ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the experiments, the academic literature and the experience of practitioners to provide a comprehensive guide to maximising response rates. Techniques to boost response rates can be divided into four categories: essentials, advisables, marginals and avoidables. Some things are essential to achieving an adequate response rate. They include: accurate database, an easy and free response mechanism, follow-up strategy and introducing the survey. Three more measures which are generally agreed to boost response rates, although by a lower margin, are: pre-notification, questionnaire design and money. Academic tests have shown that introductory letters/e-mails offering feedback on the results have a significant positive impact on response rates. The introductory letter or e-mail inviting customer to take part in the survey is likely to be more effective than any single step of the follow-up strategy. It should concentrate on explaining why it is in the respondent's own interest to complete the questionnaire.
