FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2003
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:
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
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.
PHASE ONE
Beta Research Corp.
Mailed 500 Per Group |
|
2 PAGE |
4 PAGE |
8 Page |
|
# |
% |
# |
% |
# |
% |
Five $1 bills |
217 |
43.4 |
178 |
35.6 |
147 |
29.4 |
One $5 bill |
206 |
41.2 |
161 |
32.2 |
128 |
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 |
24.0 |
A study of the demographic data revealed no significant differences.
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 |
24.8 |
PHASE TWO
Erdos & Morgan
Mailed 500 Per Group |
|
2 PAGE |
4 PAGE |
8 PAGE |
|
# |
% |
# |
% |
# |
% |
Five $1 bills |
222 |
44.4 |
176 |
35.2 |
149 |
29.8 |
One $5 bill |
211 |
42.2 |
159 |
31.8 |
128 |
25.6 |
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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Beta Research Corp.
Syosset, New York
Contact:
Jason Gorelkin
Chief Executive Officer
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