hi, has anyone undertaken a postal survey and looked into increasing response rates via incentives?

I am sending envelopes but responses are slow....I'm considering a reward through a draw system, but would a prize reduce the image of the questionnaire? might it look silly?


any ideas?

Hi Billy,
I used book tokens as an incentive in an on-line questionnaire with no problems - there's plenty of research saying it is fine as long as you're not offering the moon on a stick.
Good luck, Mog (up)

Yes, Amazon vouchers are completely OK, it's a standard thing to do and it really helps to increase response rates. It does not make your research look less serious - I have worked on a survey where they had price draws for respondents and prizes were a weekend in a wellness hotel (for 2 persons!), TV, Ipod...So no worries there! As most of us don't have funds to offer holidays and Ipods, Amazon vouchers are an affordable alternative. Also, offering the respondents to give money to a charity in their name (maybe even a charity of their choice) could be a nice idea? Perhaps you can let us know what you did and how it worked - increasing response rates to surveys is always a hot topic! (up) Good luck!