Going Mobile
Posted by Sean Mahoney on Tue, Nov 27, 2012
Maybe it’s because I was just listening to the rock band The Who on the treadmill the other day, singing “In the woods, or in the city, it’s all the same to me when I am mobile…” but doesn’t everyone, every business and every organization have to consider “going mobile” these days? It’s even become a critical component to consider when planning feedback projects and strategies.
In the past, traditional methods of collecting feedback included in-person interviews, phone calls, paper surveys and focus groups. Then, with the advent of Internet-based technologies much of these forms of collecting feedback moved to the Web, with email campaigns, web-based surveys, and website intercepts. Today mobile technologies are the new norm – as pervasive as Starbucks!
In many cases, feedback efforts have not kept pace with the shift in technology and consumer preferences. As consumers we are used to receiving surveys while at our desks through email or a web browser and providing feedback via the desktop. But mobile devices such as a Blackberry’s, iPhone’s, and even Nooks and Kindles receive email. If your survey isn’t optimized for a mobile device your audience may not participate at all.
So what do you do? In the words of The Who, you go mobile baby!
Three things to consider when designing and deploying new survey projects:
- Multi-mode is the new norm. Surveys now need to be available a variety of ways such as a standard web-based survey, as web and mobile-optimized via text or SMS, as well as the traditional offline “paper-based” format.
- Respect respondent preferences but trust, verify and validate. Ask your audience and panelists which mode they prefer so you present future surveys in that mode to that participant. But in future surveys make sure to ask if your participant would prefer to take that particular survey by a different means.
- Data needs to be mobile ready too. It’s not just your participants that want things mobile-optimized; it’s your team as well. Make sure you can provide access to survey results and reports in manner that is easily accessed via a mobile device. Trust me – you and your boss will thank me!