Mobile Research
Mobile research is a fantastic access method, especially as mobiles proliferate and overtake PC connections in the UK and around the world. When people leave home, they take three things with them – money, keys and mobile…
We’ve been running mobile research programmes since 2007 at Fly. Our bespoke research capability allows you to conduct consistent research in the UK and around the globe, reaching people on their mobile phones (either via text invites or email invites) and then using their phones’ mobile browser to complete the survey. It also works well on tablets and iPads as people complete surveys on the couch or in front of the TV…
The benefits of mobile research with Fly are clear
- Massive audience reach
- Our software works on 95% of phones – NOT just smart phones!
- Reach people with surveys at any time (not just when they log on)
- Reach people wherever they are
- Richer data using photos or MMS video
- Fresher, more precise data as time between event and survey is often less
- Respondent friendly – people know their mobiles well
How does it work?
There are a few options with mobile research:
- SMS surveys – respondents are invited by SMS and respond via SMS with a back end system holding and deciphering their responses. Generally SMS surveys are ultra short or even single question voting projects – rather like X-Factor.
- Voice recognition surveys – these are not greatly used but are actually rather clever as they work on all phones (landline as well as mobile) regardless of what software or browsers they are running! The respondent simply responds to the recorded questions using either number prompts (press 1 for Yes, 2 for No…), or, more recently, natural language (which is decoded and captured in the back end system). Data is digital and so can be displayed in real time and costs are low (as there is little to no human input required other than transcribing open ended questions. Voice recognition survey software especially is a good way to cover audiences with lower spec phones or those that are less technically adept.
- Mobile internet surveys – these are essentially the same as online surveys with the difference that invites can be by text message as well as email. Surveys do need to be shorter – over 10 questions is pushing it – but we can employ the full range of question logic and so we can still cover a lot of ground by intelligently showing or hiding questions from a large question bank. It works well in developing markets where mobile web connections are massively higher than computer internet connections. It does though still have some audience skews towards the younger, the technically literate, and those well off enough to afford a smart phone and unlimited data contract.
Next steps
We’d love to discuss your needs and provide you with some options, whether you need a tracking programme or a one off project. We can tell you about projects we’ve completed for Knorr (photos of food cupboards!), Orange or Mintel. Check out our mobile study on teens and brands for Marketing as well.
Chat online now with Greg or Ian or call us on 08700 427 427.
See below a mobile research webinar we ran with survey software provider GlobalPark (now Questback).