September 2004
Conducting the right online research by Dirk Rinker
Give yourself a lift by Deborah Block and Paul Karps
What's up online by Dan Weeks
Conducting the right online research
By Dirk Rinker
TODAY it's easier than ever to conduct an online survey. Yet it's debatable whether this is the most appropriate way to reach your information goals. Here are some of the newer online techniques for you to consider:
Bulletin Board Focus Groups (BBFG) offer a flexible alternative to traditional qualitative research methods. Researchers post discussion questions on a secure site where participants log in and provide their input when it's convenient for them over a span of 3-5 days, or even longer. With an online group such as this, participants can log in from anywhere in the world, a benefit that eliminates geographic constraints commonly seen as a drawback of live focus groups. Yet the researcher may still introduce multimedia content to the group or seek participation in complex tasks, such as trade-off analysis. The BBFG interface may be customized and personalized to meet your individual needs.
Online Focus Groups vary from BBFGs in that they're conducted in real-time. The focus group is scheduled for a shorter time-frame — typically two hours — during which a live moderator constantly interacts with the participants, probes for deeper responses among one or all participants, and has the ability to alter the questions at any time. This method provides nearly instant transcripts for review and analysis. However, because they meet at a specific time, such groups can be more difficult to recruit. Other benefits tend to parallel those found in BBFGs.
Internet Surveys are probably the most widely used primary research tool on the Internet. This category is very broad, and includes every strategy from simple surveys to very complex tasks — such as conjoint analysis, which can result in a robust understanding of member or donor choices and values.
In selecting an online research vendor, organizations must consider whether the firm offers various software programs, hosting solutions, recruiting and invitation methods, security features, skip patterns, data capture techniques, and reporting options. Can the vendor monitor the time it takes for each respondent to take the survey? Will question response options be changed from one respondent to the next to eliminate bias? Can images and video be incorporated? Can the researcher match the color of the Web interface to your brand specifications, or report results in real-time via Web interface?
Quality respondent recruiting is essential to a quality research project. Great recruiting rarely makes a study, but poor recruiting can certainly break one.
Your researcher should have years of online recruiting experience and use an advanced e-mail broadcasting system to maximize the return on its efforts. The ability to broadcast tens of thousands of names in just hours and track response rates (including rates for opening, click-through, survey initiation and completion) is a must.
Be sure you can send reminder invitations only to non-respondents and target specific messages to specific segments. You should also be able to send HTML, AOL, and plain text versions of the message within the same e-mail; collect data from within the message itself or forward respondents to a Web site; and merge unique content into e-mails on the basis of sample segments.
You should be able to send messages using your name and e-mail address, turning you into an invisible partner in generating good response. Creative vendors may also employ postal mailings, pop-ups, and other channels to ensure optimum success.
Dirk Rinker is President and CEO of Campbell Research, 218 West Carmen Lane #108, Santa Maria CA 93458, phone (805) 922-0880, fax (805) 922-3909, e-mail rinker@campbell-research.com.
Give yourself a lift
By Deborah Block and Paul Karps
IF YOU'RE LOOKING to lift the response of your next fundraising appeal, why not try including a lift note? (The lift note is distinguished from other package inserts by its use of a salutation and signature — just like your main letter.)
We're not entirely sure this extra enclosure is so named because it typically lifts response rates. But whatever the origin of its moniker, a lift note could make the difference between a ho-hum package and one with that extra little bit of pizzazz.
That said, here are several strategies you might try to get the most out of a lift note:
Be creative with your signer
For heaven's sake, don't take the easy way out and include a note from the signer of your main letter. Really, why wouldn't your Executive Director or President simply say everything she needed to in her longer letter? It doesn't make sense.
Instead, consider including a testimonial from a beneficiary of your services — perhaps even handwritten for greater verisimilitude. (Especially if the person wouldn't be someone who would typically use a computer.) The copy, whether handwritten or typed, could tout what the organization has done for her, as well as thank donors for their generosity.
Or, rather than directly addressing donors, she could write to the organization itself, explaining how the group has improved her life. In either case, make sure the main letter refers to "the thoughtful note we received that I wanted to pass on to you." We often use the P.S. for that kind of language.
Another option is to have a staff member sign a lift note. This could be a program person with some specialized experience or expertise to impart, along with the obligatory thank-you to supporters.
Additionally, there might be a celebrity with lots of name recognition who's willing to vouch for your organization. Using such an "outsider" usually isn't as appropriate for the main letter — because she wouldn't have knowledge about the inner workings of your group. But she could add a sheen of credibility and the sparkle that comes with being known.
Don't get caught short
Most lift notes are short, often printed 5 x 7" or 7 x 10" on one side, to stand out from the main letter. And usually, that's enough space. But this isn't an absolute.
We recently wrote a very effective lift note that ran two sides of an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet. Our rationale? We wanted to flush out the story of the organization, illustrating how one person (the note's signer) has benefited from the variety of services provided by the nonprofit.
This secondary piece also allowed us to use the kind of dramatic, emotional language that might not seem as appropriate coming from an Executive Director. To complement the more personal nature of the lift note, the main letter stuck to the nuts and bolts of the organization and focused on the importance of the donor to the charity's mission.
Try something new
Along with being flexible about the length, you could try something new and different. In the past, we've seen lift notes that have replicated an overseas telegram. So why not duplicate an e-mail — one, for instance, that was sent to your organization? After all, an awful lot of people are
Managing Editor Deborah Block and Paul Karps are partners in BK Kreative, 1010 Varsity Court, Mountain View CA 94040, phone (650) 962-9562, fax (650) 962-1499, e-mail bkkreative@aol.com.
What's up online
By Dan Weeks
FINCA (The Foundation for International Community Assistance) is an anti-poverty organization that uses microcredit to help families create their own solutions to poverty. FINCA invented the "Village Banking" method of credit delivery — that is, groups of 10-50 neighbors borrowing together — to promote the success of entire communities. Village Banking is now used by more than 80 other organizations worldwide.
Check out www.villagebanking.org to see an eye-catching and well-organized Web site, featuring celebrity endorsements and clients' testimonials, stories and photos. I also like their use of gift asks that state exactly what you're getting: "A contribution of $75 provides a village banker's first loan in
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