Prenotification and industrial survey responses

This study focuses on a test of two methods for enhancing response to mail surveys directed at a business population of industrial marketing executives. It investigates the relationship of various factors on response rates, response speed, and response completion. The factors manipulated are prenotification of respondents and the use of commitment cards as a "foot-in-the-door" mechanism. Even though the foot-in-the-door phenomenon is confirmed, its use via commitment cards in mail survey research leads to reduced response rates and increased costs. The use of prenotification leads to increased response rates, but those are accompanied by decreased response speed. The study also estimates the respondent delegation rate, or deflection rate, and investigates some differences in types of deflection.