jkgaeng Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 I work business development at a tech startup in Colorado. My team and I ran an interesting test to see how gender effects response rates to cold-outreach emails. The emails were sent to C-level executives working mainly at startups throughout the US (with a focus on NYC and San Francisco). The results prove to be good fodder in the debate over the subjugation of women in the workplace. Conditions: Same email subject line and content were used across all accounts. All emails were sent at the same time of day/week. Since the accounts were "ghost" accounts, they were checked and managed by 1 person (a male for the sake of full disclosure). 2 female, 2 male. The two males received responses but not a single 'yes' reply. The two women received 15x and 13x more replies than the men. The two women also received 5x and 8x more 'yes' replies. One women performed the best with 8 'yes' replies. Who said women have it hard? It sounds like women have an easier time winning business than men.
happytoexist Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 I need some clarification. Can you please define "cold-outreach emails"? I assume the "cold" just means that they are not a real person and isn't describing that callous or insensitive language was used in the emails. Were these outreach emails requesting jobs or business partnerships? I would also like to know more about your sample. If you are planning on publishing this study please do not feel pressured to prematurely disseminate your data. This certainly could be good evidence to imply favouritism of women. However, if you did not receive ethics approval from a research ethics review board before conducting your research the results may be discredited. I think this is an amazing social science research project, are you planning on publishing your results in an academic Journal? I work business development at a tech startup in Colorado. My team and I ran an interesting test to see how gender effects response rates to cold-outreach emails. The emails were sent to C-level executives working mainly at startups throughout the US (with a focus on NYC and San Francisco). The results prove to be good fodder in the debate over the subjugation of women in the workplace. Conditions: Same email subject line and content were used across all accounts. All emails were sent at the same time of day/week. Since the accounts were "ghost" accounts, they were checked and managed by 1 person (a male for the sake of full disclosure). 2 female, 2 male. The two males received responses but not a single 'yes' reply. The two women received 15x and 13x more replies than the men. The two women also received 5x and 8x more 'yes' replies. One women performed the best with 8 'yes' replies. Who said women have it hard? It sounds like women have an easier time winning business than men.
jkgaeng Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Sure thing. In sales and email marketing, cold outreach is the process of contacting prospective customers that have never heard of your product/service. The emails contained content highlighting our companies value proposition. What's a research ethics review board? I'd like to know more and would be interested in replicating these findings and publish.
NumberSix Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Very interesting. Jkgaeng, FYI sending unsolicited bulk email (AKA Spam) is illegal in USA, so be careful not to get in trouble. It’s common in tech industry to see attractive young women working in sales.
NumberSix Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 I don't think the emails he talks about are bulk/spam per se. The addresses are probably obtained through buying a list or even just going through the yellow pages. Typical practice. Yes, that is spam, unless each email is individually written and sent.
NumberSix Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 So how do you figure that's illegal? There are many legitimate services that send them out. I think what's illegal is when you obtain them via spider or bot? It's only legal if you have a prior commercial relationship (existing customers).
shirgall Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 So how do you figure that's illegal? There are many legitimate services that send them out. I think what's illegal is when you obtain them via spider or bot? http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/state-spam-laws.aspx
happytoexist Posted June 26, 2015 Posted June 26, 2015 What's a research ethics review board? I'd like to know more and would be interested in replicating these findings and publish. A research ethics review board is a group experienced researchers and ethicists who are responsible for ensuring that proposed research does not violate the rights of or harm any human subjects involved in the study. Most Universities have research ethics review boards on campus. There are also some government research ethics councils. In Canada all research involving human subjects must meet the ethical standards of the TCPS2 (Tri-council policy statement 2). I am not sure about the US but I am sure it is very similar. I am sure research ethics review board would help you clear up the SPAM question. The reason for standardized ethics review processes is to prevent horrible things from being done to people "in the name of science". If you google "tuskegee syphilis experiments" or "Stanford prison experiments" you will understand why ethics review is important. If you don't have social science research experience you may be best to seek out someone who can help you and who has the name, credentials or connections to publish credible results. It might be hard to find tenured researchers/professors who aren't busy with other projects but there are probably many prospective PhD students who are looking for a project like yours for their dissertation. You will want to take steps to protect your intellectual property so that you don't get Scooped (i.e. Professor Dillydally the sociologist tells you it is stupid idea and 3 months later publishes a paper on it, giving you no credit). Good luck! If you end up publishing a paper make sure you give me a shoutout in the acknowledgments section. Here are some links that might help clarify the Ethics Review process. http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/index/ A great way to find scientists to help you would be to make an account on ResearchGate. It is like facebook for scientists. You can make an account, seek out the appropriate research partners and message them. https://www.researchgate.net/home.Home.html
NumberSix Posted June 26, 2015 Posted June 26, 2015 The CAN-SPAM Act (In Plain English)“Only send email to people that "want" it. People can tell you they want your emails through several methods: subscribing via a form on your website; putting a business card into goldfish bowl that says "join our email list" at a trade show you went to; giving you permission verbally; or by simply being a recent customer of yours (meaning they've purchased something from you in the two years or so.)”http://www.infront.com/blogs/the-infront-blog/2011/12/27/the-can-spam-act-in-plain-english
J. D. Stembal Posted June 27, 2015 Posted June 27, 2015 Very interesting. Jkgaeng, FYI sending unsolicited bulk email (AKA Spam) is illegal in USA, so be careful not to get in trouble. It’s common in tech industry to see attractive young women working in sales. I am reminded of...
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