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Digital data donations offer valuable insights for social science research but are difficult to secure. This paper tested tailored recruitment messages aimed at increasing willingness to donate digital trace data by addressing concerns about low digital skills and trust in science. Two strategies were evaluated: a priori tailoring, which tailors the invitation message based on participants’ profiles, and post-hoc tailoring, which addresses participants’ specific reasons for refusal. For the a-priori approach, two pre-registered survey experiments were conducted on participants with low digital skills and low trust in science, treating these groups with tailored recruitment messages addressing these concerns. Although statistically insignificant, these treatments resulted in a 6% and 11% increase in intention to donate. Out of an original sample of 5,595 participants asked to donate their data, the post-hoc strategy targeted those who initially refused, showing improved engagement, especially among those with concerns about their low digital skills. Collectively, these post-hoc messages led to 5% of participants who initially refused to agree to participation, and 28% to agree to be recontacted at a later stage. We conclude by discussing practical details for the implementation of these strategies.
León et al. (Tue,) studied this question.