most
importantly, the variety of competing demands for time has made the completion
of a mail survey a more problematic ordeal.
The consumer
(as is the businessperson, physician, etc.) nowadays has a host of alternatives
with which to deal. The necessity for greater production demands at the
office, the rapid growth of e-mail, the barrage of telemarketing, more
"junk mail," and family demands are all causal variables pointing to this
problem.
Dr. Paul
Erdos traced the first "mail survey" in the new world back to 1577 when
King Philip II of Spain decided to conduct a census of his new world possessions.
In effect this was a mail survey by official courier, since mail service
in our sense was not as yet known. In all likelihood, the 1960 Census
of the United States provided the major impetus for the acceptance of
the mail survey. Since that time, major strides have been taken to bring
about a better mail survey.
We have
substantially improved our methods for sampling, for questionnaire construction,
for printing, and for mailing. Producing a professional mail survey can
be readily accomplished.
Beta
has previously produced several documents indicating how to raise response
rates by mail. Heretofore we have concentrated on the following:
- the outside envelope;
- the pre-alert or advance mailing;
- printing on recycled paper;
- lifting response
rates via monetary incentives;
- effectiveness of
donations to charities.
Immediately after the disaster of September 11, 2001 we conducted a series
of studies that concluded:
- An advance postcard
notification, with the name and phone number of a contact person that
can verify survey validity, in combination with a response envelope
with live postage, increases respondent confidence and results in higher
response rates.
- Hand addressing
of envelopes does not increase response rates. In fact, when interviewing
non-responding recipients by telephone, they seemed to suggest a suspicion
of where the package came from. Continued research here is necessary.
- No labels for outgoing
#9, #10 or #11 envelopes.
- A Peel 'N Seal
(e.g., self-sealing) envelope had no real positive effect.
- Indicate membership
in the Better Business Bureau on envelope.
- Use a better grade
of paper.
- Use off-color envelope
to distinguish the mail-piece from others.
- Mail flat when
possible instead of folding in thirds.
- Before mailing,
check all lists on databases for proper geographic representation, spelling,
abbreviations, lack of specific name, etc.
- Mailing via metered
postage is nearly as effective as "live" first-class postage.
- Do not use see-through
envelopes and be certain any incentive cannot be seen through the envelope.
- Because business/physician
mail is often screened, the recipient must regard the package as "important."
- Print the cover
letter on the same paper stock and color as the envelope.
- Cover letters were
tested utilizing black, blue, red, green, brown and purple ink for the
signature. Unless the signature is designed to match a particular logo
color, the standard black or blue signature should be used.
- A two-color, laser-printed
cover letter is more effective.
- The cover letter
is important. Keep it as short as possible with special emphasis placed
on the introduction and the postscript.
- Use easily readable
type size for both the cover letter and the questionnaire.
- Hand sign the letter
if utilizing a small sample size (fewer than 500) or sending to an extremely
difficult population to get to (e.g. CEOs, Thoracic Surgeons).
- When using commemorative
postage avoid controversial topics (e.g. planned parenthood, religion).
- Try to avoid open-end
questions on page 1.
- "Live" return postage
pulls about 3-4% better than BREs.
- We prefer respondents
to receive survey packets from Wednesday to Friday; therefore, mailing
on Friday or Saturday is preferrable.
- Whereas, several
years ago, 80% of all return mail from the first mailing was checked-in
within 18 days, it is now necessary to extend this time frame to 24
days. Therefore second mailings should be scheduled accordingly.
- Incentives other
than cash almost always yield lower response rates.
- Care must be taken
when setting a deadline for return of the questionnaire.
- Priority mail can
increase response rates by 4-6%.
- Never falsely claim
it will "only take a few moments" to complete the survey if it will
take longer.
- Faxing more than
a two-page questionnaire tends to have more problems in the transmission
of the survey, such as missing pages, difficulty of reading answers,
etc.
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TELEPHONE
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We have found
that the introduction should include these messages:
- being a member
of the Better Business Bureau;
- we're not
a telemarketing company;
- offer our
800 telephone number for them to return the call if at all hesitant.
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TELEPHONE/MAIL
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Prior to November
14th, we used an RDD sample to get up-front commitment to fill out
a mail questionnaire. We called 7008 numbers, of which 1831 were
ineligible by virtue of being business or government offices, fax/modem
lines, disconnected, beepers, etc. The remaining 5177 eligible numbers
yielded 993 respondents who agreed to participate - or a yield of
19.2%.
