The Need for Speed – May 18

Mobile Research

Learnings and Best Practice

Mike Stevens Managing Director Vision Critical UK

The Need for Speed – May 18

SMS Surveys

Applications

Mobile Web

The Need for Speed – May 18

Two predictions

There will be more smartphones than

humans by the end of 2014

+

The average mobile connection speed will

surpass 1 Mbps in 2014

The Need for Speed – May 18

10 learnings from

research-on-research

The Need for Speed – May 18

Mobile web survey platform touch and non-touch mobile interfaces

5

The Need for Speed – May 18

Given the choice, 1 in 8 will

take a mobile survey 1

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89%

11%

In a nationally representative study, 11% of respondents used

their mobile phone

Desktop Mobile

The Need for Speed – May 18

Mobile respondents are

younger and more female 2

The Need for Speed – May 18

Male Female

Male Female

Mobile

Desktop

18-34 35-54 55+

18-34 35-54 55+

Gender Age

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Mobile respondents are also

just more into mobile 3

The Need for Speed – May 18

smartphone owners who took our test studies on

mobile devices were more likely to use

their mobile for music, photos,

internet browsing, app downloads

and games

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Mobile respondents take the

survey straight away* 4

* almost

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Amongst those who choose desktop, 58%

answered the survey the first day it launched

Amongst those who choose mobile, 88%

answered it the first day

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Mobile respondents are ... er ...

mobile (kind of) 5

The Need for Speed – May 18

Amongst those who chose desktop, 97%

answered the survey at home or at work

Amongst those who chose mobile, 15%

answered from transit or somewhere

other than home or work

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Mobile surveys take longer to complete 6

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Every 2 minutes of survey on a desktop

equates to 3 minutes on a mobile device

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Slightly more drop out from mobile surveys 7

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4% 5% 4% 0%

Short Medium Long Desktop

% dropped out in survey

But survey length has no effect on dropout rate

at least not up to the 9 ½ minute mark

Mobile

(4 min) (6 min) (9.5 min) (6 min)

The Need for Speed – May 18

Mobile surveys are

relatively enjoyable 8

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“This survey was fun to complete”

50%

38%

Mobile Desktop

Agree strongly

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Data from mobile and desktop

surveys is comparable 9

The Need for Speed – May 18

No statistical difference

between mobile and desktop

data across virtually all

question types

35%

29%

36%

38%

30%

32%

Increase

Remain the same

Decrease

Desktop

Mobile

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Blackberries and iPhones really are different 10

The Need for Speed – May 18

Median length of survey, in minutes

10.5

Touch Device

14.6

Non-Touch BlackBerry

“This survey was fun to complete.” “This survey was more enjoyable than most.”

83% 72%

0%

50%

100%

Touch Non-touch

82% 74%

0%

50%

100%

Touch Non-touch

The Need for Speed – May 18

3 tips for best practice in

mobile survey design

The Need for Speed – May 18

1. Maximise screen real estate

banners

branding

logos

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2. Minimise scrolling

multiple questions

long choice lists

grid options

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3. Optimise use of images

never a nice-to-have

re-size and compress

re-think survey design

The Need for Speed – May 18

So ...

• Mobile research is a new frontier that needs

careful exploration

• Well designed interfaces are key to engaging

respondents properly

• You cannot just assume equivalence of data -

you need proof

The Need for Speed – May 18

Questions?