Chasing Generation Y? Get them on the (mobile) phone!

Given researchers’ LOVE of statistics, here are a few interesting ones:

• • 9 : Average number of calls (incoming/outgoing) in a 48 hour period¹

  • 27 : Average number of texts (sent /received) in a 48 hour period¹

  • 3.7 : Number of apps used on a weekly basis¹

  • 50 : Per centage of households led by 18 to 34 year olds, who have a cellphone and no landline ²

Cell phones, namely smartphones are here to stay. They are ingrained in our culture, and are a staple for most 18 to 34 year olds – a demographic notoriously difficult to reach through web panels and telephone surveys.

As marketing analysts, we are always on the hunt for ways to reach out to this elusive demographic – one such technique is through mobile surveys.  Prior to offering a service to our clients, Ad hoc Research tends to do extensive in-house testing. Here’s a quick overview of our experiences with mobile survey apps:

What we loved…

• • The ability to upload pictures, video, and audio – an excellent tool for shopalongs, diaries, focus group homework... the possibilities are endless!
  • Bar code scanning– great for tracking consumption patterns.    Warning: this is only useful if you have a list of bar codes to compare against (we learnt that one the hard way).
  • GPS tracking­– interesting for tracking movement, and coordinating across large areas.

What we loved less…

• • Response rate – convenience can be a doubleedged sword with a survey so easily accessible; people would put off completing the survey (even our own employees!)
  • Programmability – with any new type of technology or software comes a learning curve but our trusty programmer powered through and was able, in the end, to program the survey perfectly.

 1: Gartner, J.D. Power and Associates, com; Score via http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/smartphones; (2012)

2. Statistics Canada, 2011