Advisory Opt-ins During Registration Compared with Opt-ins After Registration
KEN -19 -1461Last modified on December 19th, 2025 at 10:18 am
-
Abstract
PxD operates the MoA-INFO platform in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture to provide free agricultural recommendations to farmers via SMS messages. Farmers join the MoA-INFO platform through a registration survey initiated by sending the word “FARM” or “SHAMBA”. The registration survey collects data such as the farmer’s name and location to customize future messages, and introduces the farmer to other platform features and keywords like MENU and CHECK. The cropping series (CS) is a key feature of the MoA-INFO platform. In this trial we test whether more farmers opt-in to the CS if they are given the option during registration than if they are given the option after completion of their registration. The results show that including the opt-in question during registration significantly increased the maize CS opt-in rate from 26% to 76%, but reduced completion of the location section of the survey by 5.9 percentage points (pp). While it lowered opt-in rates for other crops, such as beans and Irish potatoes, the overall effect was net positive, leading to more farmers opting-in to at least one CS and receiving advice throughout the season.
-
Status
Completed
-
Start date
Q1 Mar 2019
-
End date
Q4 Oct 2019
-
Experiment Location
Kenya
-
Partner Organization
Kenya Ministry of Agriculture
-
Agricultural season
Long Rains
-
Experiment type
A/B test
-
Sample frame / target population
MoA-INFO newly registering farmers
-
Sample size
76,158
-
Outcome type
Service engagement
-
Mode of data collection
PxD administrative data
-
Research question(s)
Do more farmers opt-in to the maize CS messages if they are given the option to opt-in during the registration process than if they are given the option to opt-in after completing registration?
-
Research theme
Communication technology, Service design
-
Research Design
Beginning in March 2019, when users registered for the MoA-INFO platform, we randomized them into two groups. The “opt-in” treatment group was selected with a 20% probability and was asked to opt-in to the maize CS during the registration survey. The control group was asked if they ever farm maize. Farmers from this group were later invited to opt-in to the maize CS, but only after they completed the registration survey. The messages in the registration survey were as follows:
Opt-in Treatment: “Would you like to receive regular messages giving you advice on how to grow better maize? A. Yes B. No.”
Control: “To give you this advice we just need to know a little about your farming practices. Do you ever grow maize on your farm? A. Yes B. No.”After registration, the control group was asked to opt-in to the maize CS messages. Both groups were asked to opt-in to bean and Irish potato CS messages.
-
Results
Randomly assigning users to receive the CS opt-in question during registration led to several notable outcomes. First, it decreased completion of the registration location section by 5.9 pp from a control rate of 72.9%. At the same time, it significantly increased the opt-in rate for the maize CS from 26% to 76%, while reducing opt-in rates for beans (from 14% to 7%) and Irish potatoes (from 9% to 8%). This shift in opt-in preferences led to more users viewing maize-related content throughout the season, and fewer users viewing bean and potato content. However, the increased engagement with maize content more than offset the decline in engagement with content of the other crops, resulting in higher overall content exposure for users in the treatment group. The intervention did not affect the farmers' accession of the menu feature, but it did increase their use of the maize monitoring tool, likely due to its inclusion in the maize CS messages.