GROUP 179
Why it is happening? Consumer behaviour change – mobile and tablet
Today smartphones do so much, they take high quality pictures, video footage and they can direct us quickly and easily to places. We love our social media and use it regularly, we put out there our opinions and reflections and now get bombarded with advertising based on what we have liked and where we have made comments.
In 2012 to 2013 traffic to marketing surveys from mobile devices in the US and Europe increased from 23% to 43%. Although some of this trend can be related to ‘unintended mobile respondents’, or the completion of surveys not designed for mobile use, does this show that we want to complete surveys when and where we are instead of waiting until we get home to use our PC? Is this a result of the ‘on demand’ society?
Does the statement “Consumers want the choice and ability to complete a survey when and where they want and on a device of their choice” ring true for you?
Studies have also shown that mobile survey responses are received faster than computer responses. Is that because we carry our smartphones all the time?
Worldwide smart phone boom is revealed in striking contrast with the debut of Pope Francis in 2005 compared to Pope Benedict in 2013 at St Peters Square, Vatican City.
Most mobile respondents use their smartphones rather than a tablet. This is a reflection of higher smartphone ownership, but most respondents have been shown to complete the surveys at home. Has our smartphone overtaken the trusty PC or laptop?
What is happening now? Overview of todays market research capabilities
From a Marketers perspective Mobile surveys provide a great deal of opportunity for collecting more relevant data, more frequently. New mobile tools have emerged; SMS invites, passive data collection, GPS data collection, bar code scanning and visual data capture.
Participative research is huge via the mobile device. The ability to gain deeper insights into people’s lives by getting them to take part in an activity. Mobile devices easily enable consumers to take a video, picture or send a text message as part of a Market Research program.
At any given time across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, you’ll see Marketers running competitions asking consumers to engage with their brands by sharing a video, picture or text message.
Sites such as UserTesting.com allow Marketers to under go User Testing quickly and easily via video feedback from real people as they engage with their platforms.
Twitter and Unmetric have recently announced the launch of an App called Sense that allows markets to monitor their competition in real time, via a live stream of campaign images, videos and hashtags. Review the full article here.
This could possibly be the most exciting and dynamic time within the market research industry. What other benefits are Market Researchers seeing from the rise of mobile?
How far can market research go before it becomes a privacy issue?
These new market research practices come with ethical concerns. In particular around privacy and what is ‘informed consent’. Informed consent is the permission granted in full knowledge of the possible consequences.
- With today’s mobile capabilities, are consumers providing informed consent?
- How far can market research go?
- Is there a privacy issue now?
- What will the future of Market Research look like?
We have attached a brief survey of some “mobile” market research questions. Please click on the link http://jtedgehill.polldaddy.com/s/market-research to give us your thoughts. Please make sure you click “Finish Survey” once you are done.
Marketing Management Blog 
With regards to your first question, mobile capabilities have overtaking the knowledge of the user. E.g. until recently relatives could not explain why their roaming data was used and caused a large phone bill whilst on an overseas trip. Only, once pointed out how to switch it off, explained a few things.
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Good work on this post. ‘The combination of smartphones and mobile internet has enabled consumers to access services nearly everywhere they go, leaving behind them a ‘digital exhaust’ of personal data’ (Nunan & Di Domenico 2013, p. 10). Regardless of code of ethic or laws, the more marketers know about you, the more specific and tailored their marketing approach can be; giving them a better opportunity to hit their mark. In the context of Big Data, and the competitive edge personal data would provide marketers, do some marketers border or breach ethical standards; just to get the segmentation and targeting spot on?
Nunan, D, Di Domenico, M 2013, ‘Market Research and the ethics of big data’, International Journal of Market Research, Vol. 55, No. 4.
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Well considered initial blog, jtedgehill.
It is amazing how far data collection has come over the years. When I was back in uni in the 80’s (yes, the 80’s) as a way of making money to study at uni, I worked as a data collection person for a market research firm. I was one of those (annoying) people who would interrupt you while you were blissfully strolling down the passageways of your favorite shopping centre, doing taste tests and asking you for your opinion on “which chocolate do you like better”.
