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Marketing Horizons: A 1980's Perspective pp 218–221Cite as

The Effect of Cover Letter Salutations on Response Rates and Selected Item Omission Rates on an Industrial Survey

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Abstract

Using data from a survey of industrial distributors, this research examines the effect of personal and impersonal cover letter salutations on overall response rates, mean item omission rates, and item omission rates on complex versus non-complex and confidential versus non-confidential questions. The findings indicated that in some cases the choice of salutation format can have a significant impact on both the response rate and the responses on the returned instruments.

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References

  • Alan Anereasen, "Personalizing Mail Questionnaire Correspondence," Public Opinion Quarterly, 34 (Summer, 1970), 273–77.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marquette, USA

    John H. Summey, Ronald D. Taylor & Donald R. Williams

Authors
  1. John H. Summey
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  2. Ronald D. Taylor
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  3. Donald R. Williams
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan, USA

    Venkatakrishna V. Bellur

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© 2015 Academy of Marketing Science

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Cite this paper

Summey, J.H., Taylor, R.D., Williams, D.R. (2015). The Effect of Cover Letter Salutations on Response Rates and Selected Item Omission Rates on an Industrial Survey. In: Bellur, V. (eds) Marketing Horizons: A 1980's Perspective. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10966-4_49

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