- Ad Age , Monday, October 2, 2006 11:15 AM
Thirty top marketing researchers convened at a "Research Industry Summit for Improving Respondent Cooperation" in Cincinnati last week to discuss a growing mutual concern: The unwillingness of so many
consumers to participate in surveys. "Consumer Fatigue" is making it increasingly difficult and costly for the country's top marketers to get accurate data. The heads of the five leading global
research companies and top research executives from the likes of Procter & Gamble, General Motors, IBM and McDonald's hashed over a problem stunning in its scope, if uncertain in its impact. Survey
non-respondents tend to be disproportionately male, black, Hispanic and young. One contributing factor: 30 percent of households headed by consumers 25 and younger now have only cellphones and are
impossible or highly expensive to reach by phone. Almost every researcher has seen participation erode in recent years, with response rates under 10 percent increasingly common. But VNU's Nielsen
Media Research has actually seen respondent rates rise from 36 percent to 45 percent the past five years, says Paul Donato, chief research officer. That's largely because it pays respondents
handsomely for their two-year commitments--so handsomely that Donato acknowledged some on the Media Research Council think it may bias results. Ironically, no one suggested researching what might best
persuade non-respondents to participate. The researchers did say it's time to find out how different non-responders really are from responders--something largely neglected since the 1970s.
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