You've got mail! An examination of a statewide direct-mail marketing campaign to promote deceased organ donor registrations.
Quick BL, LaVoie NR, et al.Clinical Transplantation 2015; 29(11): 997-1003.
Aims
To evaluate the most effective framing strategy to employ when promoting organ donation registration.
Interventions
Participants were randomised to receive one of four brochures featuring, organ donors (group 1), recipients (group 2), individuals on the waiting list (group 3), or a combination of organ donors, recipients and individuals on the waiting list (group 4).
Participants
60,000 18 year old Illinois residents with a driver’s license or a state ID
Outcomes
The primary measured outcome was organ donation registration rate. Costs per registration and overall, online and US postal mail effectiveness were also measured.
Follow-up
Unclear
CET Conclusions
This is a very interesting study of the influence of information about organ donation in 18 year-olds in the State of Illinois in the USA. The outcome assessed was the number who registered as an organ donor at the time that their driver licence renewal requests were sent out. All brochures were sent by US mail to the recipients, 60,000 in all. The four different brochures were short and related to the organ donor, to the organ recipient, to individuals awaiting organ transplant or to a combination of all of these. The recipients were randomised to receive one of the four brochures and each brochure was accompanied by an identical personal letter from the Secretary of State for Illinois. The number of registrations as an organ donor that occurred as a result of the direct mailing was also compared with a response to an internet approach. The combination brochure got the greatest response compared to those based on the organ donor, organ recipient, and waiting list patients. Furthermore, the campaign revealed that individuals were more likely to register after a postal mail approach than an internet approach. Thus, direct mailing efforts were an effective approach to promote organ and tissue donation registration in 18 year olds, and also suggest that a brochure that embraces the organ donor, the organ recipient and the waiting list patient, was the most successful in increasing registration.
Data analysis
Per protocol analysis
Trial registration
None