Applying mail response enhancement techniques to health care surveys: a cost-benefit approach

A study of over 1200 persons gave insights into the effectiveness of different appeals in a mail survey for a health-care facility. The influences of financial incentives, contributions to charity and time appeals were studied. Not only was the practical effectiveness of the three different appeals investigated, the cost of obtaining the response rates with each was also shown. The range of response rates was from 25% to 67%. The average cost per return for the different methods ranged from $2.87 to $5.64. A method of testing for the potential bias in a survey is also presented.