“Mobile is everything” – connecting with consumers via these devices is also true when it comes to research. When speaking to your target, you need to speak to them in the way that resonates with them and today that’s likely to be mobile. The smaller screen may feel daunting at the outset but there’s a lot to be gained by making your research mobile-first. Here’s five tips to help you think about getting the most out of your mobile respondent.
1) Short and Sweet
Less is more. In our fast-paced, information rich world people are reading less and scanning more. Compounding this, it’s roughly twice as hard to understand complicated content when reading on the smaller screen. (Jakob Nielsen 2011). To help respondents through the survey journey, minimize all aspects of the questionnaire from overall length (number of questions) to question and response wording.
2) Use Visuals
Visuals (images or icons) are very effective in mobile-first design. They are more compact, therefore space efficient and mirror many mobile-based interactions. Visuals also have the benefit of conveying a message very quickly and effectively. It is important to choose the images carefully to make sure the respondent takes away the intended message.
3) Be Interactive
Touchscreen devices especially lend themselves to interactivity. Question types that include swipes or drag and drop are easy for respondents to complete and aids engagement. We don’t want to overload on using too many different types interactive questions within a study but some variety helps the task feel less repetitious.
4) Draw from culture
Chances are your respondents use their devices in a manner of ways, not least on some form of social media site. Think about having questions that reflect these types of interactions. For example ask them to provide a comment along with relevant hashtags or perhaps have them respond by making a video recording. The ask needs to be a fit with the task at hand as well as your target respondent but the right match can yield exciting results.
5) It’s all about choice
Mobile will continue to grow in importance in how we reach the people that we want to talk to. Of course, this doesn’t mean forgetting about all other screens. While we are starting with mobile as the lowest common denominator we still want to still give people the opportunity to talk to us in the manner that best suits them at that time – and that may be via other screens.
Written by Zoë Dowling, SVP, Global Mobile Capability Leader at Added Value