Mobile Survey or Mobile-Friendly Survey?

August 24, 2010

I recently read an article about the increasingly popular mobile surveys using apps. There are pros and cons to these surveys, but the more important question these days for market researchers is, are we spending more time developing “mobile” ways of doing research (for instance, through an app), instead of optimizing online research for mobile devices? In creating competitive advantage, should expansion stage companies invest more of their time in mobile surveys or mobile-friendly surveys? Which should they prioritize?

Mobile-friendly Survey: As smart-phone users and web-browsing from cell phones rise, more and more people are accessing surveys from their cell phones. This means that the people who are most interested in your product are accessing your “web” surveys from their mobile devices. The issue here is that to make web surveys work well on the cell-phone, researchers need to reformat, reorganize and shorten existing surveys.

A Truly Mobile Survey: Alternatively, let’s take a look at surveys using a cell-phone app, which is a “mobile” way of surveying. In this case, people are recruited based on their cell-phone behaviors or are asked to take part in them based on the activities they are currently participating in. The biggest advantage of this is that the information you get from the customer is at the point of experience, which can help direct future customer experience improvements. The right formatting of the survey is ensured here, so that it can be used on the move.

So, which among the above is more important? I feel that, in the short term, it is more important to have the web survey be more mobile-friendly. This might hinder the use of interactive questions; but without a web survey, it will be difficult to reach the target consumer as it will make survey participation harder. At the end of the day, competitive positioning lies with catering to customer ease-of-use, which should be prioritized in order to get maximum feedback.

Co-Founder

Faria Rahman is the Co-Founder of <a href="https://www.treemarc.com/">Treemarc</a> which, uses machine learning to make it easy for businesses to order custom packaging and product nesting in a few minutes. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at Northbridge Financial Corporation, a leading commercial property and casualty insurance management company offering a wide range of innovative solutions to Canadian businesses. Faria also worked at OpenView from 2010 to 2011 where she was part of the Market Research team.