Access to respondents is becoming still more difficult for businesses and the market research industry alike. Declining response rates across survey methods over the past couple of years have increased the costs of collecting data. Although poor participation may not necessarily equal poor data, it is well known that low response rates may influence data quality in various ways and ultimately cause bias in survey results.

Carrying out surveys online has lead to new challenges in terms of getting through to respondents. An increasing amount of fraudulent mails, spam and scams have lead to the development of a wide range of filters (web security filters, content filters, spam filters etc). – making the simple delivery of a survey invitation by e-mail less straightforward that one might think.

To counter this development and to ensure the continued quality of the data we collect through our online surveys –

Norstat has been approved by Return Path

- quote “the largest, broadest and most respected whitelist in the e-mail universe.”. What does this mean? In short, it means that:

• The deliverability of our survey invitations is vastly improved
• Images and links in survey invitations are delivered intact
• Participation rates remain high or increase
• The potential for bias in survey results is reduced
• The quality of the data we deliver to our clients today and tomorrow is ensured

Although this measure primarily has an impact on MSN/Hotmail and Yahoo! e-mail domains, it affects a very large number of e-mail recipients on every online survey and thus, it has significant influence on the overall deliverability of our survey invites and thus the quality of our online data collection.

Return Path certification is also a seal of approval that we are proud to communicate. In order to achieve and remain certified, any e-mail sender is required to meet a set of minimum standards with regard to accountability, transparency and authentication, security, disclosure, consent, unsubscription and responsiveness. Norstat passed all requirements.

For further information, please contact either of the below.

Greetings

Claes Romberg Panel Manager Claes.romberg@norstat.se +46 707896013

Dan Kvistbo Online director Dan.kvistbo@norstat.dk +45 27772016