1525-0012-0173 US Mint American Buffalo 100th Anniversity Survey Request

UNITED STATES MINT

QUANTITATIVE CONSUMER RESEARCH – AMERICAN BUFFALO 100^TH ANNIVERSARY SURVEY

8/30/2012

1. Purpose of the Research

The purpose of conducting the United States Mint American Buffalo 100^th Anniversary Survey is to assess customer interest in FY2013 products commemorating the 100^th Anniversary of the James Earle Fraser design on the American Buffalo gold coins as well as in updating the design of the American Buffalo coin for FY2014. The results from this research study will assist the Brand Management Division in developing the American Buffalo product line for FY2013 and FY 2014 by helping ensure that those product offerings are closely aligned with customer interests.

Executive Order No. 12862 (September 1993), titled “Setting Customer Service Standards,” established a mandate for the government to improve and adhere to best practices when providing customer service directly to the American people such as surveys of customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing services (Section 1b). The United States Mint continuously strives, as part of its mission, to provide the highest quality service to the American people. To effectively accomplish these goals, it is crucial for the United States Mint to know and maintain awareness of customer preferences and needs and to continuously monitor customer satisfaction. To that end, this study will enable the Mint to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction by ascertaining in advance what changes to our product offerings customers are, or are not, interested in.

There would be no direct consequences to federal program or policy activities if this collection is not conducted other than the United States Mint’s reduced ability to offer collectible coin products for sale that customers are interested in. This is a one-time collection, intended to assist the United States Mint develop new product strategy geared toward improving customer satisfaction.

II. Sample Design and Methodology

The United States Mint American Buffalo 100^th Anniversary Survey is designed to be web-based, with customers receiving an e-mail invitation to complete the survey. The targeted sample for this survey is a total of 4,800 customers.

The sample for this study will include all customers with a targeted sample among those who have purchased at least one of the following products in the past 2 years: American Buffalo gold coins, American Eagle gold coins, First Spouse gold coins, or American Eagle Anniversary sets.

3. American Buffalo 100^th Anniversary Survey Design

The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Each respondent will evaluate his/her likely interest and likelihood to purchase an American Buffalo coin or set option and then will respond to a battery of questions about changing the design of the coin.

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates

This survey approach is designed to minimize the amount of intrusion and burden that is placed on customers. Accordingly, calls will not be made, nor will other “intrusive” measures that normally might be used to maximize response rates. We plan to send e-mail invitations to customers explaining that participation is totally voluntary. No monetary incentive will be offered.

For United States Mint customers, we typically achieve very high response rates (4%-10% depending on the spend segment) even without an incentive. We keep surveys to a manageable length and field topics that are interesting and important to our customers. We ensure that our data provides reliable population-level inferences by carefully designing the sampling plan with appropriate strata and sample sizes and by weighting the data to account for the survey design and to adjust for nonresponse.

3. Estimate of the Burden Hours

The collection of information will involve completion of the survey via the Internet with up to a maximum of 4,800 randomly selected respondents. The average survey will take approximately 10 minutes. Therefore, the total estimated burden for this survey is 800 hours.

	American Buffalo 100th Anniversary Survey
All respondents	4,800
Average Interview Minutes	10
Total estimated burden hours	800

The burden hours were calculated by multiplying the number of respondents (4,800) by average (survey) interview minutes (10) and dividing that number by 60 minutes, which results in 800 burden hours.

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