a. Relevance & Research Question:
Due to the dropping penetration rate of landline telephones and a general decline in the willingness to participate in telephone surveys, data collection using online methods – especially online access panels – are becoming more popular all over Europe. Under these circumstances it is important to look at the different ways people can be recruited into online access panels as well as the costs and effectiveness of recruiting methods in terms of survey completion rates, short- and long-term panelist behavior, and the possibility to recharge target groups. What are the most effective ways of recruiting new panel members?
b. Methods & Data:
This study takes a detailed look at 137 web survey projects conducted during the course of 13 months in the Austrian Opinions Online Panel to gain insight into who the people are that participate in online access panels and how to recruit new members in an effective, fast and widespread way. A total of 7.607 panel members were analyzed. We looked at the way they entered the panel (direct mailing, opt-in e-mail lists, Google Ads, Second Life etc.), their behavior in the online panel(membership duration, completion rate etc.) and whether there are any differences in the characteristics of people recruited with different methods.
c. Results:
It is shown that the costs of a new panel member and his/her behavior in the panel depends on the entry way.The percentage of surveys started and of the questionnaires terminated before finish was influenced by the way of entering the online access panel, gender, age, number of invitations received and length of membership.
d. Added Value:
This study shows that with different ways of recruitment for online panels different groups of new panelists in terms of demographics and participation behavior can be gained at varying costs. We show what the most efficient ways to recruit new panel members are.