Yellow Stickies Boost Response Rates

Read an interesting tidbit in cairril.com’s Sparks newsletter, which references a Post-it(R) Note Persuasion: A Sticky Influence study [pdf file] at Social Science Research Network.

Sending out a survey or business solicitation letter? Research shows that including a yellow sticky note with what looks like a personal greeting increases response rates. And it’s not enough to include a greeting on just any ol’ paper: it needs to be a yellow Post-It(R) or similar brand of sticky note! Researchers believe that people interpret the handwritten note as a request for a personal favor, which provides a compelling reason to comply with the appeal.

I’ve seen these notes on both outside of the envelope and inside. Pluses and minuses for both methods:

Outside of envelope

• Compels person to open the envelope (plus)
• Could fall off en route (minus)

Inside envelope

• Won’t fall off en route (plus)
• Won’t be seen if the envelope doesn’t compel a person to open it (minus)

Whichever method used — the sticky needs to look like real handwriting. I’ve seen some that looked more like a printed message than handwriting even though the note contained a “handwriting” style font.

First thing — don’t use Comic Sans for the font. It’s old and we all recognize it. Why not just scan a real note with someone’s handwriting?