Like many other parts of the world, research in Asia is facing decreasing response rates for certain methodologies of research. This is partly due to the change in acceptance of various methodologies by the respondents, with some methodologies declining in acceptance and others growing in acceptance correspondingly.

This shift in consumer preference is nothing new and has happened before. For example, at one point in time, face-to-face interviewing is de rigueur in most parts of Asia, with telephone interviewing almost never used. In fact, in countries like Japan and China, it would have been considered rude to conduct interviews over the phone with consumers. Today, face-to-face interviewing is still predominant in some parts of Asia but has shifted in a big way to telephone interviews in many countries. Many agencies across the Asia region, be it small or large, are well equipped with CATI facilities.

Now even telephone interviewing is losing acceptance amongst consumers. Not too long ago, researchers believed that conducting research using the telephone methodology will never see its end of life, at least not that soon. However, this methodology is currently reaching maturity stage, as seen in the declining trend of response rate. Initially, declining response rates happened mostly in the Information Technology, Finance and Banking industries due to ‘over-researching’ within these fields, but other industries are starting to be affected as well. Even if the respondents do agree to participate, they show an increasing reluctance to talk much over the phone, another sign of weariness of telephone research. This negative response may be due to the increasing number of telemarketing calls consumers receive.

What can be done to improve the response rate for telephone research in the context of Asia?

First of all, for a questionnaire originating from another country (most likely in English), rephrasing or modifying the introduction to suit the local culture is important. So far, little attention has been given to localizing the introduction, with more emphasis given to the main body of the questionnaire itself. It is normally assumed that a direct translation of the original English introduction suffices. This is not true. Different countries and cultures have their own unique ways of greeting each other and building up rapport. This point is emphasized by the fact that even between countries that share a common ethnic and cultural heritage, like China and Hong Kong, the style of conversation and greetings are very different. For example, in Hong Kong, it will be: “Hello, have you had your lunch or dinner? I am…..” In China, it will be: “Hello, I am Lee from ABC. I would like to bother you for a few minutes…..” Related to this, many clients will want to use the Mandarin questionnaire developed for China in Hong Kong in an attempt to save cost in the mistaken belief that it is interchangeable. Though the written script is the same, the spoken language is different. Hong Kong speaks Cantonese, which is a dialect of Mandarin and has a different spoken syntax. So a script for Hong Kong should always be developed separately.

In building rapport with the respondents in Asia, interviewers must be prepared to answer some questions themselves, some of which are personal. For example, we frequently encounter incidents where interviewers are asked some unexpected questions like: “why are you doing this job?”, “is this a difficult job?” etc. The interviewers must take the effort to engage in such small talk with the respondents in order to gain the trust of the respondents. Better still, if applicable, start the rapport-building even before the telephone interview starts. A pre-notification letter will be extremely useful to improve the likelihood of cooperation. In Asia, respondents have a greater tendency to perceive a pre-notification letter as a practice of courtesy or showing respect. This method is particularly effective if the client’s company is a highly regarded multinational company.

In terms of incentives, it is a no-brainer that the higher the incentives, the better it is, in any part of the world. But incentives is always limited by budget, and since we are more concerned about the things that should be done differently in Asia compared to other parts of the world, increasing the incentives is not a point of discussion at all. But given a fixed budget – the researcher can still have the flexibility to accomplish different levels of recruitment effectiveness. The key lies in choosing the right kind of incentives. This is because in certain Asian societies, contrary to most parts of the world, cash incentives may not be the best, however convenient it is for the agency. An example is Japan, where respondents prefer to receive gifts (especially those that are custom-made and unavailable in the market) rather than cash because it demonstrates sincerity. Some interesting gifts we have encountered in Japan are: a bento-box containing a few useful kitchen knick-knacks like a can-opener, bottle-cap opener and corkscrew (very handy); a decorative mini-set of kimonos (which can become a good gift for non-Japanese friends) and a tea set imprinted with the agency logo (good publicity for the agency especially when the mood is relaxed while tea is being sipped). These are not particularly expensive by Japanese standards, costing about ten to twenty US dollars or so, but means so much more than their cash values to those who receive it. At the end of the day, with a little creativity and thoughtfulness, the same amount of budget can achieve a much higher level of response rate. The time spent lamenting about the budget can be better used to do this.

Finally, in Asia, the state of legislation on limiting telemarketing calls is not as advanced as in the US or Europe. In fact, to an even higher extent compared to US or Europe, respondents in Asia are not able to differentiate telemarketing from market research. This is no thanks to the many inscrutable companies who disguise telemarketing as market research. As such, the research agencies in Asia are encouraged to educate the general public on how to differentiate telemarketing from telephone research. This can be done through the mass media; and should highlight the accreditation of bona fide market research companies. The market research industry should also work together to lobby the government to put into effect a ban of telemarketing disguised as market research, and a black-listing of companies who engaged in this. Interviewers will help themselves by clearly indicating the purpose of the call – research not sales. It is strongly encouraged to provide a script that clearly defines the study purpose and objectives.

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