I even did a lot of direct door-to-door surveys – yep, knocking on doors of private residences, asking personal questions. (Wow, do I have some funny stories about this – often my interviewees became a little tooooo friendly)
Anyway, one of the things we were trained to do when interviewing was that we had to write down EVERYTHING the respondent said – every word – verbatim, every stutter, every exclamation, every grunt. Once the data was taken back to the head office, the assessors would comb through it to try to profile the interview sample. Damned hard work for them, and heavily reliant upon correct interpretation by the interviewer. If responses were not accurately recorded, the error factor simply widened when it was interpreted and summarised. Product managers would then receive a report on these findings. So, by the time it got to them, several layers of interpretation had already occurred – introducing bias – often outright error – into the marketing research process.
FAST FORWARD to 2015 – as in your post, jtedgehill, mobile technology makes this data process a walk-in-the-park, compared to earlier days. The data collected is very specific, very accurate, trackable and identifiable, Profiling of behavior is almost automatic – and extremely accurate..
Behavioral events can be directly linked to one-another. For instance, a web search for an island resort followed by a visit to wotif.com, followed by a visit to a bank to get travel insurance. If a competitor was able to tap-into this stream, insurance product might be pushed to me on my browser.
(An interesting example was last week when I was doing research for my Deakin, International Marketing course assignment. My chosen country for an economic assessment was the Maldives. I have no real intention of visiting there, but because I visited so many sights associated with the Maldives, my everyday browser experience includes ad-pushes for flights to the Maldives, currency exchange, travel insurance, etc)
As a market researcher, life is much easier now.
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The modern age and our high use of technology has created a new market; the exchange and sale of our online habits and and our personal data profiles.
There is a great tool within Mozilla called Lightbeam. This tool shows you how this information is collected an pieced together for sale. This software’s inventor Gary Kovacs demonstrates just how prolific the collection of our online presence in what is now ranked as one of the most watched TED talks – http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_kovacs_tracking_the_trackers?language=en.
Banks are becoming very sophisticated in the way they utilise this collection of data to target their existing client bases. They are able to tailor their marketing to reflect current events in your life, CBA Chief Executive Ian Narev has been reported as declaring that Big data analysis is a top priority for CBA. Westpac is also entering the fray with the purchase of a stake in analytics company Zetaris.
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Thanks for the interesting information, jtedgehill.
Don’t know why, these days I have got couple of calls related to mobile marketing. People has called from various companies and started asking questions. Apart from the question of getting annoyed, I used to answer almost every questions. I bet I wouldn’t have the patience if I had to use my laptop/PC, sit and have to answer all the questions. So to the question- “Has our smartphone overtaken the trusty PC or laptop?” I think the answer is- Yes…
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Another interesting topic!
How many times did we get unwanted cold calls related to market research surveys or sales pitches on our home phones before the implementation of the Do Not Call Register? Happily this has been extended to mobiles now but that doesn’t stop the frequent requests to review apps, restaurant visits, service calls etc….. We almost need a technical engineering degree to know how to prevent our smartphones from tracking us, reporting our activity to the service providers, app developers, stores we visited……………..frequently without explicity asking our permission. Fitzsimmons’ ‘Big Data, Big Deal’ reading this week (https://global-factiva-com.ezproxy-b.deakin.edu.au/ga/default.aspx) made for a very interesting read, particularly as we just don’t know how the data may be analysed or used in the future as data analytic software continues to develop. Should we be worried? Or should we get that technical engineering qualification?
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With the immediate feedback from social media surveys, and surveys accessed from mobile phones and tablets. Are survey results being diluted too much just to receive a response from the participants? Can the survey information be reliable to show what segments they are in interested in? In most cases the surveys maybe too targeted and only sent to people using mobile phones. Are they disregarding larger segments for fast responses?
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I think that more intrusive passive digital data collection is the future for marketing research. Like we saw in the video the other day, with all our shopping and web browsing data being sold to companies for research, we’re getting more predictive ads targeted towards our specific wants and needs. None of this can be achieved without big data analytics. Focus groups and surveys are fine, but that can take a lot of manual interaction and analysis. How effective (and somewhat scary) is it when you search for a product online, and then suddenly all the web ads are different brands for that product? This ties in with the Repeated Exposure that was touched upon in Consumer Behaviour. Sure you may never have heard of a company, but every day you see the same ad. Then eventually maybe curiosity finally gets the better of you and you give it a go? Maybe you buy something. Winner: marketing research data and effective targeting.
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What a great post! In answer to your questions:
•With today’s mobile capabilities, are consumers providing informed consent? No. I’m not saying this is wrong, but many of our consumer behaviours/decisions are being recorded and analysed withour our consent. I think the bigger question here is, is that ok?
