Consumer connections: technologies allowing recruitment by mobile phone

With 77 million consumers connected to the mobile Internet 24/4, Japan's cell phone environment has become the test bed for the world. Now the latest developments in technology have resulted in the mobile phone becoming not only a medium of generating consumer understanding, using surveys, but also the means by which highly targeted groups of consumers are recruited. Vertical segmentation has never been easier!

Catch them where you can...

Segments of consumers define themselves via their common behaviors.

They may purchase a particular brand of shampoo, frequent a particular coffee shop or support a particular team.

By making contact with individual consumers at the location where this behavior is played out (i.e. at the shampoo shelf, in the coffee shop or at the entrance to the stadium) market researchers are able to not only recruit highly targeted samples but also interact with them in-situ, while the behavior is fresh in mind. Often in the actual marketing environment itself!

A range of technologies is now available which allows for the delivery of a survey to consumers' mobile phones at a specified location. These methods alleviate the need for potential respondents to type the survey URLs into their Internet enabled phones.

Welcome to the wireless world of QR codes, Color Zip, "jabbers" and Bluetooth...

Scan your way in

At this time the most popular method of automating entry into a mobile website (and true also for mobile survey URLs) is the QR code. QR codes are essentially densely packed 2-dimensional bar codes, which can be read by consumers with 3G mobile phones (presently around 44% of cell phone owners in Japan).

While conventional bar codes are capable of storing a maximum of approximately 20 digits, QR Codes are capable of handling several dozen to several hundred times more information, depending on their size.

A QR Code is capable of handling all types of data, including numeric, alphabetic and Japanese characters. Moreover the code is omni-directional, meaning that it can be read from any angle, due to position detection patterns located at the three corners of the symbol.

The advantage of QR codes is that they can be displayed on marketing materials such as print ads, flyers and product packaging, directing the reader to a survey concerning the advertisement, event or product in question.

In longer mobile surveys conducted by JMI (15 questions), we have seen significantly higher completion rates among consumers entering surveys via QR codes, than from typing URLs. This most likely reflects a greater acceptance of using the mobile phone generally among those who are familiar with using QR codes.

From black & white to color

The next generation of bar codes for mobile phones will be in color. In fact this is already the established standard in South Korea. The format is due to launched in Japan in the next few months by a company named Colorzip.

The color bar codes have several advantages. Their aesthetic appeal doesn't just rely on the use of colors. The bar codes can incorporate images such as low-resolution photos or brand logos.

For consumers, the main functional benefit of color bar codes will be that they are much easier to scan than their black & white relatives.

For marketers (& market researchers!) the advantage is that they can be used on TV screens. So potentially viewers of a show or a TV commercial can enter a tracking survey using their phone, which they then also use to complete and send on their responses.

The "Jabber"

One recruitment technology that requires minimal effort and technical ability on the part of the target respondent is the keitai "Jabber".

It's a small electronic device that plugs easily into the power socket of a mobile phone. The device is programmed so that when it is plugged into the phone for around 20 seconds, a link to a survey is sent to the owners' mailbox.

The jabber can either be fixed in position, e.g. on to a bar or sales counter, or it can be worn around the neck of PR girls/recruiters who then ask potential respondents whether they are willing to participate in the survey before jabbing.

JMI has used this approach to conduct street surveys, callbacks to CLTs and tracking of sponsorship such as at major sports events. For more information: Click Here

... and eventually recruitment itself will become wireless

Of course the longer-term future of using mobile phones to recruit consumers to surveys is unlikely to rely on bar code readers or physical connections at all. It is more likely to involve the wireless transmission of data using Blue Tooth, Infrared or similar methods.

A taste of this can already be seen at certain US movie theatres where Twentieth Century Fox is allowing customers to download movie trailers, ring-tones and wallpapers based on the studio's movies on to their Bluetooth-enabled wireless devices. It is said that a movie trailer typically takes 30 seconds to download. The limitation at this time is the low penetration of Bluetooth-enabled cell phones.

However, it should only be a matter of time before the wireless devices are used as a medium for recruitment into surveys and panels.

How will all this help market researchers?

The ability to recruit consumers at specific locations, whether it be at point of sales, events or in-transit, will allow market researchers to build mobile panels with a high degree of vertical segmentation e.g. brand/category users, lovers of a particular sport/music genre, consumers who frequent certain retail channels... etc

M-Research itself allows for the very rapid turn around (usually measured in hours) of short quantitative surveys. Ultimately it is this combination of pulse wireless surveys and highly specific targeting that will provide marketers with a new connection to their consumer base.

The world of m-Research moves very quickly, so watch this space!