Presented by:

Charles Pearson, Co-Founder & Managing Director, EasyInsites Lindsay Veling, Vice-President Quality, Cint

Devices Used To Access Surveys

Are Changing Rapidly -

Are You Prepared?

Research Before…

Research Today...

And Tomorrow…

o Smartphone penetration rate 30% to 50% (specifically in the US, UK, France, Sweden and Australia)

o In the US and UK, approximately 7% of web browsing is now occurring on non-computer i.e., mobile devices (smartphones and tablets)

Market Penetration of Mobile Devices

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Computer Smartphone Tablet

Market Penetration Worldwide (millions)

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Device Type

o “through the last quarter, I should say, which is just 2 years after we shipped the initial iPad, we’ve sold 67 million iPads. And to put that in some context, it took us 24 years to sell that many Macs and 5 years for that many iPods and over 3 years for that many iPhones. And we were extremely happy with the trajectory on all of those products. And so I think it’s [the iPad] a profound product.” (Tim Cook, Apple)

Technology Paradigm Shift

Key Questions

1. How might smartphone and tablet devices affect the way we need to think about fielding online research?

2. To what extent are these devices used to access our surveys today?

3. Are there differences in device used by market, age or gender?

4. What difference does the use of mobile devices make to the survey experience or results?

5. Which devices do respondents prefer to use, and is the market research industry meeting their needs?

6. As an industry, what do we need to know and what do we need to do about it?

Part 1 – Determine Device Usage o Which devices are being used by panelists?

o n ≈ 150 000 surveyed respondents in four markets: US, UK, Sweden and France

o Additional data from automatic device detection, both from Cint’s OpinionHUB as well as custom panels managed by EasyInsites

Part 2 – Examine Differences In Results o Parallel survey using the same questionnaire across four different

devices: Computer (desktop/laptop), smartphone, tablet and a specific mobile phone application (+mobile)

o Fielded in the US, UK, France, Sweden and Australia

Methodology

Example of Mobile App

Part 1: Device Usage

Which Devices Are Being Used?

o Surveyed 149,829 panelists in four markets: US, UK, Sweden and France

o Which best describes the device you are currently using to take this survey?

Part 1 – Which Devices Are Being Used?

Desktop computer or laptop computer

Smartphone (e.g. Android, iPhone, blackberry) or cellphone with internet access

Tablet/Notepad (e.g. iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Kindle Fire, etc)

Other

Sample Distribution Country

5%

1% USA

FR

SE

UK 91%

3% Gender

Male

Female

67%

33%

Age

14-22

23-35

36-55

56-80

23% 6%

23%

48%

Device Distribution – All Markets

o The computer was the most commonly used device to access the survey

o Smartphones and tablets were the devices used by almost 7% of respondents

Computer

Smartphone

Tablet

Overall Device Distribution

92.6%

4.6%

2.3%

Device Distribution – By Market

o France has the lowest usage of both smartphones (3.5%) and tablets (1.5%)

o Highest level of smartphone usage is in Sweden (10.4%) o Respondents in United Kingdom used tablets the most (2.5%)

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100%

FR SE UK USA

Computer

Smartphone

Tablet

Res

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ents

(%

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Country/Market

Device Distribution by Age

Device Distribution – Age and Gender

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14-22 23-35 36-55 56-80

Computer

Smartphone

Tablet

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Men Women

Device Distribution by Gender

Age Group Gender

Device Detection - Panel Differences

Panel Smartphone

Usage Tablet Usage

Bounty 15% 5%

Net-a-porter 8% 8%

Premier Foods 12% 2.5%

TCM 10% 5%

Diageo 6% 2%

ITV 4% 3%

WHSmith 1.5% 1.5%

Access Panels 3% 1%

Part 2: Parallel Survey

Are there differences in survey results between devices?

o 3-4 minute survey in the US, UK, France, Sweden and Australia

o Question types optimised for each device

o Quotas on device type

o 3,609 respondents from a variety of online panels

Background/Methodology

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100

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300

UK USA Sweden Australia France

Devices Used to Respond to Survey

Computer

Smartphone

Tablet

Thumbspeak+mobile

Problems In Answering Surveys

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20%

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100%

Have experienced problems

Have you ever had problems participating in surveys on your preferred device?