On November
14th, the questionnaire was then mailed out to the 993 who agreed
to fill it out. The package mailed was the same as that used for
the control cell in Test I. As was the case with Test I, the fieldwork
was concluded on December 19th. Of the 993 mailed, we received completed
questionnaires from 659 - or a 66.4% return rate. The demographic
profile of the respondents was similar to that for the other test
cells. While one can also conclude the net response rate was 12.7%,
we believe that for certain populations this method may have applicability,
in that it provides a way to undertake at reasonable cost, research
that would otherwise be cost prohibitive.
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SUMMARY
OF TESTS
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Use of advance
postcards and identification of a contact with whom survey validity
can be confirmed increase response to mail surveys. While a telephone
pre-recruit generates relatively low response rates in the initial
phase, it yields high rates of cooperation in the second phase,
and provides a relatively cost-effective way to survey low incidence
populations or to conduct surveys where the cost/survey administered
is unusually high. All other factors being equal (e.g., good lists,
interesting subject matter, educated questionnaire design, etc.),
we find the following:
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APPROXIMATE
RATE EXPECTED - ONE MAILING
5 Years Ago vs. Present
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Subscribers with Client Identified
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| 5
YEARS AGO |
Charity
|
$1.00
|
$2.00
|
$5.00
|
| 2-page
questionnaire |
33-40%
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55-65%
|
60-65%
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65-75%
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| 4-page
questionnaire |
30-35%
|
50-55%
|
55-60%
|
60-70%
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| 8-page
questionnaire |
25-30%
|
35-40%
|
35-45%
|
50-60%
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|
| PRESENT |
Charity
|
$1.00
|
$2.00
|
$5.00
|
| 2-page
questionnaire |
26-35%
|
35-40%
|
40-45%
|
50-60%
|
| 4-page
questionnaire |
20-30%
|
30-35%
|
35-40%
|
44-55%
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| 8-page
questionnaire |
15-25%
|
24-00%
|
26-30%
|
35-50%
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|
Physicians
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| 5
YEARS AGO |
Charity
|
$1.00
|
$2.00
|
$5.00
|
| 2-page
questionnaire |
25-30%
|
35-50%
|
45-55%
|
55-70%
|
| 4-page
questionnaire |
20-25%
|
30-40%
|
35-45%
|
45-60%
|
| 8-page
questionnaire |
10-20%
|
23-33%
|
25-35%
|
35-50%
|
|
|
|
| PRESENT |
Charity
|
$1.00
|
$2.00
|
$5.00
|
| 2-page
questionnaire |
17-25%
|
25-35%
|
30-38%
|
32-40%
|
| 4-page
questionnaire |
14-20%
|
20-30%
|
20-30%
|
23-33%
|
| 8-page
questionnaire |
8-15%
|
15-25%
|
15-25%
|
20-27%
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An "Elite" Business Group with Client Identified
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| 5
YEARS AGO |
Charity
|
$1.00
|
$2.00
|
$5.00
|
| 2-page
questionnaire |
30-35%
|
40-45%
|
45-55%
|
55-70%
|
| 4-page
questionnaire |
27-33%
|
35-40%
|
40-50%
|
50-65%
|
| 8-page
questionnaire |
20-25%
|
30-35%
|
35-40%
|
45-55%
|
|
|
|
| PRESENT |
Charity
|
$1.00
|
$2.00
|
$5.00
|
| 2-page
questionnaire |
22-27%
|
28-34%
|
33-38%
|
40-50%
|
| 4-page
questionnaire |
20-25%
|
25-28%
|
30-35%
|
37-42%
|
| 8-page
questionnaire |
15-20%
|
20-25%
|
25-30%
|
30-35%
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Additionally,
we find:
- Two new single
$1 bills are more effective than a $2 bill.
- Response rates
will generally be 5-10% higher if the sponsor is identified rather than
only providing the name of the research house (except with lapsed customers).
- An additional donation
to a charity of choice can sometimes raise response rate 1-3%.
- Justified proportional
typesetting is quite important as is printing on 100% rag white or off-white
paper.
- A perceived importance
to the sponsor (The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Glaxo SmithKline,
etc.) enhances response rate and often negates the necessity of an advance
postcard.
- Respondent interest
in subject matter will increase response rates by 5-10% or more.
For
further information, please contact:
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