The question posed to the group of 5 Bloggers this month was: “Mobile surveys – For/Against,
Pros/Cons, Right Situations/Wrong Situations?” Links to my fellow bloggers Annie Pettit,
Joel Rubinson, Josh Mendelsohn and Brandon Bertelsen can be found below.

There’s no debating the societal impact of Mobile: Nokia stated at this weeks’ CES conference that now, over 50% of internet services are accessed on mobile phones, not from PCs. And, we all know that the level of mobile-only continues to rise (well past 20% in some demographic segments), forever changing landline survey options.

So what does that mean for Survey Researchers? Should each of us have our own $.99 survey App on iTunes? Not so fast, let’s think about this from a few perspectives.

Consistency: if the objective is to empower respondents with another mode of completing surveys, mobile certainly offers some interesting benefits. But as we’ve learned from the results of 1.0 vs. 2.0 web-based surveys (“Sexy Questions Dangerous Results?”), there will certainly be differences in the data when comparing mobile to web – and a range of new issues for which we have limited best practices (sampling, questionnaire length, visual layout & usability differences between BlackBerry and iPhones etc). As with each of the new tech options/advances, it’s critical to think through the “when, why and how” before we push the send button. As an industry, let’s avoid the temptation to over-focus on the ‘consistency’ of survey learning from Mobile vs PC, it’ll just get us into trouble, and distract us from creating end-client insight value from this exciting new channel.

Context: the benefits of using a mobile mode (either exclusively, or in conjunction with other methodologies) needs to take into account the contextual relevancy of using this platform. If you’re trying to get conference attendees to tell you what they thought of the speaker they just heard, that would be a intuitive application of a mobile platform. But don’t try to be cute, and offer people the choice to do a PC or mobile survey. A recent client survey found that under 5% of respondents chose the mobile option when given the choice between PC & mobile. And, you incur additional programming costs/delays to deploy the additional mode, for limited response rate upside, and questionable data consistency downside.

Future Focus: I recognize the research importance of making sure we know whether the “Next” button should be on the top or bottom of an iPhone screen. But the VP Marketing couldn’t care less – she/he wants to know how this mobile survey will help them better understand consumer needs. Consider the following App, which allows an iPhone user to scan a barcode, and get product rating information. This is where I believe mobile gets exciting for researchers, by linking real-time consumer behavior with attitudinal research communities (MROC’s). And dare I say, leveraging the power of the channel for exciting Qual opportunities from a new generation of Internet-savvy ethnographic researchers.

So, I say:  Dear <insert client name>, the next time I’m sitting on a plane, use my BlackBerry GPS locator (you can access it) and Frequent Flyer number (you have it) to send me a 5 question CSAT survey. I promise to respond. Sincerely, Bernie.

Note: element54 will be presenting new Mobile R&D – “The Moment of Truth” at the MRIA’s 50th annual National Conference on Monday May 30/2010. Stay tuned for details, and visit the conference website.

Links to Annie, Joel, Josh and Brandon (each to be updated as soon as available)

Annie Pettit of Lovestats: http://lovestats.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/1topic5blogs-the-only-thing-cell-phone-surveys-are-good-fer/

Joel Rubinson of the ARF:
Josh Mendelsohn of Chadwick Martin Bailey: http://lovestats.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/1topic5blogs-the-only-thing-cell-phone-surveys-are-good-fer/
Brandon Bertelsen: