'A bad day?'
'Perhaps we should have tried harder?'
We run a number of Panels. We recently changed software supplier which meant we needed to re-invite people from the existing ones and we also had new contacts from clients, and so invited new respondents to join.
One of the Panels is in a high interest category and the incentives are relevant to the category, and so we expected quite good take up amongst the new respondents. As it turned out, the unsubscribe rates are less than half that of an 'average' panel, so that all went well. We understand that some people don't want to do these things though, even in an area of interest, and that is fine.
We felt the invitation to new respondents made the benefits to the respondents and to the clients clear. We didn't want to 'entrap' people into joining, which would irritate, and so we made the unsubscribe option very clear. We stated how often we would contact people and made it clear the surveys comply with the MRS Code of Conduct.
The invitation went to 33,000 new people. For the majority our invitation was either of interest or they simply unsubscribed.
However one of the 33,000 was unhappy with us. Very unhappy. Very unhappy indeed.
Of the 33,000 he was the only one who used the option to write to us. This is what he said: (We've changed his name and the Panel name to protect confidentiality.)
Subject: GET LOST > Re Introducing Muse Urban Survey THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2010 | 15:10
Dear Collective Panel of unamed Cowards hiding behind this soporific drivel, allegedly, about "Urban life",
DON'T EVER, REPEAT, EVER, SEND ME THIS UNSPEAKABLE GARBAGE AGAIN.
In irritation,
Yours faithfuly
Mr Gordon KARR
15:10
We don't mean him any harm by publishing this, which is why we have kept it anonymous. We understand that some people don't like receiving these things, let alone participating in them, but this seemed unusually extreme. We'll assume that he's a normal well balanced person most of the time but we caught him at bad moment.
(In his rage he forgot to Unsubscribe. We did it for him, and sent him an email of apology.)
If anyone else would like to send abusive emails please feel free to do so at: rickbutler@musestrategy.com
We'll give a prize for the one that causes him the most offense. Criticism of Man Utd should put you in with a chance of winning.
Or if you would like to find out about our Panels you can do so HERE.
We have syndicated Panels on Cultural venues, Books, Premium brands and Investments. We also create bespoke Panels.