AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising

One-Minute MarketerHow to Survey People. Hint, Don’t Knock on Their Door

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One-Minute Marketer

How to Survey People. Hint, Don’t Knock on Their Door

As a strategy company, we do many online email surveys. And, I’m also the recipient of many email surveys. So I was particularly interested in research conducted by Accelerant Research on the receptiveness of consumers to different survey invitation methods.iStock_000075065811_Medium

The No. 1 way people prefer is via email—by a landslide. People are more open to email solicitations than any other form of survey solicitation.

Here are the major results:

  1. Email – 61% Completely Acceptable (only 1% listed this as “completely unacceptable”)
  2. Printed on Retail Checkout Receipt – 47% (3% completely unacceptable)
  3. US Mail – 44% (4% completely unacceptable)
  4. Text Message to Mobile Phone – 22% (26% completely unacceptable)
  5. Intercept In-aisle at Store – 18% (18% completely unacceptable)
  6. Intercept Retail/Restaurant Exit – 18% (18% completely unacceptable)
  7. Live Operator Landline – 15% (35% completely unacceptable)
  8. Live Operator Mobile Phone – 14% (40% completely unacceptable)
  9. Direct Message on Social Media/App – 14% (33% completely unacceptable)
  10. Robocall to Mobile Phone – 11% (44% completely unacceptable)

At the bottom of the list is: Door-to-Door In Person – 6% (57% completely unacceptable). Think of that: Only 6% of people you would survey by going door-to-door would find that kind of approach as completely acceptable. That’s not good for political door knockers.

There has been no word on how Accelerant Research conducted this study, but the method must have influenced the results a bit. However, even if this research is half wrong, I still would suggest an email approach to survey rather than door-to-door any day of the year.

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Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.