•How far can market research go? As far as we let it. At some point I expect the instrusion of privacy will initiate a heavier legal debate to articulate what is right and wrong, and provide some rigour as to market research boundaries.
•Is there a privacy issue now? This links to one of the other posts regarding perception. In my mind, this becomes an issue if the information doesn’t create value for me (as the customer). If it creates value, I’m ok with it. If it results in me being pestered or some other negative outcome, this is an issue.
•What will the future of Market Research look like? With technology and the creation of a close global community, I imagine that market segments will become increasingly defined, and this information more readily available. I imagine that organisations and consumers will have a more inimate understanding of one another and will have more to gain and lose through their relationship.
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Great topic and well researched.
Introduction of the smart phones and social media platforms has changed the societal landscape across which market researchers operate. The new technology facilitated easy access to users’ thoughts and feelings expressed publicly across the social media platforms that they use.
Social media platforms have become very popular for users who share information and express their opinions. The dramatic increase in the number of users over the last few years, and availability of data has strongly attracted market researchers. However, what about the quality of the data, is there any concerns? The answer is yes, firstly, due to the public nature of social media, there would be some barriers that may affect the integrity of the data, or researchers may misinterpret the posts which can’t be verified due to lack of interaction, and secondly, is the information complete? Does the collected data represent the general population, or is it limited to one segment?
Other concerns related to using mobile based surveys is the cost for data transfer, i.e. how many social media users would be interested in spending time and money to complete a survey? What is the best way to invite people to take part in a mobile survey? This article (Effects of Mobile Web Survey Invitation Modes on Non-Response) sheds some light on web survey invitation modes.
In terms of your question regarding the informed consent, I think this would be subject to the terms of the service, i.e. where it clearly states that the information will be made public, no consent should be sought. However, researchers need to be careful about releasing information that can be re-identified. Do users read the terms of use?
Click to access AAPOR_Social_Media_Report_FNL.pdf
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great blog.These day most of marketing survey using mobile phones and they get success .Everyone have mobile phone all the time ,they can complete the survey anytime without waiting to go home and sit in front of pc or laptop to complete it.But ethic issue are related to this .The market collect your private information without informed consent that is against the ethics.In nut shell ,use mobile phone for market survey help the marketors to know the need or expectations of the customers from their product and help them to make startegy to meed the customer needs but these survey should be done without any ethical issues.
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Interesting post.
Technology is constantly evolving, and often, users struggle to keep up with the changes. Without meaning to seem ageist, it is generally older users who are less likely to know how to use the ‘new and improved’ technology. They may fumble their way through, but in not knowing how the technology works, they are unwittingly providing consent to access their data. Under these circumstances, I hardly think that this can be considered ‘informed’, though. Take my mother-in-law for instance. She has been out of the work force for quite a number of years and struggles to perform what the younger generations would consider to be a simple internet search. She has signed up for Facebook, but this was with our assistance and we changed all the privacy settings for her – of course the default settings were all ‘public’ and force the consumer to actively ‘opt out’ of these settings. If we had not set up her Facebook profile, her information would have been available for anyone to see.
On the other hand, the younger generations know perfectly well how to use Facebook. In some instances, the desire for ’15 seconds of fame’ means that users allow full access to their data and this would certainly constitute informed consent. When it comes to younger children, however, there may be a minimum age to sign-up to Facebook, but a birthday is easily forged when the need to be accepted and fit-in wins out. If children are considered too young to drive, or vote, are they really mature enough to provide ‘informed consent’? Perhaps under these circumstances, users should be made to ‘opt in’ to a public profile.
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The blog is interesting enough to promote deep thinking about the effectiveness of mobile phone marketing and research. As aspiring marketers, there are a number of mobile touch points to explore, be it cold calling, mobile survey or sms advertising. In the end, it is a matter of staying connected with the consumer.
Smart phones are no doubt closest to most consumers. But in order to successfully generate useful information through marketing research, it is advisable to reach customers at the right time and through the right medium. What I am trying to say is that people do not just use mobile phones for socializing or shopping. A detailed insight analysis can be conducted to know where to target the customer and through which medium (app/mobile network operator/website, etc).
A very new concept explained on Harvard Business Review is ‘me time’ when consumers use mobile phones for relaxation or fun. Six other motivations can be studied to make effective use of mobile research. But why to study these motivations?? Simple! To prevent annoying customers and working within ethical limitations.
