Appdragon
S
m
a
rt
p
h
o
n
e
Applications
White Paper
Using SMS Surveys for Successful Research
Introduction
A rapid increase in the use of mobile phones and other mobile devices (such as tablets) offers marketers a whole new mass media channel through which to interact with customers and potential customers.
92% of adults in the UK currently regularly use at least one mobile; many have more than one device (e.g. a personal device and a work device). In total at the end of 2012 there were almost 68m active mobile SIM cards in circulation across the UK1.
SMS Surveys have been used for over a decade, but take up was initially slow to take off. However, now marketers appear to have grasped the mantle and evidence suggests that SMS Surveys are becoming increasingly widely used.
Why Use SMS and Not Mobile Web
Although Mobile Web is rapidly growing and the rise of smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone and the range of Android devices such as those manufactured by Samsung and HTC, has been phenomenal, SMS continues to be the de facto choice for text based communication between phones.
According to OFCOM2 currently only 13% of adults in the UK have mobile broadband, which
means that currently the audience for mobile web is still limited to the privileged minority who can afford unlimited or large mobile data bundles.
Research shows that 90% of SMS messages are read within 3 seconds of being received, and that in total 98% are read (only 2% are discarded without being read). This of course demonstrates the real benefit of using SMS in terms of capturing an audience’s attention.
Mobile Texting vs. Landline Calling
PEW report that telephone survey response rates are rapidly falling. In 2012 they reported that this had dropped to an alarmingly low 9% response rate3.
The number of households in the UK relying solely on a mobile phone and not having a landline connection is steadily growing. Ofcom reported this to be around 15% of households in the UK at the end of 2011.
If your business relies solely on outbound calling to fixed line phones for market research purposes, the potential audience may be rapidly dwindling.
Additionally, according to ZS Solutions’ research arm, in 2010 the average time to conduct a telephone based survey involving a call centre calling a consumer and asking a series of five
1
http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts 2
http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts
3
http://www.research-‐live.com/news/news-‐headlines/telephone-‐response-‐rates-‐fall-‐to-‐9-‐says-‐pew-‐
questions would take an average of 30 minutes to complete. In comparison, ZS Solutions found that an SMS Survey, with the same number of questions would take an average of 12 minutes to complete4.
Additionally, consider the fact that an SMS survey is completely automated once it is set up, whereas a telephone survey requires both the consumer and the researcher being physically on the phone to each other.
According to Payscale.com the average salary a Telemarketer is £17,343, which works out at roughly £10.14 per hour or £5.07 for a typical half hour telemarketing call. This of course excludes the actual cost of the phone call, the office costs, insurance, heating, lighting etc. ZS Solutions estimated the total cost for a typical telemarketing survey call was in excess of £45.00. In comparison an SMS survey with 4 questions, an invitation text, a thank you text would cost around 66p.
SMS Surveys Enjoy Higher Response Rates
A report by NICE Systems written in 2012 documented research results that suggested the response rates for SMS Surveys was more than double it’s nearest contemporary, surveys conducted by email.
Overall, NICE concluded that SMS Surveys had an average response rate of 31% compared to 13% for email and 10% for telemarketing calls via an IVR.
NICE5 also provide a sector-‐by-‐sector breakdown of average SMS Survey response rates stating
that for surveys conducted by the Financial Services sector that rate was 24%, for telecoms 35% and for transport 13%. In all sectors email response rates were less than 14% and just 12% in transport.
IPSOS back up this sentiment. In their research experiments SMS enjoyed up to 77% response rates, again with an average time to complete of 15 minutes. In IPSOS’ research 66% of
consumers said they would prefer to be surveyed by SMS again, rather than by email or phone. 95.3% said they’d be likely to respond to an SMS Survey request, 79.7% would be likely to respond to an online survey.
Lightspeed Research ran a SMS Survey during the UEFA Champions League final in the Czech Republic and saw 40% response rates. WebSM surveyed 3,474 consumers and saw a 17% response rate for telephone requests and a 19% response rate for SMS6.
4
http://www.zss-‐bd.com/papers/sms-‐surveys-‐001.pdf
5http://www.nice.com/NICEGLOBALCONSUMERSURVEY/
SMS Response Times are Quicker
Gathering data to act upon it positively is made easier if that data is available quickly. SMS provides an ideal medium for rapidly gathering research data from consumers.
ESOMAR Online7 reported that, in their experience, SMS provides the most rapid response
times, 50% faster than either online, email or mail-‐based surveys.
SMS Can Encourage More Honest Answers
SMS is more likely to generate honest answers due to the impersonal nature of the communication. That is the consumer is not speaking directly with a telemarketer and is therefore less likely to be swayed by the telemarketer when giving responses.
The lack of an obvious channel for ‘comeback’ is also likely to encourage more open and accurate responses.
The NICE report also claimed that the average response time, the delay between receiving an invite and completing the survey, was significantly quicker for an SMS Survey at 5 minutes 13 seconds, compared to 1 hour and four minutes for an email based survey.
Further Information & Advice
To discuss your SMS Surveys need, or any other mobile related requirements, contact Appdragon at the following locations:
Phone: +44 (0) 844 826 5569
Email: [email protected]
SMS: Text Talk2Me to 61992
Post: Appdragon Ltd Unit 4 17 Plumbers Row London E1 1EQ
-‐-‐ END OF WHITE PAPER -‐-‐
