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July 15,
2003
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BETA RESEARCH CORPORATION
SYOSSET, NEW YORK
Contact:
Rebecca McPheters
President, McPheters & Company
212-744-5085; E-mail: rmcpheters@mcpheters.com
Jerome Kossoff
CEO, Beta Research Corporation
516-935-3800; E-mail: jerome@nybeta.com
What amount of incentive will help raise my survey response
rate?
New York, July 15, 2003:
Beta
Research Corporation, Erdos & Morgan Inc. and McPheters & Company have
just completed a multi-phase test to continue our ongoing efforts to increase
response rates for mail surveys.
What is currently
used?
Incentives for mail studies have used amounts ranging from 25¢ to $1.00
to $2.00 to $5.00. Beta research has tested a variety of incentive amounts
(see previous research) including, most recently, two $1 bills vs. a $2
bill.
Who signs the cover
letter?
Often times, we overlook the importance of the signature on the letter
or the stamp that is used. While we held the stamp constant (regular US
37¢ flag), we alternated two signatures across the studies:
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Diane Clark,
Director of Research
Beta Research Wave I, Erdos & Morgan Wave II
Nicholas Ferrari,
Director of Research
Beta Research Wave II, Erdos & Morgan Wave I
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What is being measured?
Our current test compares: 1) the impact of five $1 bills against a single
$5 bill among a matched sample for 500 for a variety of questionnaire
lengths (see chart below), and 2) a female non-ethnic signature vs. a
male ethnic signature.
How is it being
conducted?
Hoping to avoid "chance" differences, the same experimental design was
set forth for Beta Research Corporation and Erdos and Morgan Inc. utilizing
the same general questionnaire for each company.
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PHASE
ONE
|
| |
BETA
RESEARCH CORP.
MAILED 500 PER GROUP
|
|
2
PAGE
|
4
PAGE
|
8
PAGE
|
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
|
Five
$1 bills
|
217
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43.4
|
178
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35.6
|
147
|
29.4
|
|
One
$5 bill
|
206
|
41.2
|
161
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32.2
|
128
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25.6
|
|
PHASE
ONE
|
| |
ERDOS
& MORGAN
MAILED 500 PER GROUP
|
|
2
PAGE
|
4
PAGE
|
8
PAGE
|
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
|
Five
$1 bills
|
209
|
41.8
|
169
|
33.8
|
136
|
27.2
|
|
One
$5 bill
|
204
|
40.8
|
149
|
29.8
|
120
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24.0
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A study of the demographic
data revealed no significant differences.
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PHASE
TWO
|
| |
BETA
RESEARCH CORP.
MAILED 500 PER GROUP
|
|
2
PAGE
|
4
PAGE
|
8
PAGE
|
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
|
Five
$1 bills
|
210
|
42.0
|
171
|
34.2
|
142
|
28.4
|
|
One
$5 bill
|
213
|
42.6
|
152
|
30.4
|
124
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24.8
|
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PHASE
TWO
|
| |
ERDOS
& MORGAN
MAILED 500 PER GROUP
|
|
2
PAGE
|
4
PAGE
|
8
PAGE
|
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
|
Five
$1 bills
|
222
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44.4
|
176
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35.2
|
149
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29.8
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|
One
$5 bill
|
211
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42.2
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159
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31.8
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128
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25.6
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What did we learn?
A) Five $1 dollar bills consistently generated higher response rates
than a $5.00 bill. This result held for 11 of 12 paired comparisons.
B) A female non-ethnic name appears to help generate a higher response
rate than an ethnic male name.
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