The Impact of Mobile Technology on Market Research
The development of mobile technology has led to the transformation of our lives in various ways. Mobile technology is one of the major influences on market research that mostly goes unnoticed. The advent of smartphones and wireless internet has revolutionized how companies access information on consumers, customers’ behaviour or make decisions concerning their businesses. This article will therefore delve into the implication of mobile technology about market research by addressing its advantages, challenges and future.
Mobile Technology Evolution in Market Research
Incorporating mobile technology as a tool for marketing research was a recent phenomenon. Until recently, traditional techniques such as face-to-face interviews, telephone surveys and mail questionnaires were common methods used in market research. While effective enough, these methods took much time, were expensive and had limited coverage.
It is important to note that with proliferation of cellphones and wide acceptance of smartphones; this landscape has changed significantly. Consequently, researchers are able to interact with participants at any given time from anywhere hence offering timely data than ever before (real-time data). Nowadays companies use more dynamic approaches towards conducting market research.
Advantages of Mobile Technology in Market Research
1. Real-Time Data Collection
Real-time data collection is one key advantage offered by mobile technology (Economist.com 3). Researchers can now send surveys and receive responses instantly allowing for better insights. Especially for events like product launches, campaign rollouts or even happenings in specific markets –this immediacy becomes very useful while trying to capture immediate consumer feedback.
2. Broader Reach & Increased Access
Market research’s reach has been broadened through mobile technology making it possible to attract a larger demographic audience (Huddleston 53). Researchers can reach participants across different demographics such as gender, age or income levels due to over 6 billion smartphone users present globally (Laerd.com 5). This presents an opportunity for a wider selection hence resulting to more comprehensive outcomes.
3. Better Participant Engagement
There are a number of ways that mobile devices enable researchers to engage with participants more than just traditional surveys. Mobile apps, push notifications and SMSs can be used by researchers when reaching out for respondents (Nielsen.com 3). These include the use of multimedia, gamification and location-based services which make research more interesting for people hence increasing the response rate leading to high quality data.
4. Low Cost
Conducting market research through mobile tech is often cheaper compared to using traditional methods. The costs incurred in printing, postage and personnel are significantly lowered (Cohen & Manion 73). Additionally, the time it takes to collect data can be lessened therefore decreasing project timeline thereby reducing cost further.
5. Rich Data Collection
Mobile technology allows different forms of data including text inputs, images, audio files, videos as well as geographical locations (Huddleston 55). This richness in data provides an opportunity for better understanding of consumer behavior and preferences. For example the respondents may take pictures of products, write their own experiences or even provide location information that help give meaning to their responses.
Applications of Mobile Technology in Market Research
1. Mobile Surveys
Mobile surveys are one way mobile technology is commonly employed in market research. The mobile-optimized surveys are designed for easy completion on smartphones and tablets. Mobile surveys can be conducted via apps available on play store or app store sites; websites; SMS or email where the researcher has various options regarding how they intend to reach the respondents.
2. Mobile Ethnography
Mobile ethnography entails using mobile devices to collect qualitative information about everyday lives (Huyskens 20). Activities such as taking photos and videos, recording experience among others from various people who form part of this study group can be done remotely by them. It gives a more holistic view into consumer behavior and preference patterns unlike other methodologies which are mainly based on recall techniques like interviews or use of questionnaires.
3. Research based on Geolocation
The use of Geolocation technology helps in collecting data from participant’s locations. An example is when companies send out surveys to their customers as they enter a particular store or track how consumers move within a shopping mall. This information can be used to indicate the number of people walking, people’s shopping mannerisms and preferences based on location.
4. Mobile Eye-Tracking
Mobile eye-tracking technology tracks where study participants are looking on their screens using smartphones’ cameras. It helps understand how users interact with mobile apps, websites, or advertisements. It also aids in understanding what attracts attention, how users navigate interfaces, and which items are most drawing.
5. Instant Feedback through Push Notifications
By use of push notifications researchers can ask participants for instant feedback at any given moment. For instance after making a purchase, a customer could be asked via push notification to rate his/her shopping experience. This approach ensures that the feedback is gathered while it is still fresh in the respondent’s mind.
Challenges and Considerations
Even though mobile technology brings several advantages, it also creates challenges and considerations for market researchers.
1. Privacy & Data Security
With the ability to get rich and detailed data comes responsibility of protecting privacy of respondents and ensuring security of data collected by organizations involved in research work such as this one. Researchers must follow data protection rules put in place by various countries across the world; thus obtaining informed consent is compulsory as well as putting up strong measures to guard delicate information (Tieman et al., 2017).
2. Mobile Survey Design
There is need for careful consideration when designing surveys for mobile devices since mobile survey design has unique features from others (Kaplanidou et al., 2017). First, it must be brief; secondly navigation should not have any complexity attached to it whereas thirdly it should be optimized for viewing via small screens (Schmidt et al., 2018). On the other hand, long or complicated questionnaires can lead to respondent fatigue and lower completion rates. Therefore, it is equally important for researchers to make sure that there are no hindrances in loading multimedia elements plus they should be well synchronized with a variety of devices (Tran & Stadelmann-Cohen, 2017).
3. Participant Accessibility
While mobile technology has provided more possibilities for market research, one must consider its accessibility. In some demographic groups or geographic regions not all potential participants have access to smartphones or mobile internet. Researchers need to ensure their methods are fair and equitable by thinking about other possible ways of reaching out to the underprivileged.
4. Data Quality and Reliability
But sometimes data quality becomes a concern when these surveys are done using mobile technology (Huang et al., 2020). Because respondents may complete surveys while on the move, this might result into hurriedly done or less attentive responses from these study participants. That is why, researchers have to carry out quality checks including attention checks and validation questions so that they can get reliable data.
Future Prospects
The future of market research in terms of mobile technology looks bright as several upcoming trends and advancements exist.
1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Mobile market research will never be the same again due to AI & machine learning (Furrer et al., 2018). Using these technologies allows one analyze vast datasets faster without human intervention; therefore discovering patterns become very simple (Kaplanidou et al., 2017). Furthermore chatbots powered by AI can conduct interviews and surveys thereby providing more interactivity between them and the subjects who serve as respondents since these parameters allow for personalization of experiences (Tieman et al., 2017).
2. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)
Market research is becoming more immersive through AR/VR applications on mobile devices (Kaplanidou et al., 2017). This allows participants to use their mobile devices as vehicles for experiencing virtual products, virtual stores or simply simulating environments and giving feedback on them. These technologies can provide deeper insights into consumer preferences and behaviors.
3. Wearable Technology
This is a new niche of marketing research which has evolved from the advent of wearable technology including smartwatches as well as fitness trackers (Schmidt et al., 2018). Such wearables generate abundant information about an individual’s health, activity, etc that are useful for researchers (Tran & Stadelmann-Cohen, 2017). In turn this information can provide insight in lifestyle trends, keep track of product usage and develop more personalized marketing strategies.
Conclusion
As technology advances, mobile market research will be more important in comprehending consumer behavior and facilitating well-informed business decisions. For companies to remain competitive in today’s digital era, they must embrace mobile technology in market research. However, this trend is not an optional one but rather a need since the future of the business lies on it.
Mobile technology has greatly impacted on market research with various benefits such as real time data collection, wider reach, increased participant engagement cost effectiveness and rich dataset. Nonetheless, addressing challenges like privacy issues, survey design, participant access and data quality improvement will determine how far it goes into the future.
