One of the most challenging aspects of conducting telephone (CATI) surveys is reaching people when they are willing and able to receive a phone call. The proliferation of ‘scam’ calling (and telecom apps that flag calls that are unknown) has made consumers less likely to pick up their phone. (Reference)
Among the many innovations that Advanis uses to boost response rate, one is our local number outpulsing (calling survey participants from a number that is registered in their municipality) and our inbound calling process, for which we have been awarded a patent. Any participant who receives, and doesn’t answer, a call from Advanis, can call back at any time. When our call centre is open, this call is automatically routed to a telephone interviewer who works on the project they are being called for, and will have immediate access to the case information, in order to seamlessly inform the participant about the reason for the call, and to begin the survey if they are willing.
Inbound calling has boosted total completes on projects by approximately 10%, which is a significant amount, reducing non-response bias and increasing our ability to reach hard to contact audiences.