‘Smart’ survey design in the age of the smartphone

Recent research indicates that almost half of the UK population now owns a smartphone*, putting us ahead of France, Germany, Japan and the US for smartphone penetration.

It’s clear to me that with these latest figures comes a responsibility amongst researchers to ensure that survey completion via a mobile is not only feasible, but offers advanced functionality and provides an enhanced experience for people completing our surveys. If consumers are increasingly using their mobiles to participate in our surveys, they are justified in expecting the same quality of experience as they’d get using a PC or laptop. I, for one, believe that the survey remains one of the most trusted and important tools at a researcher’s disposal, so we need to invest in its upkeep.

So what have we at Join the Dots been doing to provide for mobile users?

Some time ago, we anticipated that the mobile generation would become increasingly important to our industry, and set in motion a plan to overhaul our online survey experience. We commissioned a software development company to develop a range of improved question designs, and our in-house team have done the rest, in terms of reskinning, testing and validating them.

We now have a new, improved survey platform that provides a good experience for mobile and iPad users (and also for more traditional platforms such as laptops and PCs). This enables us to provide a wider range of question styles, designed to maximise participant engagement as well as elicit a higher quality of response.

Our survey says … As researchers we were obviously keen to find out what respondents think. Are participants happy with the changes we have made? Early indications from a short poll of one hundred frequent users of our surveys are that this is certainly the case. When asked if they like or dislike the new style, 96% confirmed that they like the new style; citing reasons such as increased clarity, improved usability, more visually appealing, more interactive and more modern.

In addition to this, response rates have increased on some of our surveys since we launched the new survey style.

And with many of our surveys being specifically tailored to company branding, I think our innovative new-style surveys reflect well on the brands we represent.

Watch this space for more developments of our research and surveying platform. In the meantime, you can click here to view a short demo of our new survey design.

*Data from a study by Google and Ipsos Mori: Mobile Internet and Smartphone Adoption, 2011.