But I wonder how far can brands actually go? How efficient can mobile research be and what are the best ways to target consumers?
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Nowadays mobile have minimized the use of computer and laptops as they are packed with user friendly interface and are loaded with easy to use applications. The mobile world has made it easy for everyone to learn many things in attractive way. There is no need to waste time to start or shutting down a computer and connecting with internet. The compact device enables a user to access anything on finger tips . Earlier people used to show less interest in any sort of surveys because of the long process and time involved, but with this advancement of technology participation of people is attracted as reverting any survey is an easy to do and interesting task.
Regarding the privacy concern; the consumer are always made aware by a information that has to be accepted by the user of the application beforehand. So, as far as market research is concerned; it has reached the next level and has achieved great participation and involvement with privacy of the people as it enables a user to accent his consent before getting involved.
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To look at the power of the smartphone today it is truly amazing, at our finger tips virtually anywhere in the world you can have the combined knowledge of all mankind…from classical thought to the weird its all there.
For years I was happy with my cell phone and laptop arrangement. It seemed like it made sense to keep those two worlds separate. That was 5 years ago… now my smartphone has absolutely taken over my trusty PC.
As far as surveys go I would much rather have the ability to do it on my smartphone than my computer. The interface is typically easier and my phone is almost always with me.
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Interesting post!
I actually work for a market research company, and mobile market research is one of growing areas. One of our biggest priorities nowadays is making sure our online surveys are mobile and tablet friendly. The benefits of mobile market research have been highlighted extensively in the comments so far (I like wlh024’s comments about the amount of error in traditional market research data collection – this is very true!), but one of the biggest disadvantages we’ve found with mobile market research is the level of engagement that respondents have. As the blog points out, ‘studies have also shown that mobile survey responses are received faster than computer responses’, however speed is not the only concern in data collection for market research. Accuracy and in-depth quality are also very important. On the whole, respondents are far less engaged, and provide data/feedback of far less quality than they would say during and over the phone interview. In fact, many of our clients still insist we only collect data for them over the phone, as it is believed to be far more in depth.
Following on from eada210738921’s thoughts on the older age segments being less likely to use mobile market research, it is definitely true that some segments are always going to use new technologies less. In my work, I’ve always found that the proportion of farmers/agriculture business who still don’t have the internet and opt to do online surveys over the phone instead, is significantly higher than any other industry.
The topic of ethics is also an interesting one. I think the point of focus should be on who is collecting the data, not what data is being collected. As a market research company, the company I work for is bound by the Association of Market and Social Research Organisation’s codes and regulations, as the industries governing bodies. This are very strict and protect respondents and their privacy. However, unregulated apps who collect mobile data may not be bound by such strict guidelines.
This is actually very topical at the moment, as just last week Spotify made some terrifying changes to their terms of service: ‘With your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files …’ This means Spotify would be able to access my banking details, my Facebook info: everything on my phone. This would presumably then be used for very targeted marketing.
‘We are living in an era where big companies want to exploit the information we’ve given them for free. This powerful knowledge could be used for good – or to create entire business empires’ (From Paul Mason’s article here: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/23/the-spotify-privacy-backlash-what-is-my-personal-data-really-worth
Paul Mason).
Mason’s article describes this mobile data as “free information, generated by networked interaction, a “positive externality” – a third thing produced for free, accidentally, by the interaction of buyers and sellers’, which is very interesting way to think about it, as if it has been produced with no cost to the respondent, how much claim can we really have over it?
Targeting advertising is scarily accurate these days. The day my friend changed her Facebook status to engaged, instantly, all the ads appearing in Google (not just Facebook – meaning there must mass data sharing between these companies) were for wedding venues, wedding planners, wedding dresses and weight loss products(!).
Also I just wanted to point out to damianG that the Do Not Call Register doesn’t actually apply to market research, it only applies to telemarketers (https://www.donotcall.gov) (sorry, I couldn’t help myself, working in market research I find myself saying this a lot!)
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The biggest advantage of Mobile Market Research is the fact that they do not depend on place or time. So it can be done anywhere. In comparison to logging in to a PC or conducting a survey over the land line. Another advantage is that Mobile Market Research targets the Market Segment most marketing managers are interested in, which is the young adult category.
On the flip side you cannot reach all of the population if you decide to conduct Mobile Market Research. In addition their phones also need to be web enabled and willing to participate in the research.
