Actively encouraging online responses to a mixed-mode mail and web survey: a case of nudging anglers in Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT

Little effort has focused on encouraging less costly, online responses within mixed-mode surveys. From an Ontario angler survey, this gap is addressed by applying a nudge (i.e., mail push to web) or control (i.e., providing a print questionnaire and return envelope) for the final mail contact. The nudge increased the share of online responses from the final contact by over 40% while only slightly decreasing (1.3%) the response rate. The nudge most heavily affected senior anglers (65–70 years old) who experienced a 58% increase in online responses but an 11% decrease to the response rate from the final contact. The increased response rate for the control came at a cost of about $25 and $4 (CAD 2021) per additional response for overall and senior anglers, respectively. Thus, the cost-effectiveness of the nudge depends on the population being targeted.

KEYWORDS:

• cost-effectiveness
• experiment
• response rates
• survey design

Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous reviewers and Courtney Mondoux, Mallory Wiebe, and Will Wistowsky for providing detailed suggestions and advice to improve early draft manuscripts. We also thank the anglers for completing the surveys.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.