Prepared for the:
Public Affairs Branch
Canada Revenue Agency
FINAL REPORT
June 2007
POR# 434-06
Contract #46558705722
Prepared by:
Environics
Le rapport complet en français sera fourni sur demande.
To request a full copy of this report, please contact Library and Archives Canada at:
613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 or www.collectionscanada.ca
Media Enquiries:
Media Relations
Canada Revenue Agency
4th Floor 555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca
Executive Summary
Research purpose and objectives
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) administers tax laws for the Government of Canada and for most provinces and territories, and various social and economic benefit and incentive programs delivered through the tax system. As part of its mandate, the department provides electronic tax services for small businesses.
An advertising campaign consisting of print and Internet ads was designed with the objective of building awareness and promoting the use of these services. The campaign originally ran in Winter 2006, and was repeated in Winter 2007 with the advertising placed between January 22 and March 6. The Winter 2007 campaign was directed towards small business. Consistent with the Government of Canada's policy on advertising, the effectiveness of this campaign was evaluated using public opinion research with small businesses.
The specific objectives of the research are to:
- Measure recall of the advertising (unaided and aided);
- Evaluate impact of the advertising in terms of message recall and sponsorship/attribution; and,
- Evaluate perceptions of the Government of Canada's performance, both overall and on specific dimensions related to service delivery.
Methodology
The evaluation was based on a national telephone survey conducted between March 13 and 29, 2007 with a representative sample of 401 representatives of small businesses (defined as those with one to 99 employees). The margin of error for a sample of 401 is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points, 19 times in 20, and is greater for results pertaining to regional or other subgroups of the total sample. The survey used the Government of Canada's Advertising Campaign Evaluation Tool (ACET), which is the standard measurement tool for evaluating federal government advertising campaigns. The questions from this tool were adapted slightly for a business audience. A more detailed description of the methodology used to conduct this survey is provided at the back of this report, along with a copy of the questionnaire.
This report begins with an executive summary outlining key findings, followed by a detailed analysis of the survey data. Provided under separate cover is a detailed set of “banner tables” presenting the results for all questions by business population segments as defined by regions and demographics. These tables are referenced by the survey question in the detailed analysis. All results, including those presented in graphs and tables, are expressed as a percentage unless otherwise noted. Only subgroup differences significant to at least the 95% confidence level are discussed, unless otherwise stated
External Influences / Environmental Factors
Prior to the fielding of this survey, the CRA experienced significant computer system difficulties that caused it to temporarily suspend online services for individual taxpayers on March 6th in order to protect the integrity of taxpayer information contained in the Agency's databases. Business tax services were not affected by the service interruption and contingency plans were implemented to ensure that CCTB and UCCB payments and GST/HST credit payments were made on time. The CRA's online services were fully restored by March 14th.
There was extensive media coverage of the service interruption during this period, especially at the beginning. Media interest dwindled in time, however, as it became increasingly apparent that the CRA was in control of the situation.
Respondents did not make any explicit references to this service interruption in their responses to this survey.
Key findings
- Eighteen percent (18%) of representatives within small businesses say they have seen recent advertising on business tax information available online. This group is most likely to describe the advertising they recall in terms of business tax information being available online, and general comments about information or text.
- A total of fifteen percent (15%) of small business representatives have aided recall of some element of the recent CRA campaign, which includes eleven percent (11%) who recall the magazine and newspaper advertising and four percent (4%) who recall the Internet ad. The greater contribution of the print advertising to the level of net recognition is consistent with the higher media buy for this element of the campaign.
- Representatives who recall the print advertising are most likely to say it conveyed messages about making things easier (29%) and that taxes are not easy and require help (19%). However, an almost equivalent proportion of ad recallers (45%) were unable to recall any message from the print campaign. Message recall from the Internet advertising is generally similar, although the low base size of ad recallers (n=17) is too small to permit a quantitative analysis.
- Small business representatives are moderately positive about the federal government's performance on providing electronic services to business, with thirty-one percent (31%) rating it as generally good, compared to twenty percent (20%) who rate it as generally poor, and thirty-six percent (36%) who give a neutral rating. Those who recall the recent CRA ad campaign are more likely to express a positive opinion (although caution is recommended against assuming a causal link, since it may be that those who are most positive about the federal government's performance in this area are also more likely to have noticed and to recall the recent advertising).
The following summarizes the performance ratings for the Government of Canada:
Positive assessment (rating 5, 6, or 7 out of 7)
- Providing electronic services to businesses; 31%
- Overall performance; 37%
- Providing information and service to businesses; 37%
Agree (rating 5, 6 or 7 out of 7)
- Delivers services/information in respectful way; 58%
- Can count on for reliable service/information; 39%
- Using new/innovative ways to provide information/services; 33%
- Easy to contact for information/service; 33%
Conclusions
There are few Government of Canada ad campaigns targeted to business audiences against which to compare the results of this evaluation. However, when compared to advertising research standards among the general population, the results suggest that the CRA's Winter 2007 campaign met expectations for print and Internet advertising. Recall levels for the campaign are modest, and are driven primarily by the print advertising compared to the Internet ad. While a fair proportion of ad recallers understood that the campaign was about how to make taxes easier, there was no explicit recognition that the CRA offers on-line tax services to small businesses. It is likely that this needs to be conveyed to the target audience in order for them to know how to approach the CRA for this service.
