Improving mail response rates with express mail

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report the results of a field experiment in which the response rate effects of using express delivery service for mailed questionnaires were examined. It is generally understood that when a higher postage rate is paid for mailing the questionnaire, for return mail, or for both, the response is significantly higher [l, 21 than when bulk rate postage is used, although some contradictory results have been obtained [3]. Two reasons exist for revisiting the issue of responserate differentials. First, past research has dealt with questionnaires mailed to consumer respondents; response-rate differentials in industrial market research have not been examined. Second, express mail service has become popular since most of the studies on response rates were performed. Express mail offers the researcher a premium postage alternative. However, effects of express mail on response rates are unknown. The uniqueness of business respondents is crucial in certain research settings. When respondents are upper level executives, for example, their busy schedules and time priorities ensure low response rates to mailed questionnaires. In addition, the benefit structure of some busi-