Computer

Smartphone

Tablet

Problems Named In Answering Surveys

Computers:

o No systematic problems with survey design and format

Smartphones:

o Most important: lack of support for Flash

o Small screen size

Tablets:

o Most important: lack of support for Flash

o Inability to use drag-and-drop question

Preferred Devices

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Computer Smartphone Tablet

Which one of these devices do you prefer to use when answering online surveys?

Device Preferred by Device Used

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Usedcomputer

Usedsmartphone

Used tablet Usedthumbspeak

Which one of these devices do you prefer to use when answering online surveys?

Prefer computer

Prefersmartphone

Prefer tablet

Other

Prefer +mobile

Devices Used To Access Internet

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100%

Computer Smartphone Tablet

Which of the below devices do you use regularly to access the internet?

Prefer computer

Prefer smartphone

Prefer tablet

o Differences in innovation attitudes between devices

o Non-optimised surveys could bias results

Early Adopters of Technology

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20%

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100%

Early adopters Early majority Late majority None of theabove

Innovation attitudes by preferred device

Prefer computer

Prefer smartphone

Prefer tablet

o Tablet users are thorough and enjoy shopping

o Tablet and +mobile app users go for expensive brands

o No differences in product/brand loyalty

o Backed up by a large Adobe study showing 20% + higher basket values on tablets vs computers and similar buy conversion rates.

Consumer Segmentation

1.002.003.004.005.00

Thorough andenjoyfulshoppers

Go forexpensive

brands

Tends to staywith

product/brand

Weighted (Age and Gender) scores on 1-5 scale

Computer

Smartphone

Tablet

Thumbspeak+mobile

Time Taken - Checkbox and Radio Buttons

o Take 15-30% longer on smartphones vs. computers

o Tablets quicker than smartphones as internet access is typically wi-fi vs. 3G for smartphones

o Tablets are marginally quicker than computers due to consistently modern browsers (unlike some older computer browsers like Internet Explorer 7/8)

Time Taken - Checkbox and Radio Buttons

Time Taken - Open Ends

o Takes 30-40% longer on smartphones vs. computers and 20-30% longer on tablets vs. computers

o Touch-typing with smartphones and tablets, and restricted screen size on smartphones slow down open ends

Time Taken – Table Type Questions

Computer / Tablet

Time Taken – Table Type Questions

This question took 60% longer on smartphones than computers (applies to tables of radio buttons / likert scales / checkbox tables)

Time Taken – Drop Down Questions

For smartphones, display drop-down lists used due to width and fact that side by side buttons difficult to touch correctly (and poses some expressed difficulty by respondents using this question type on tablets)

Time Taken – Drop Down Questions

o Mobile optimised template: design around % rather than absolute widths with a user-friendly layout that adapts to screensize, best to use a scripting application that has this and device detection built-in. Also, enlarge form elements so easier to interact with.

o Images: make sure they can shrink to fit screen and if large images / multiple images, may need to exclude smartphone users

o Drag and drop questions: Questions which rely on Javascript or Flash to create interactive effects are not guaranteed to work on mobile devices, especially drag and drops – could use alternatives for mobile devices (e.g. radio button table instead of card sort)

o Open end questions: avoid asking too many as this will increase respondent fatigue more quickly on touchscreen devices

Survey Design - Best Practices

o Increasing use of smartphone and tablet devices to access the internet

o Nearly half of panelists would prefer to take surveys on one of these newer devices, optimised design means increased participation from an audience of wealthier shoppers

o Survey design for smartphones and tablets – keep it simple

o Surveys optimised for these devices can be easy to complete and provide a positive experience for respondents

o Making these surveys accessible and workable across devices is required to sample the complete market

Key Findings

o Optimise the survey for each device type separately

o Route respondents to the relevant survey version, based on detected device

o In an ideal world, use a specific survey application

For smartphone and tablet devices …

o Avoid Flash-based surveys

o Use appropriate question types

o Test the survey on a range of devices

o Consider the incentive: surveys may take longer on these newer devices

Best Practices

o Research on longer surveys, where the problems and affects on completion time differences are more likely to occur

o Research in other parts of the world, including Asia and Latin America

o Research on optimising methods of driving traffic to surveys: o Value of mobile optimised html invites

o In-app push notifications vs email invitations

o Continuous need for further research and best practices development, as device use and technologies are changing rapidly!

Future Research