Prepared for the:
Canada Revenue Agency
December, 2013
Contract Number: 46558-147091/001/CY
Contract Award Date: October 10, 2013
Project Cost: $57,449.01 (HST included)
POR Number: 027-13

Prepared by:
TNS

For further information:
Media Relations
Canada Revenue Agency
4th Floor – 555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1A 0L5
Media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca

Executive Summary

Background and Objectives

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is producing an advertising campaign directed towards business owners to encourage them to use CRA online services including the online mail feature to conduct their business with the Agency. The purpose of the campaign is to increase enrolment in the CRA’s online services for business owners—particularly among owners of small businesses. The focus of the campaign, and desired call to action, is to encourage business owners to enroll for a secure online account with the CRA (My Business Account) and select the online mail feature. The specific objectives of the concept and message testing were to:

• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of a number of creative approaches;
• Determine which approach was strongest in terms of communicating the ad campaign’s intended message(s) and call to action; and
• Identify ways in which the various ads could be revised to improve their effectiveness.

Methodology

A total of six (6) focus groups were conducted across Canada in order to test three campaign concepts each of which had a print and digital component. Four groups were conducted in English (two each in Toronto and Calgary) and two in French (Montreal) on November 27 and 28, 2013. The groups consisted of small business owners that:

• Have businesses with 5 or less employees.
• Handle business matters online or conduct online business banking.
• Handle at least some of their tax matters themselves (GST/HST, Corporate or T2 and/or payroll deductions) rather than using an external tax preparer or an in-house representative.

Findings

Among the three concepts tested, “Growing” was received well by the majority of groups. It was the design that provided the greatest enticement to find out more information about My Business Account and the online mail feature. The imagery was relatable and appealing (especially the bakery). The notion of “having less paperwork and more time” struck a chord with most (despite questionable believability). For many, it was the only concept in which the visuals and the tagline were powerful enough to entice participants to read the entire text (without prompting) and/or get further information.

While each print concept had its own merits, there were several overarching issues which could be addressed. On the whole, the designs’ imagery was generally perceived as bright and cheery, and visually pleasant. However a common design complaint was that the graphics were too large, and the text at the bottom was too small and dense (they would prefer bullet points). Also, many felt that the imagery should be more culturally diverse, have less of a gender bias, and should include more humour to engage the audience.

In terms of messaging, most participants understood the key message in each print concept – ‘manage your CRA mail online’; however the believability of some of the benefits (saving paperwork, creating more time) was brought into question. As well, for some print ads it was not clear enough that the ads were specifically aimed at small businesses.

The digital creatives were not as well received as the print advertisements; however, we must factor participants’ difficulty in making this assessment with the materials used for testing. The main issue was that the digital ads’ text on its own did not provide enough information. As with the print ad, the slogan “More time with customers - Less time on paper work” resonated with most people however, skepticism existed on the “saving paperwork”. The Government of Canada (GC) and CRA logos added substantial credibility and increased the likelihood of clicking on the advertisement. Suggestions for improvement on the digital ads included:

• Changing “Register Now” to “To Get More Information, Click Here”
• Do not use capital letters in the tag line.
• Change the hyperlink to blue.
• Make the messaging more clearly about My Business Account.

The cost of this research including GST and HST was $57,449.01.