A web survey of high school students was used to understand how the visual design of the e-mail contact affects survey response. Respondents were contacted with one of six e-mail designs that varied by format (text vs. HTML), color of background (white vs. black), and graphical design (simple vs. complex). The results indicate that e-mails with nonwhite backgrounds and complex graphical designs can suppress response rates more than 5 percentage points.
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