Improving Response Rates in Web Surveys with Default Setting: The Effects of Default on Web Survey Participation and Permission

Abstract

Researchers are increasingly using internet instruments such as email and online surveys as data-collection methods. However, web survey response rates are fairly low, which threatens the efficiency of web surveys. To use web surveys to gather data effectively, it is thus critical to improve the response rate of participants without compromising the low-cost advantage of this approach. The goal of this study is to explore the effects of default settings on consumers' web survey participation with a series of online field experiments. The findings are as follows. First, default settings affect respondents' choice of online survey participation. Compared with the ‘no default’ condition, nearly 25% more respondents chose to take a longer survey when ‘taking longer survey’ was set as the default option. Second, survey length influences respondents' willingness to participate in a future survey. Respondents who took longer surveys were more likely to accept an invitation to participate in a future survey. Third, default settings and survey length create a significant interaction effect that drives participation. Default effects are stronger when respondents have participated in a short survey instead of a long one. Finally, in the context of a web-based survey, default settings change both consumer participation and email invitations permission rates due to the ‘trade-off aversion’ principle.