Abstract

The first impression on most household survey respondents, advance letter design, is paramount in gaining cooperation – especially in online self-completion. The main approaches, the ‘old’ formal, mandatory approach and the ‘new’ respondent-centred approach with behavioural science techniques were combined at the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. This ‘new-old’ official design employs authoritative tone, purposefully complicated text, legal references, pressing nudges, austere graphics, etc. in a tweaked behavioural science framework so as to harness the potential of the mandatory approach in voluntary participation surveys. Initial experiments proved that the ‘new-old’ formal design performs drastically better than semi-formal alternatives. Priority mailing added further significant amplification to the effect of the formal design.
The two split-sample experiments in the present study with further improved push-to-web letter designs and additional postage modes of formal letters reinforced previous results in a CAWI setting. The authoritative/formal design yielded significantly better response rate and response quality than a semi-formal letter, tailored to target young respondents, as well as a novel ‘honest’, trust-inducing design. The latter was to inform in a candid, open way, entirely avoid manipulative features, and express trust by sharing uncomfortable facts (e.g. out-of-date databases necessitate conducting the survey). Priority mailing of formal letters increased cooperation significantly in comparison with the ordinary mail condition, with the additional benefit of more prompt responding. Registered postage performed similarly, but with much higher unit costs. The study also demonstrated the disadvantages of early posting (timing the delivery of ordinary postage invitations before online completion goes live).
In sum, thinking more ‘inside our box’ is useful in designing effective push-to-web advance letters: in contrast with semi-formal, ‘respondent centred’ letters, formal advance letter designs harvest core, official characteristics of NSOs. This authenticity might be essential in gaining cooperation as it probably aligns better with general respondent expectations towards (statistical) offices, superseding respondent ‘preferences’ or ‘needs’. Spectacular instant boosts notwithstanding, ethical aspects and long-term effects of the authoritative style may be controversial. Developing an authentic but ‘honest’ design might be an avenue for future research.