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Thanks for the blog – very interesting. I understand why mobile devices are the new ‘frontier’ in market research. The idea that you capture the feedback where and when it’s most appropriate is appealing. Not only in terms of trying to boost the response rate – but also in terms of capturing thoughts and emotions which are top of mind.
It’s why people are moving away from paper based surveys. They are tedious, require more effort on behalf of the participants end and the capture rate is not as good.
Having said all this – I think the key statement for marketers and market researchers is ‘fit for purpose’. There is nothing more frustrating than being asked to provide feedback on something – the information is requested at the time of purchase for example – and the survey is long, complex and not designed for mobile devices.
Whilst the consideration of design is hugely important for conducting market research on mobile devices – not everyone has caught on. There was also a point raised in another comment which goes back to fit for purpose to. The tolerance of the participant is much lower on a mobile device. And if you can’t capture the information easily first time around – you rarely get a second go at it… but sometimes you need more detail.
That is when I think you need to be very clear about the objectives of your market research, understand what kinds of tolerances and sample sizes are sufficient for what you need – and then evaluate is it mobile device, focus group, paper and so on.
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It is an interesting post. Personally, it depends on a way that people use smart phones or laptops. I do not think that smart phones take trusty from PC or laptop. As our lives have changes, we always stay out of our places, or someone may have to go out to work. PCs cannot do it well in this situation, even though PCs are able to use outside as smart phones do, but obviously smart phones are more comfortable than PC. On the other hand, think of when we get back home, will you still use a small screen of smart phone in order to watch youtube? if you do, that is okay. For myself, smart phones do not replace a way that I use PC or laptop. It depends on the situation which may lead you to choose which one you will use. It is very interesting blog so far.
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Hi there, interesting blog. It seems a number of the blogs are touching on privacy issues raised with marketing research and data collection. I have completed your survey online – clever idea, so I wont repeat my thoughts from that. I will say that I would prefer to be openly asked questions rather than the data being taken from me without awareness. I am also more likely to participate in mobile marketing research where surveys are short. For example I follow David Jones on Instagram the other day Im scrolling through the feed and DJs has two questions that you can see and it just says will you take a moment to answer these 2 questions. I dont have to go to a new page, I dont need to enter details, I just click on yes, no, maybe questions of which there are 2. I know what Im getting myself into and it took me less than 5 seconds to complete – why wouldnt you do it? I suppose the strategy here is to do small questions which seem non invasive.
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There is no doubt that completing surveys on a mobile device is more enticing than completing a paper survey – or even using a computer. As you have suggested, mobile users are more likely to complete a survey if they’ve got some spare time on their hands, waiting for a train, to meet a friend etc.
I run an arts festival and due to limited resourcing we have always run our surveys on paper. It’s an incredibly slow process, both to complete the survey and to enter the data, which makes it hard to get a good sample. We are just about to start using a program called Culture Counts, which gives us electronic means to provide surveys to our audience (via tablets or mobile devices) and the data is then uploaded in real time to produce reports, graphs etc. This means that depending on how many times an event runs, you could potentially make changes to the event as it roles out. A very exciting possibility indeed! Having the research come through in real time will make it much easier for us to report to stakeholders as well – we could have a report with solid market research on the desk of the Minister for the Arts within a couple of days, instead of a couple of months!
I can only imagine that there will be a lot more exciting ways to collect market research appearing in the future!
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What a really great blog.
There are some problems and opportunities of the privacy in the future of Market Research.
Problem: You’re being watched all the time, and this behavioral data is sacred
Opportunity: Consumers have a sliding scale of “privacy”: they’ve more or less given away most of it already, whether they are aware of it or not. But giving it away doesn’t mean that they want that data kept in an unsecure location. The growth of the Internet of Everything requires a growing demand for data and research security.
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interesting research, but i think in future, mobile phone may disappear, a new product would appear to replace mobile. just like 20 years ago, no one knows mobile could be use touch screen, like apple. so in the future iwatch ect may replace mobile.
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Great blog!
Your post brought the idea of passive data collection as a form of market research to mind.
Passive data collection has an allure that no other mobile marketing research tool can match, especially given the inherent problems and biases that can be associated other traditional survey methodologies. As the Service Swipe article below mentions, with passive data collection there is a particular emphasis on understanding the changing behaviours of mobile users as opposed to a particular insight.
