Ideas for Increasing the Response Rate on the Chrisman Survey
From The South-West Texas Border SBDC Network....I just thought I'd reply to all since we all probably need ideas.
Last year we had about a 24% response rate - for the second mailout, we had our centers customize their letters on their letterhead.
This year we hope to be in the 30% range, maybe even higher.
Our survey mailout was completed yesterday!!! YEA!!!
This year I am trying something a little different.
In the Demographic Report area in Soft Share is a field named mail merge export. You can export this list into excel, then do an email.The week before the mailout went out, Isent out an email with the following text:
Dear SBDC Client:
In a few days, you will be receiving an important questionnaire to complete.The survey results support our ability to obtain funding from the State of Texas and the U.S. Small Business Administration, so your feedback is very important.
In 2005 you came to one of the field centers of the South-West Texas Border Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for assistance with starting a business or improving the operations of an existing business. We hope that your needs were addressed promptly and professionally and that the assistance received had a positive impact on your business.
A professional researcher will conduct the analysis and evaluation to ensure impartiality and your anonymity. Under no circumstance will your individual responses be singled out or appear in any report or publication coming from this research.
Thank you again for using the SBDC and your help in making our study a success is greatly appreciated. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Frances Riojas, Assistant Regional Director
Direct number:(210) 458-2453
Of course, some of the emails were returned as invalid. To my surprise, I actually had several (and counting) people respond back to my email saying they would be glad to complete the survey. I've also had a few phone calls. We will also follow-up with random phone calls for people who did not have an email listed (you can sort this list). Our second mailout will come from our centers and have customized letterhead and envelopes. In my opinion, I really think it helps if you give them a "person's name and contact info" for them to contact if they have any questions. Hope this increases our response rate even higher this year….
Hope this helps!
Hi Katie,
We didn't get a good response last time, partially because a lot of them were incorrect addresses. So on the 3rd attempt, we had a student worker make phone calls. We stopped at 12% response because we ran out of time. But she probably could have increased that return much more. As a result, she got some good insight beyond the survey.
Duane Fladland
New Mexico SBDC
Kate,
We did a blast email last year too, and saw some improvement in our response rate. We’re doing it again this year. Also, we had been trying to save money in previous years and went to using recycled paper, printing only in black, etc. I think people tended to ignore the mail more. Last year, we went back to nice bond, color letterhead and envelopes. Small things, but I think they add up.