X-Message-Number: 1815
From: 
Subject: CRYONICS Information Requests
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 01:06:57 PST

From: Mike Perry
Date: Jan. 23, 1993
> Subject: Info requests.

     Information requests are important for getting the word out about Alcor 
and cryonics. Recently, as most readers will know, there has been an 
"Immortality contest" in *Omni* magazine (the winner of a 250-word essay on 
why they want to be frozen gets a free, whole-body freeze with Alcor). This 
has brought in a lot of information requests, as expected, though the totals 
haven't been as large as some predicted. Another major source of requests 
has been a 1-page article by Charles Platt which appeared a year ago, in the 
Feb. '92 *Omni*.
     Information requests at Alcor, usually from callers on the 800-number, 
are initially put on a written form and then entered into our database, 
where they are processed further. I was entering some of these I have taken 
in the past 2 days (as an Alcor staff member), and out of curiosity 
tabulated some statistics which may be of interest (and may suggest more 
detailed studies to be done later). ALL of the 11 requests involved in this 
brief sample were "students doing a report" (these are still being sent our 
expensive-to-produce, 100+ page "Blue Book," despite less extensive 
literature now being sent to other inquirers). The breakdown of sexes was 
almost equal: 5 males, 6 females. One question asked of callers is where 
they got our number (so we can tell how effective our different advertising 
efforts are relative to one another, among other things). The breakdown here 
is interesting. Fully 7 of the callers, or 64%, said they got the number 
from *Omni* Feb. 92 (the Charles Platt piece of a year ago). A much smaller 
number, 2 or 18% cited *Omni* Jan. 93 (the Immortality Contest), and 2 more 
(another 18%) cited other sources. This very preliminary study should be 
followed up with one involving larger numbers. Results suggest, however, that 
(1) our typical information requester these days is a student doing a 
report, and (2) he/she found our number in the Feb. 92 *Omni*, possibly in a 
library or through a teacher. It remains to be seen whether more recent 
exposure in *Omni* or other places will in time attract as many callers, and 
how that will affect signup rates, etc.
     One final point is that Charles Platt deserves principal credit for 
the cryonics material in *both* issues of *Omni*, and we certainly owe him a 
debt of gratitude.

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