How a personalized Post-It note increased survey responses by 113%

Intervention · Consumer Protection

Abstract

When asked to do something for someone else, most people don’t scrutinize whether a request is worthy of their attention or action, and instead default to social norms of politeness by offering help. This is especially true if the request is perceived as a favor. Researchers, wanting to increase participation rates on surveys, looked at the impact of personalized Post-it notes in signaling importance, directing attention, and adding weight to a request. The addition of a Post-it note with a handwritten request on it positively correlated with higher completion rates. This proved less effective when the task outweighed the participants’ willingness to help. However, changing the Post-it note from a generic request to a personalized favor saw the response rate of the more difficult task jump by over 67%.

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Sources

Garner, R. (2005). Post-it® note persuasion: A sticky influence. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(3), 230-237. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1503_8

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