An Examination of the Role of Funny Reminders and Embedded Survey Items on Response Rate

Abstract

Web surveys provide researchers a platform to gather data in an inclusive manner and from a global audience. However, web surveys typically suffer from low response rates. To combat this issue, numerous studies have investigated how invitation messaging can improve response rates. A few studies have investigated embedding the first survey item in the e-mail invitation message and how adding humor to a reminder message might improve response rates. Our study adopted a 2 (invitation message embedded item vs. not) × 2 (reminder message embedded item vs. not) × 2 (humorous reminder message vs. not) study design. Results showed that among participants who only received the initial invitation, embedding a survey item in that invitation did not enhance completion rates. However, completion and break-off rates, compared to nonresponse, increased when participants received a survey item embedded in their reminder. Further, participants who received a humorous reminder were more likely to complete the survey than to break off. No interaction effects between the embedded item in the reminder message and the humorous tone of the reminder message emerged. Implications for invitation design are discussed.