I’m in the midst of a research project, which surveys journalists about their views about blogs. I am e-mailing journalists and asking them to take an on-line survey. Because collecting e-mail addresses is so time consuming, I can only send out so many requests in one day. In the process, I’m learning a lot about how to improve your response rate.
Individually addressed e-mails make a big difference. "Dear Mr. Smith" works much better than "Dear Journalist." E-mails sent in bulk don’t work. Make sure your subject line doesn’t sound too spammy. If people don’t answer your e-mail first thing in the morning, there aren’t going to answer it. A jovial tone rather than academese is important. Drinking beer and loud music helps boredom.
Apt. 11d 
I’m much more likely to answer surveys if I think I’ll get access to the results in a timely fashion (as a hint). I also like it if people tell me exactly how long it’s going to take, so I can decide if I want to invest the time. Finally, I want some information as to the purpose of the survey (that I find convincing and believable).
bj
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Good luck!
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Information in the subject line about the source of the survey (a newspaper, a university, or a foundation supporting it), and an indication of that affiliation in the sender’s email, is what will get me to open the email in the first place. Otherwise I might just trash it from the outset.
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