iHuts (In-Home Use Tests)

The MRops research team has a wealth of experience executing in-home product testing across multiple target audiences and categories. We have found that when conducting iHuts the key to success is to achieve high response rates on all phases of the project thereby eliminating the time and costs required to ship high volumes of products to households that do not complete the project.

Here are a number of best practices that have enabled us to achieve response rates well above 70% on our iHut studies…

Recommendations to Increase iHut Response Rates

E-mail Invitation.Changing the subject line and e-mail invitation text to position the product testing opportunity as more exciting and attractive. Not all sample providers do this today.
Reminder e-mails.Sending out multiple reminder e-mail invitations at different stages (e.g. to start testing the product, to complete the follow-up survey, etc.)
Timing.Our ability to minimize the elapsed time between the initial recruit, the product placement and the follow-up interview can have a very positive impact on response rates.
Length of Interview.Anything over 15 minutes can have a negative impact on response rate with as high as 5% – 7% of respondents dropping off during the follow-up survey.  MRops sends reminder emails midway between the initial interview and the final interview to increase response rates.
Incentives.It is critical to propose a higher than normal incentive on iHut projects. In addition, staggering incentive payment after the different stages has yielded higher response rates. In addition to the cash payment, an added entry into a sweepstake can also have a positive impact.
Setting expectations with respondents.Communicating clearly on when the product will be delivered, how long they have to test the product, when they need to complete the follow-up survey, etc. will result in higher response rates. Screening for vacation time and other commitments that can negatively impact the respondent’s ability to complete the product test is also a good idea.
Call Center Reminders.Utilizing telephone as a method to remind respondents to complete the product test and/or follow-up survey will result in higher rates and lower shipping costs.

For more information, please contact Shannon Hazlett