Passive mobile data collection can tap into a person’s operating system, service provider and Wi-Fi connections, smartphone memory, battery life, usage of apps and Internet IP address, as well as specific data using GPS (for location) and even an accelerometer (which monitors vibration and motion).
A companies access to many of these features are embedded in their terms and conditions such as Facebook having access to your pictures and Google have access to your search history so they can better target you with future ads based on your specific interests. Furthermore, Facebook has recently split its mobile messenger service into a separate smartphone app, the use of which allows them greater access to data (conversation history and usage behaviour) than was previously available.
With internet usage on mobile phones exceeding that of PCs since 2014, the proliferation of passive data collection has continued to surge. Every year data collection, retention and analysis becomes cheaper and more powerful, as new technologies evolve and Big Data companies expand.
Passive data collection and its governance will become a higher public priority in the years to come and companies should prepare for this and the potential for fallout. However, I would imagine it will take a very public misuse (or perceived misuse) such as for example, an ‘Ashley Madison’ type breach, by a company or individuals of personal data to make people aware of the window into their behaviour that has been open for some time now.
http://curiousanalytics.com/the-most-important-trend-in-market-research-is-passive-data-collection/
http://www.surveyswipe.com/passive-data-collection.html
http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2353616/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began
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Thanks for your great blog and survey. This subject really puts a chill down my spine as to all the information companies know about us, and the infringement of privacy.
My thoughts on your questions-
1. With today’s mobile capabilities, are consumers providing informed consent?
Legally in the terms and conditions and privacy policies companies are probably providing all the information of what information and data they are collecting. But as consumers a lot of us aren’t aware of what we are agreeing to, and therefore it may not be an informed consent. But if the information is there, how are we to complain?
2. How far can market research go?
Market research has this incredible power in today’s technology driven society. Majority of the population are glued to their mobile phones and other devices. So much more data and market research is available to them, and I think it will only grow and expand.
3. Is there a privacy issue now?
I am concerned that there is. But we have to take ownership in some ways for the data we allow to be spread. But it still is a grey area as to what is ethically acceptable.
4. What will the future of Market Research look like?
Drones following us around, and technology scanning our eyes and fingerprints… No I hope it is used for the greater good and develops products we need and want, using the information provided to companies through so many more opportunities.
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Great blog!!
With the development of social software, and internet, mobile phone take an very important role in our lifestyle. Today, most of people cannot leave the phone when they along. And the phone really keep a lot of our secrets, once the secrets were exposed by somone, may lead to many people lost.
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Hello all,
Just browsing through a number of articles on a health website and came across this little article.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2015/08/14/how-big-data-is-driving-the-consumerization-of-health-care
Whilst the data we are creating through items such as fitbits are person centric in their use and appeal, there may be a time into the future where medicine could find a useful function for this information. For example, when looking at standard HR ranges for a particular age group, is there a benefit for this data to be grouped in gender/geographic segments for a more accurate indicator? Could it be linked to an Ehealth record in order for physicians to follow up with their clients and track their cardiovascular health, see whether there are ectopic beats etc etc.
Once again, the element of privacy would therefore be another issue, as I personally feel health data and spending data are on different levels of privacy concerns. Not sure if there are any lawyers out there reading this, but the ethical considerations of collecting and collating demographic health data from an individuals personal fitbit site could surely not be something that could be signed up to with a generic product terms and conditions form commonly found in todays world of online permissions. Dangerous territory but an area that, with appropriate privacy permissions, security and open disclosure, could surely have a societal benefit. (and financial one if they can make it legit!)
Any thoughts??
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Market research companies are concentrating on any survey-based method delivered via a mobile device. This includes Apps, sms, wap, Location-based services, Mobile web and both mobile terminated and mobile originated interactions.
Well, completing market survey partially/somewhat depends on your level of awareness in the topic of survey. Be it Smartphone, Tablet or PC, if a person is aware about the topic then he will anyhow complete the survey. He can do it while travelling on a Smartphone or Tablet or in office on a Laptop or PC if the topic interests him/her. Nowadays, Surveying companies have come up with a new market research tactics of offering money or vouchers to complete the survey to induce people to successfully complete the survey. For e.g. Amazon.com offering 10$ voucher for answering their questions so this will definitely draw attention of the online buyers to get on with the surveys.
