“Save lives” arguments might not be as effective as you think: A randomized field experiment on blood donation

Abstract

Objectives. -Many communication campaigns to encourage people to give blood rely on "save lives" messages, even though there is no experimental evidence as to the effectiveness of this kind of argument with respect to blood donation. The objective of this study is to test experimentally if it is indeed an effective way to prompt people to give blood, in order for communication campaigns to be evidenced-based. Methods. -One thousand and twenty-two lapsed blood donors were sent, at random, either a standard letter or the same letter containing an additional "save lives" message. The blood donation center measured intention to donate and actual donor return rate (3%) after 10 months.Results. -Although fewer people in the "save lives" condition said they had no intention to give blood again, the "save lives" letter did not lead to more donor returns than the standard letter. Conclusions. -Our results suggest that contrary to intuition, campaigns to promote blood donation should not rely blindly on "save lives" arguments. © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Keywords: Blood donation; Communication campaigns; Lapsed donors RésuméObjectifs. -Beaucoup de campagnes de communication visant à encourager les gens à donner leur sang utilisent des messages du type « Sauvez des vies », malgré le fait qu'il n'y ait pas d'évidence expérimentale confirmant l'efficacité de ce type d'argument par rapport au don du sang. L'objectif de cette étude est de tester expérimentalement s'il s'agit effectivement d'une manière efficace d'encourager les gens à donner leur sang, afin que les campagnes de communication soient fondées sur des données probantes. Méthodes. -Mille vingt-deux donneurs inactifs ont reçu de manière aléatoire soit une lettre standard, soit la même lettre contenant en plus une phrase faisant appel à l'argument « sauvez des vies ». Le centre de transfusion sanguine a mesuré l'intention des donneurs à revenir, et le taux de retour réel (3 %) après 10 mois. Résultats. -Bien que moins de gens dans la condition « sauvez des vies » aient répondu qu'ils n'avaient pas l'intention de donner leur sang à nouveau, le courrier contenant le message « sauvez des vies » n'a pas entraîné un nombre plus important de dons que le courrier standard ne contenant pas ce message. Conclusions. -Nos résultats suggèrent que contrairement à ce que l'on pourrait penser de manière intuitive, les campagnes de promotion du don du sang ne devraient pas se reposer en toute confiance sur des arguments du type « sauvez des vies ».

Notifying donors when their deferral is ending: An effective donor retention strategy

“…3,4 There is limited literature examining the impact of communications framed in the context of the blood recipient. Moussaoui and colleagues 28 found a similar return rate of lapsed donors who received an invitation framed with a "save lives" message versus a neutral message. However, Chou and Murninghan 30 found that donors were more likely to return to donate if they received a "lossframed message" (i.e., "help prevent someone from dying!")…”

“…The use of SMS has increased among BCAs, with previous research demonstrating the effectiveness of a postdonation SMS notifying donors of the location to which their blood has been dispatched. 27,28 Like emails, SMS reminders are cost-effective, and have been found to have a similar effect to telephone calls in encouraging donors to return. 29 Our study found support for the use of either SMS or email to notify donors their deferral was ending.…”

The busking experiment: A field study measuring behavioral responses to street music performances.

“…Thus, the behavioural economics of music (Anglada-Tort & Müllensiefen, 2017;Anglada-Tort, Baker, & Müllensiefen, 2018;Anglada-Tort, Steffens, & Müllensiefen, 2018) aims to create a solid understanding of the role that behavioural economics and the psychology of decision making can play to study music judgements, choice behaviour, and aesthetics. In the present study, we applied field research methodology commonly used by behavioural scientists and experimental economists to investigate donating behaviour and charitable giving in the real world (e.g., Ebeling et al, 2017;Ekström, 2012;Khadjavi, 2016;Moussaoui et al, 2016;Olda & Ichihashi, 2016). We hope to show potential applications and benefits of the behavioural economics of music and encourage future researchers to apply paradigms and knowledge from behavioural economics and the psychology of decision making to study music and music-related phenomena.…”

A science mapping analysis of blood donation behaviour

“…In the opposite side, others find that questionnaires themselves haven't consequences over BDB (Van Dongen et al, 2013). Directions for evidence-based communication campaigns, avoiding save lives messages (Moussaoui et al, 2016) are given. 10.…”