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Show Me the Money "How great of an effect does incentive really have on response rate?"
One of the subtle thrills in launching a
quantitative study is the fact that one gets the chance to stare into the
randomly uniform realm of mass numbers and statistics. A portion of which ultimately effects response
rate which in turn has a strong effect on outcome of the study.
The objective, bottom line approach of quantitative
studies is-- as Chris spoke to in October's edition-- their immediate appeal. However, for a rather straightforward and objective
approach to research, quantitative studies have surprisingly high number of
subjective variables.
To name a few:
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Which day is best day for sending out
invites?
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How much does the wording of the invite
email affect the response rate?
- How subjective is the subject line of
the invite?
CSA recently performed a qualitative study for our
sister company BostonChefs.com in which the recruit was conducted by means of a
brief online survey. This study afforded us an opportunity to test the effect of invitation wording,
specifically the subject line of the invite, and its relationship with response
rate.
Invitations to the survey were emailed to the
BostonChef's e-newsletter, e-licious,
subscriber base (roughly 25,000 subscribers).
The subscriber base was randomly split into two samples, each of which received
the same email, the same survey, and both launched at the same time. The key difference was that each sample had a
different subject line for the invitation, one that disclosed an incentive and
another that disclosed the amount of the incentive.
Each read as the following:
Sample
1
"Participate in Local Dining Research, Earn $75"
Sample
2
"Your Opinions on Local Dining Are Worth $ To Us"
During the first hour, Sample 1-- the group that received the invitation with a subject line prominently featuring the actual dollar amount of the incentive-- yielded a dramatically better response rate than Sample 2. By the second hour of launch, the response
rate for the two samples reached near equilibrium and each hour after stayed within
± 5% of one another. Overall, the
initial spike drove an 11% increase in response in Sample 1 over Sample 2. Both samples were nearly identical to each other and also representative of the demographic profile of BostonChefs e-licious subscribers from past surveys who are predominantly well educated, upper earning, young females.
While it can be dubious to make post hoc conclusions
on an accidental experiment with no control, the case study does bring up an
interesting illustration about the delicate nature of wording and the effects
on response rate. That being said, it is
interesting that the initial spike in the first sample does not sustain
throughout the lifetime of the survey suggesting that the first wave of
respondents were influenced most by the subject line clearly indicating the
incentive. By the second hour of the
launch, the subject line didn't matter as much and the response fell out in a
natural fashion.
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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO . . . . . . Karen Barone?
Many of our readers have already heard the news, but for those who
haven't, here's the message delivered to a whole lot of in-boxes on
August 7: "We have a bouncing baby boy, and a big one!!! And
the name is (drumroll please): Charles (Charlie) Christopher
Barone-Shaw. 10 pounds, 8 ounces. Born this morning at 7:08. Karen is
happy, healthy, and exhausted.... But all is well."
Many
of us saw Karen Barone in person at this year's Flavors of Fall event,
and she indeed looked and sounded terrific. Being a mom agrees with
her.
Karen Barone was on our team from 2001 to 2004. After a stint in
graduate school and working for the PBS series Frontline, Karen joined
the innovative consumer insights company Communispace where she is a
Senior Consultant. We are very proud of her.
CHEF CHARITY EVENT EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS
BostonChefs.com and Friends Raise $13,000+ for Second Chances
In spite of worries that a weak economy and a political  fundraiser that same night might depress turnout, the unique partnership between City Square Associates, our co-sponsors BostonChefs.com and the Charles Hotel, and the beneficiary organization Second Chances yielded over $13,000. On Monday night, November 9, two hundred plus foodies and friends of the local charity dined on autumn-inspired treats from some of the best Cambridge eateries at our sixth annual Flavors of Fall. City Square is especially grateful to our clients, supplier-partners, and colleagues who generously contributed to the event's success.