Another idea of conducting survey is doing it for charity. An anonymous consulting firm has launched a new smartphone app called AskU, developed in collaboration with the Australian Charities Fund, which allows any organisation to conduct market research at 20c per question. So by this they are targeting people with emotional values. It’s using mobile technology to create economic and social benefits for both business and charity. Businesses get faster access to insights, reducing the average time of traditional market research from six days to as few as 24 hours. Charities raise funds to help more people in need. Apart from this, apps also work without an Internet connection. Data can be collected anywhere, at any time. In addition, apps are very user-friendly. Surveyors assure people that they abide by the User Interface Guidelines for iOS, Android or Windows.
So by this above information, I believe that it depends on the Surveyor’s topic or Market research tactic to interest people in any which way.
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I’ve left you some thoughts by completing the survey. I especially like your question on whether passive data collection ‘morally right’. I think that most mobile users are naive or unaware of what data collection is occurring through their use of apps, social media and the internet on their mobile devices. I’m sure that that Facebook can tell of the restaurants that you go to and Google can likely predict what clothes you are most likely to buy next time you go shopping. Is it helpful to then see those items or related items come up in suggestions or advertising? Or is it an intrusion of you privacy?
It is a scary to think what data has been collected on you through your use of your mobile. Have a look at how a mobile survey company markets its product and the promotion of the data that you could ‘acquire’:
Passive mobile data collection is a moral dilemma to market researchers. Will a greater awareness of privacy from users stop the ‘passive data grab’ by market researchers?
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Relevant blog – thanks. Our local government organisation tracks web interaction and device source. Tablet interaction has grown by 16% over the past 2 years (most rapidly at the start of 2013-14 and slowed in 2014-15) and mobile device interaction has grown by 37%. However, traditional hardware still comprise 50% of our traffic. As a coastal destination that attracts 5 million visitors p.a., there is a also a significant spike in mobile device interaction during the summer period (which also correlates to an increased load of up to 400% on the network, often well beyond the network capacity’s ability to cope). From a public sector perspective, it is important to take into consideration predominant device (and timing) when designing community engagement services and portals. The reliance on mobile marketing (and products such as monkey survey) have allowed mass surveys easier, however there is also a skill in designing questions that are relevant, not leading, easily understood, maintain interest and most importantly get to the point for a time conscious society.
Like other bloggers, another example of getting to the point: Camp Australia (an after school hours care provider) asks just one question to seek feedback on their service ‘on a scale of 1 – 5 how likely would you recommend the service to others’.
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A very insightful blog, thank you. I think that mobile research has definitely reinvigorated marketing research and offers marketers an immense opportunity if implemented effectively.
In ‘Mobilizing Market Research’ the following benefits are reported:
‘The benefits of mobile research are reported to be convenience for participants, improved participation rates, getting closer to the ‘moment of truth,’ reaching more of the population, obtaining faster turnaround time, capturing geolocation data, increasing accuracy of data collected, reducing costs, and allowing for more personal ways of reaching participants (Macer & Wilson, 2009b). Interestingly, the most popular benefits of mobile research have to do with increasing the quality of research and are based on the respondents’ point of view, rather than focusing on the needs of the market research firms.’
I think the final point made here is important, as companies have data overload and brands are increasingly looking for something more than numbers to help them get the winning edge over competitors. Mobiles offer the potential for a more personal and insightful information to be obtained.
Whilst there are many benefits, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of mobile. The amount of information that can be derived from mobile surveys is obviously limited and surveys have to be designed to work across a number of different operating systems. Certain audiences are also not well represented, potentially exclude older demographics that are not tech savvy, and consumers from lower socio economic groups that do not have smart phones / tablets. It can also be considered intrusive, especially given the rise in popularity of mobile research and can alienate segments of the target audience.
http://www.greenbook.org/pdfs/mobilizing-market-research.pdf
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The question in blog is the same what i am confused, the new method for marketing research in mobile may be represent a new time coming. it likes robots replacing the human being in factory, the quickly and intelligently way will be popular in the future. it also reduce the cost of marketing staff, you don’t need to find some staffs do the research in the street, the email can help to do it in less cost and time. i think it is the future for marketing research.
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Great blog!
This a very popular topic now. For me, i have mobile phone, computer, ipad, watch. But i always use mobile phone, because the mobile hope can do almost the thing, like watching movies, sent email, timing.
