The U.S. Census Bureau is working towards full electronic data collection. To further this effort, the 2012 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) was selected to implement a letter-only initial mailing. This mailing consisted of a single-page letter asking a potential respondent to report electronically to this survey.

Approximately half of the businesses in the initial mailout were asked to complete the new 2012 SBO-2 form, with 39 fewer questions to answer than the 2012 SBO-1 form. The SBO-2 form covered the key topics of gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status of the owners. The SBO-1 form asked additional questions about characteristics of the owner(s) and the business, such as the education level of the owner(s) and sources used to finance business acquisition.

Two follow-up mailings occurred at six-week intervals. "Letter-only" follow-ups were sent to nonrespondents with a prior history of having reported electronically to either the 2007 SBO or the 2012 Economic Census. English- or Spanish-language paper forms were sent to nonrespondents who requested a paper form. The remaining nonrespondents were randomly assigned follow-up mailing packages, with one-third of each mail follow-up group receiving paper forms instead of "letter-only" mailings.