Message framing and medium considerations for recruiting newly eligible teen organ donor registrants

Abstract

In response to the current organ shortage-and in an effort to increase the number of registered donors-the present campaign employed a direct-mail marketing strategy that registered 6908 individuals in the state's First-Person Consent Registry (FPCR). In evaluating the most effective of three mailers, 18-year-old individuals (N = 139 356) were randomly assigned to receive: (a) a letter from the Secretary of State (SoS); (b) a brochure from the SoS or (c) both. As hypothesized, the results revealed that exposure to the SoS letter only resulted in a greater registration rate than exposure to the SoS brochure only. Results also revealed that exposure to both the SoS letter and SoS brochure resulted in a greater registration rate than exposure to the SoS brochure only. No difference in registration rate emerged between exposure to the SoS letter and SoS brochure compared to exposure to the SoS letter only. Our results speak to the effectiveness of utilizing personalized direct-mail marketing strategies to promote organ donation with an emphasis on the practical implications of our findings for organ donation practitioners. This study finds support for disseminating a personalized letter from the Secretary of State to recruit newly eligible teens to register as organ donors. © Copyright 2012 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.