Does it mean the mobile phone can instand of the other product? NO, all of the product like necessities in my life. So how to do the survey? the element of privacy would therefore be another issue. Almostly, we could be signed up to with a generic product terms and conditions form commonly found in todays world of online permissions. It may influence the privacy.
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It’s a good article for sharing. There are serious concerns for privacy in the use of personal data and legislation always lags behind technological change, may be the companies are using data for their marketing purposes and that may be good for the consumer but what if there is a data theft then in the virtual world of internet this personal information will be available to almost everyone and everywhere in global context.
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Hi, this is a great blog. Mobile surveys may be the best way to reach audiences who frequently use their smartphones, which are typically Millennials and business people.Mobile surveys are more versatile than online surveys in that respondents can send pictures, record their voice, or write notes/diaries all on their smartphone. This is especially helpful if the survey requires the respondent to complete specific tasks.
However there are some disadvantages as well,Mobile survey applications must be made suitable for a variety of smartphones. From iPhones to Android phones to Windows phones, and now the new Amazon Fire, there are many different operating systems, and a mobile app has to be made for each one, if researchers want a less skewed sample. There are also several tablets currently on the market, and most of them have different operating systems. Mobile survey applications must also be made suitable for different versions of those systems. Researchers and developers should also be aware of the file size of survey applications. Smartphones have limited hard drive space.
Speaking of skewed results, some target audiences may not even have a smartphone or a data plan due to economic constraints. In general population surveys, the results could definitely be skewed to more affluent and/or younger audiences.
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This blog is really interesting. In present scenario, high use of technology has created a new dimension for the marketers. Mobile phone has become one of the essential need of the society. It looks like society cant survive without mobile phones . For me, Mobile phones are the best way of doing a market research . People update their status on social media every 5 mins. So marketers know that the social media is the way of collecting survey for the products and the people have no options to avoid it because they are excited to see the new update on their social media page. A decade back a mobile was affordable by rich people but today its become an essential need for every human being. A mobile research has definitely helped marketers in carrying out a survey. I feel even if the survey topic are relevant to the people they will not go for it if they are using PC or laptop. But if it appears on mobile phone the chances of doing it are more. But through are mobile phones our data’s are at risk . Most of us do not know terms and conditions we agree upon when we buy a sim card or a net pack from a telecommunication company. This can be even harmful to the consumers and many of their data’s might get leaked and used for inappropriate purpose.
For me a mobile research has a positive impact for the marketers as lots of data is collected through surveys. But for consumers it is bit too annoying and the privacy is at the risk .
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Interesting post!
With todays mobile capabilities, I believe there is a fine line between consumers supplying informed consent as opposed to implied consent. Many terms and conditions and privacy clauses and will state that a specific engagement can result in a consumer’s implied consent to access their mobile data.
Australia’s data retention laws state that phone and internet companies need to store our data for at least 2 years. All of our online and phone activity is tracked and the boom of The Internet of Things will soon see us connected to devices like our watches and cars.
The future of market research is exciting, social media analytics will be hugely integrated into current research streams. Social intelligence is an incredibly powerful form of market research to not only validate traditional research, but to analyse attitudinal shifts that will become evident in traditional structured measures.
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Good work on this post.
It is amazing how far data collection has come over the years. The our high use of technology in this century has created a new market. And information is the most valuable things for the business.
There are many time i got unwanted call come to my cellphone from the market researcher or sales. They got our data due to the apps, website, that we used and visited. We really need a technical way to prevent them to tracking and take all those data from us or at least that they have to ask our permission before hand.
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Interesting Blog! I agree that Mobile can enable to collect data easily and quickly or more efficiently because everyone has mobiles which make them easier to answer
the questionnaire. They can carry wherever they want and answer the question whenever at any place.
If you talk about privacy issue, and everything has to go independent which means not using any website or servers because using their severs they have your data from using their service. That’s the purpose of accessing free services. These companies are taking more than giving because they have all of our data.
If you are conducting sensitive or controversial research better not to use any middle man source like Survey Monkey or Google survey.
It depends your research how much it should go under private.
Even though technology make our lives easier, we are being spied all the time by internet provider or government. We do not have any privacy at all.
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Hi. Thanks for the Blog.. I would agree with sundusyunus. Yes Mobiles are close to customers as it is always a part of them. However mobiles are useful and friendly only for social networking applications, if I was going to send my resume to a big corporate for a job interview, I would never try doing it through my phone. Mobiles and laptops have their own advantages.
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