From spiced doughnuts stuffed with duck liver mousse to pumpkin whoopie pies, the chefs who contribute their goods and services each year definitely know how to use the full spectrum of fall flavors. Represented this year were: The Blue Room, Chez Henri, Garden at the Cellar, Gargoyles, Harvest, Henrietta's Table, Hungry Mother, Om, Rialto, Sandrine's, and UpStairs on the Square. Following the event, City Square Associates president Chris Schiavone reflected on the decision to focus on small community-based organizations:
"The many large corporate non-profits in the Boston area obviously do great work, but they tend to have vast and established donor bases. What we've tried to do with Flavors of Fall is grow the resources and raise the profiles of micro-organizations that have macro-impact."
During this calendar year, Second Chances has provided free clothing, shoes and accessories for more than 400 individuals, and has collected over 75,000 pounds of clothing from the local community, preventing much of it from ending up in local landfills.
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Cranberry Ginger Scones
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) cold butter, cut
into small pieces
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 Tbsp crystallized ginger, chopped
2 eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp. almond extract coarse sugar
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Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with
parchment paper.
2. Place the dried cranberries in a small bowl and add
enough hot water to cover. Soak until
softened, about 5 minutes. Drain and set
aside.
3. In a bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar,
baking powder and salt. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender or your
fingers, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the softened cranberries and
crystallized ginger.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and cream. Add
the almond extract and all but 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture to the flour
mixture and mix just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix. The dough will be sticky.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead
just until it comes together into a ball.
Do not overwork the dough.
6. Divide into 2 equal portions and pat each
portion into a round, approximately 1 inch thick and 6 inches in diameter. Cut
each round into 4 equal wedges.
7. Arrange the wedges, 2 inches apart, on the prepared
sheet. Brush the wedges with the reserved egg mixture and sprinkle with enough
coarse sugar to coat lightly.
8. Bake until the scones are crusty and golden brown, about
12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven
and serve immediately.
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THE VENERABLE "MCNEIL-LEHRER
NEWSHOUR" RE-BRANDED AND RE-LAUNCHED
For several years now,
City Square has been conducting research among news consumers on behalf of a
variety of commercial and public media organizations. Generally, the research
is tactically sensitive, the findings proprietary, and the results difficult to
pinpoint. However, in one recent instance, we had the opportunity to conduct
research for the "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." While we can't share all the
findings with you, we can tell you
how proud we are of the steps our client-partners have taken since we finished
our work with them.
On December 3, they
launched a completely redesigned and re engineered NewsHour.org and on the
following Monday, December 7, they introduced a re-branded version of their
on-air edition, now called "The PBS NewsHour" (airs 6PM on most local PBS
stations). Behind the scenes, there was a merger of The NewsHour's broadcast
and digital staffs and an expansion of the newsroom. Online, the correspondents
for whom the show have become well known-Gwen Ifill, Judy Woodruff, Ray Suarez,
Margaret Warner, Jeffrey Brown-all have a stronger presence. And on the nightly
TV show, Hari Sreenivasan from CBS has joined the staff as a visible bridge
between the on-air and online editions.
How was research used
to inform these efforts?
A series of focus
groups and in-depth interviews with consumers-some of these in a usability lab
setting-helped to shed light on consumers' current news consumption habits and
the potential place of public media in their news diet. A series of one-on-one
executive level interviews with public television station leaders from across
the country, followed by a national survey of these professionals, helped to
ensure that local station voices were heard.
Naturally, research
can't replace the executive judgments of skilled leaders. But we are confident
that the producers of the new "PBS NewsHour" found the information, insight,
and inspiration coming out of the research to be an essential resource as they
made some fundamental strategic decisions.
Links:
NYTimes: "Stressing the Web, 'NewsHour' Begins an Overhaul"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/business/media/30pbs.html
Video of Jim Lehrer Explaining the Changes: The NewsHour for December 4, 2009
http://video.pbs.org/video/1350549754
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Xiaochang Li: More than Money Can Buy- Locating Value in Spreadable Media
"To truly begin to understand how media spreads, we must come to
understand how it comes to move across social systems, cultural forms,
technological platforms, and modes of market and non-market exchange.
All things used in exchanges - be they physical goods or more ephemeral
things such as services, information, or experiences - carry three
basic forms of interrelated value: use-value, symbolic-value, and
exchange value." |
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