RLB - Publication of a Mobile Survey Method Analysis

One of the main concerns of using mobile surveys as a method today is the low participation rate. Several possible reasons such high data transfer costs, inadequately- equipped mobile phones and poor usability of wap-surveys are discussed in literature. Furthermore, it is presumed that crucial criteria influencing the response-rate include the way to invite the target groups and the content of the invitation message.

The study and published paper focus on the variation of technical options in inviting respondents to mobile online surveys such as wap-push messages vs. SMS with integrated links within a case study for Raiffeisen, an Austrian financial service provider. One hypothesis states that inviting respondents by wap-push is the best choice due to lower barriers to participation with the "one-click to open the questionnaire" approach. However, new mobile devices with high Internet usage because of flat-rates like the iPhone and Windows Mobile smartphones are actually not able to handle wap-pushes. Therefore, text messages with embedded links to the questionnaire have been tested, too. About 60,000 invitations were sent to customers of the bank to evaluate a mobile marketing campaign.

Results showed that there were no discrepancies regarding the response-rate between the two invitation modes. In addition there are no differences between two text-options varying the wordings "survey" with "tell your opinion" regarding response-rate. A handset analysis provides evidence of used mobile phones in the wap-push and SMS group, for example iPhones were found only in the SMS group as expected. A mobile panel approach is recommended to target user groups more precisely for mobile web surveys. The paper had been published in the International Journal of Mobile Marketing Summer 2010 Vol.5 No.1.