Contact and Reminder Postcards and Letters

Initial Postcard
[Hello NAME}
About a week ago, you visited a National Wildlife Refuge and agreed to participate in a survey of
Refuge visitors. Thanks again for helping us out!
Because the technology is available, we’d like to give you the option of completing the survey
online. We think that this will be a quicker option for many and, of course, will save resources.
If you would prefer to complete a paper copy or do not have access to the Internet that is fine— we
will send you a paper copy in the mail in about a week.
If you would like to complete the survey online, just type the link below in your internet browser. This
is a unique link that will be used for your responses only.
[URL LINK to the survey website HERE]
If you have any problems accessing the link or completing the survey online, just contact us at
either 970.226.9xxx or XXX @usgs.gov.
Natalie Sexton
Social Science Researcher
OMB Control Number: 1018-XXXX
Expiration Date:

1st_Mailing_Cover Letter

Dear «FirstName» «LastName»:
I hope you enjoyed your recent visit to a National Wildlife Refuge. I appreciate your agreeing to
participate in a study of visitors to National Wildlife Refuges. This study is part of a national effort to
better understand visitors’ recreational, educational, and information experiences on Refuges. We also
want to know visitors’ satisfaction with current visitor services and facilities and their desire for future
services and facilities.
You are one of a random sample of visitors to National Wildlife Refuges across the country being asked
about your Refuge visit.
Results from the survey will help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (which manages the National
Wildlife Refuge System) make every Refuge a better place for visitors while preserving wildlife. By
understanding what visitors want when they visit the Refuge, managers can do a better job of improving
the visitor experience.
Your participation in this survey is voluntary. The Office of Management has approved the survey and
assigned OMB Control No. 1018-XXXX. It should take you about 25 minutes to complete this survey.
After we receive your completed survey, we will delete all of your contact information from our database.
All responses will be released only as summaries and not linked in any way to individuals. If for some
reason you have changed your mind about participating, please let us know by returning the blank
questionnaire in the enclosed envelope.
If you have any questions or comments about this study, we would be happy to talk with you. Our phone
and mail contact information is in the letterhead above. You can also email us at [email protected]
Thank you very much for helping with this important study.

Sincerely,
Natalie Sexton
Social Science Researcher
OMB Control Number: 1018-XXXX
Expiration Date:

Postcard Reminder
[Date]
Last week, we sent you a survey about the National Wildlife Refuge you recently
visited. We want to thank you again for agreeing to participate.
If you completed and returned the questionnaire, please accept our sincere thanks.
If not, we would appreciate it if you would complete and return the survey today.
This is the only way that we can measure how satisfied you were with your most
recent visit to the Refuge.
If it is more convenient to you, please consider completing the survey online by
going to (URL HERE) (just type this link into your Internet browser). If you have
changed your mind about participating, please go to this link to let us know.
If you requested and did not receive the paper version of our survey or if it was
misplaced, please call us at 970.226.9346 or email us at [email protected]. We will
send a replacement copy in the mail immediately.

Sincerely,
Natalie Sexton
Social Science Researcher
OMB Control Number: 1018-XXXX
Expiration Date:

2nd_Mailing_Cover_Letter

Dear «FirstName» «LastName»:
About 3 weeks ago, we sent you a questionnaire that asked about your experiences while visiting a
National Wildlife Refuge. As of today, we have not received your completed survey.
The comments of people who have already responded include a wide variety of opinions regarding
National Wildlife Refuges and the facilities and services they provide. Many have described their
experiences and preferences. We think the results will be very useful to Refuge managers, planners, and
others.
We are writing again because of the importance of your survey in helping us get accurate results. You are
one of a random sample of visitors participating in a study to improve the quality of Refuges and the
services provided to you and all future visitors. It’s only by hearing from nearly everyone in that sample
that we can be sure the results are truly representative.
There is an identification number printed on the back cover of the survey so that we can check your name
off of the mailing list when you return it. We will destroy the mailing list so that individual names can
never be connected to the results in any way. Protecting the privacy of your answers is very important to
us.
We hope that you will fill out and return the survey soon. If you have changed your mind about
participating, please let us know by returning the blank questionnaire in the enclosed envelope.
Sincerely,

Natalie Sexton
Social Science Researcher
P.S. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 970.226.9xxx or you can email us at
[email protected].
OMB Control Number: 1018-XXXX
Current Expiration Date: