Taking Market Insights Further with Mobile Market Research

Mobile market research has ushered in a new era of market research that connects businesses with their target market more efficiently. As such, businesses should take advantage of this novel form of research to fulfill all of their customer intelligence and market intelligence needs.

Global mobile ownership and use has been steadily growing and is now at an all-time high, as 5.27 billion people have a mobile device, which is equivalent to 67.03% of the world’s population.

In America, smartphone usage is frequent and ongoing, as Americans check their phones 262 times a day, which totals to once every 5.5 minutes. Given the abundance of and reliance on mobile devices, it would be wasteful for market researchers not to conduct mobile-facilitated research.

This article covers mobile market research, its benefits, its makeup, how to conduct it and more.  

Understanding Mobile Market Research

Mobile technology has greatly evolved in the past ten years, so much so that businesses can go beyond communicating with and serving customers through their mobile phones. Mobile market research was born on this idea, accommodating the new era of high mobile traffic.

Mobile market research refers to the method of collecting data through the use of mobile devices, particularly smartphones, but can include tablets and other mobile tools. It extends mobile use and engagement to the sphere of research, as it requires engaging mobile users so that they take part in a market research study. 

All the data derived is used for market intelligence, as it is a means of research and is therefore conducted with objectives similar to those in traditional market research

Given that customers make transactions and engage with businesses on their mobile devices, mobile doesn’t merely provide another avenue of commerce, but another means of customer intelligence.

This kind of intelligence is not limited to customer buying behavior, as businesses can use mobile devices alongside various market research techniques. As such, mobile market research is not a standalone affair; as it is often used with other forms of research, such as secondary research, along with primary research such as online surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews. 

The Importance of Mobile Market Research

Brands should recognize that they can now obtain insights in new ways, ones that were simply not available ten years ago, such as those that use the medium of mobile. 

Mobile market research is a  kind of intelligence that provides deeper, richer customer insights. As such, businesses must adapt or get left behind, casting aside a swath of customers who have flocked to the mobile medium. 

Given that mobile devices continue to power daily activities and open new possibilities for collecting market research data, mobile market research is becoming increasingly important. This kind of research can be used for extracting both qualitative and quantitative market research.

Aside from these areas of importance, mobile market research provides various other benefits for businesses. They include the following:

Mobile marketing research brings businesses closer to their customers than ever before. The kind of data it extracts augments the research experience with more extensive findings than other forms of qualitative research. 

It has the capability of connecting with a broader respondent base, including respondents that are difficult to reach. This eases the issue of finding the correct customer segments, be they demographics or psychographics, and allowing only the qualified ones to take part in the study. 

Mobile market research is also convenient for both the researcher side and that of the customers. That’s because with mobile, surveys can be answered from anywhere that has a Wifi connection. 

Additionally, given the sizing restrictions of a mobile device, mobile research tools must be optimized for mobile, or mobile-first. This approach keeps mobile surveys short and succinct, typical best practices for all surveys, as simplicity helps increase the survey completion rate.

Mobile research offers simplicity and ease of use, which pares away survey fatigue, a prevalent concern in the sphere of market research. There is little to no effort required of customers to take part in a mobile survey. 

The device is already in their hands and typically with just one tap, they can enter the survey. In this way, it is far more simple and engaging to participate in mobile market research than in traditional research, especially for those who are time-poor. 

This kind of research creates agile market research, as mobile surveys employ quick transmissions and can extract all the customer data, along with the preset quotas within days —sometimes hours— depending on the mobile research platform. Additionally, such a process allows businesses to iterate their marketing and market research campaigns, to truly execute an agile research strategy.

The Makeup of Mobile Market Research 

A successful qualitative mobile market research study depends on the quality of the research tools and the techniques for carrying out the study. Both of these aspects must be intuitive and mobile-friendly.

Another key aspect of mobile market research is the element of mobile ethnography. This refers to the qualitative research of a particular society as well as its customs of individual people and its cultural trends. Ethnography provides a full account of everyday life, behavior and practices of a specific group of people rather than statistical data (which mobile market research also involves). 

Ethnography traditionally involves conducting fieldwork so that the researcher can experience a culture firsthand as part of their studies for a certain period of time. This way, the researcher is able to garner critical information about a particular social group or community in regards to their culture and customs.

In market research, ethnography grants useful market insights, especially those that pertain to a business’s target market, allowing businesses to understand how customers use their products and services, along with those in their niche. 

Mobile market research offers a faster and more effective way to secure ethnographic data, which would otherwise take years to extract should it be conducted through traditional methods. Mobile ethnography offers several advantages, such as feedback in real-time, without the need for being in the same location as the customers under study. Researchers can thus get a glimpse of their global consumers without the need to travel. 

Mobile market research is highly reliant on specific tools to carry out the research, such as mobile surveys. These surveys should be easy to deploy across a wide span of mobile websites and apps. They should be designed in the mobile-first approach, so that they are easy to use for mobile users and do not appear as merely an afterthought of online surveys.

These surveys should allow for mobile monetization, which businesses can use as survey incentives. In-app incentives often apply to gaming, that is, as non-monetary incentives that reward respondents with points, game money, extra lives, etc. This kind of survey experience enhances the mobile experience for mobile users, as they get rewarded within their game of choice.

Another important part of the makeup of mobile market research is a mobile online survey platform that filters out and disqualifies respondents that provide low-quality data. This involves using machine-learning to disqualify respondents on a VPN or a bot, those who provide gibberish answers, those who fail tests showing they’re paying attention and other kinds of poor survey respondents. 

How to Conduct Mobile Market Research With Surveys

Market researchers seeking the mobile research approach should deploy online surveys, those that offer a mobile-first experience. 

Not all online survey platforms offer mobile surveys and within those that do, the mobile surveys aren’t designed through a mobile-first approach. As such, these surveys appear lacking or not as easy to use as their desktop counterparts. 

To conduct a mobile market research campaign, begin by narrowing down the high-level needs and themes of the research campaign. Decide on whether your business needs a longitudinal survey, which is a more ambitious project, or a short-term study. Decide on where your study is in the research process, which involves six main types of research.

Use an online survey platform that excels in mobile-first surveys. Your best bet is to opt for a platform that allows you to make your own survey in a few easy steps. This platform should do all the heavy lifting, so that all researchers have to contend with is setting up the screener and questionnaire. 

In such a platform, the surveys would be automatically deployed across a broad network of websites, mobile sites and mobile apps, especially highly-trafficked ones. This ensures that the surveys will reach a wide mobile audience. 

You should then customize the surveys to your liking, such as adding the A/B testing function if need be, or incorporating multiple audiences into one survey. 

Once you receive your mobile-facilitated data, you should analyze it through the online survey platform’s dashboard. You should also export the data as a spreadsheet or whichever file type is convenient for your team, should you prefer to view the data outside of the survey platform. 

Making Mobile Strides

Establishing mobile market research campaigns is more important than ever, given the globally widespread use of the mobile medium. This form of market research opens doors to a wide swath of domestic and international consumers brands would be remiss not to study.

The key is to use a strong online survey platform to create and deploy surveys, as well as analyze mobile surveys results. Such a platform should provide relentless quality, making it practical for researchers to set up a customized survey, choose the respondents of their survey, set quotas, get estimated survey completion times, deploy to a network of millions of mobile users, disqualify poor-quality responses and more.

Once a business operates a potent online survey platform, it is setting itself up for successful mobile market research campaigns, the kind that deliver speedy and relevant insights on consumers and the market in general.