NOTE: These results have also been featured by Quirk's Magazine and The Marketing Research Association.
Accelerant Research recently conducted a survey among 1,741
Americans on the subject of survey invitations to identify the most and least
invasive ways for insights organizations to solicit feedback. Participants were asked to rate a series of
outbound survey invitation methods on a 10-point scale where 1 was “Completely
Unacceptable” and 10 was “Completely Acceptable.”
FINDINGS
Recent changes to the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection
Act (TCPA) have been a very hot topic among research and polling firms in
recent months, and rightfully so. Second
to only door-to-door research (57% of consumers find door-to-door completely
unacceptable), telephone invitations – particularly robocalls (44% completely
unacceptable to mobile phone; 43% completely unacceptable to landline) – are
viewed by consumers as the least acceptable means to contact participants for research
studies. Telephone survey invitations
from a live operator are perceived as less invasive than robocalls (40%
completely unacceptable to mobile; 35% completely unacceptable to landline),
and calls to a landline are more acceptable than to a mobile phone, in general. A far less invasive means to reach survey participants
via mobile phone is text messaging (26% completely unacceptable).
Although more acceptable than telephone calls, door-to-door,
or intercepts while dining at a restaurant, invitations via either social media
or downloaded app direct messaging and online pop-up ads are viewed as
completely unacceptable by one in three consumers (33% and 32%, respectively). Somewhat less invasive are intercept
interviews (either in-aisle at a retailer or exit interviews at
restaurants/retailers). Fewer than one in
five consumers perceive these methods as completely unacceptable (18% for both).
The least invasive means to solicit survey feedback are via
US Mail, point-of-sale printed receipts, and email invitations. Fewer than 5% of consumers find any of these
methods to be completely unacceptable.
IMPLICATIONS
As always, the corporate insights manager must weigh the
pros and cons when selecting a methodology for a given research study. However, tradeoff examinations are often
related only to study costs and timing.
It is important to also consider to what extent you are inconveniencing
your participants --particularly when you are conducting research among
existing customers where your brand is identified as the research sponsor. Prior to moving forward with any research
method, you should understand the method’s legal implications. For example, if you are sending out text
message survey invitations to customers, it is vital to make sure that all
recipients have properly opted-in to receiving such invitations. Make sure that you (or the research supplier
you are partnering with) are compliant with the latest
TCPA rules, as well as other federal or state regulations.
Finally, it is always important to also understand which
survey method will allow you to reach your desired sample size. While US mail and POS receipt print methods
are far less invasive, their conversion rates can also be lower than other
methods. That is to say, in some cases,
you have no choice but to use a more invasive survey method in order to
complete your study. However, when doing
so, always be sensitive to your participants’ time and convenience.
About this Study:
Using its proprietary Agora USA consumer insights panel, Accelerant Research conducted this survey among a demographically representative sample of 1,741 Americans 18 years of age or older. For more information about this study, please contact Accelerant Research at info@accelerantresearch.com.
