Is there a place in market research for SMS - Research New March 2016

10 Research News March 2016

FEATURE

Market research evolved alongside email and the

internet, progressively migrating from face-to-face and telephone to online as the internet became more commonplace. Are we as market researchers guilty of not keeping up and missing an opportunity, or are the limitations of SMS too great?

By SMS research, I refer to the

use of SMS for conversations, rather

than a channel to provide an online

survey link�

After 20 odd years, SMS (text messaging) is now a well-established form of communication� It is reported that globally in excess of eight trillion text messages

are now sent every year (www�Bloomberg�com)�

However, very little market research is done by SMS.

Why?

forSMS?

market research Is t

here a place in

Research News March 2016 11

FEATURE

The latter does not work� As with

email, there is distrust with following

links and text messages are all too

easily ignored�

With less opportunity for

branding and explanation, the

response rate from this approach

is poorer than via email� However,

engaging with people in an ‘SMS

Conversation’ can prove to be

remarkably successful�

SMS Conversations involve first

sending an intro and initial question,

with subsequent questions then

being triggered by the response

received�

This results in a ‘conversation’, see

the illustrated example� Platforms

such as Whispir (www�Whispir�com)

can provide this functionality in a

fully automated format�

You simply load the sample, send

the first SMS and then sit back as

the platform takes over�

Questions are instantaneously

received by the respondents

creating a very life-like, real time

‘conversation’�

SMS conversations are now

commonplace, and longer SMSs no

longer scorned�

Yes you will pay for a second SMS

once you go over 160 characters, but

respondents will only see one text�

More and more people are

choosing to communicate by

SMS rather than phone calls, and

now regularly engage in SMS

conversations amongst themselves�

With an openness and

expectation that this is how brands

communicate with their customers,

should we not be keeping up with

the times and communicating in the

same way?

I have experienced impressive

response rates with this approach,

in the region of 15-20%� This is

particularly true of the millennials,

a hard to reach group by traditional

survey means� In addition, there

is very little drop out, with the

JD INSIGHTS1/8 PAGE

quality of response also very

good� While there are the jokers

who provide some humour in their

responses, there is surprisingly

little vitriol – certainly far less then

I have experienced by email� This

again suggests that SMS is an

accepted and expected form of

communication�

In a world where there is an ever-

increasing demand for immediacy

and ‘real time’ results, it would

seem strange that SMS is not more

commonplace�

What form of communication

can possibly be more real time than

SMS? People’s phones are almost

always with them, and get picked up

the moment they are notified of an

SMS, unlike emails which often arrive

silently�

In recent studies, I have received

the bulk of responses within 1-2

hours of the survey being launched,

and have been able to provide top

line results soon after�

You can literally take a brief at

9am and provide results by COB the

same day�

However, at the same time that

we are challenged to provide results

quicker, we are also faced with the

need to ask more and more�

And therein lies one of the

drawbacks� SMS conversations need

to be short, with 3-5 questions�

While verbatim questions can be

asked (and receive a surprisingly

strong response), for the most part

questions need to be relatively

straightforward as there is no

opportunity to present a code

frame� Sure, there are times when

you need to ask a lot of questions,

show creative imagery, or use

complex questions� But equally,

there are times when less could

easily be more� Rather than ask lots

in one hit, why not ask a little and

more often?

So is there a place in market

research for SMS? Yes, I strongly

believe so, but not to the same

degree as the internet�

The limitations will always be a

hindrance, but with smarter thinking

there is a lot more that can be done

by SMS�

DUNCAN RUSBY, INSERT TITLE HERE, NATURE