Is your team still on the fence about mobile-first market research? The GreenBook Research Industry Trends (GRIT) Report suggests it’s time to get on board. The 2020 GRIT Report shows a major leap in the “industry’s significant adoption of new technologies and approaches to adapt to the disruptions of the pandemic.” And in this edition of the GRIT Report, many of the latest market research techniques getting major traction are mobile-based.  

Out of the 19 emerging methods, the GRIT report identified, mobile-first surveys lead in usage by 64% (up 8% from 2019). Other innovative market research techniques are on the rise: 54% have adopted mobile qualitative and 45% are using mobile ethnographies.   

Reach3 was founded with the belief that the next wave of research is going to be mobile-first. Now it’s arrived. 

Here are three of the most compelling reasons why now’s the time for mobile research. 

Connect with highly targeted audiences

2020 underscored the importance of engaging with real people for insights in real time. With everything from election poll missteps to an increased interest in social justice and inclusion, researchers need to question what they truly know about consumers and whether they’re getting the authentic, candid feedback of their customers.

"The research industry is increasingly out of sync with how consumers are living their digital lives,” said Matt Kleinschmit, Reach3’s CEO & Founder, said in a recent presentation for the Quirks Global Virtual conference. So, how do we get back in sync?

"The research industry is increasingly out of sync with how consumers are living their digital lives."

Bringing diverse voices into the research process is critical to that mission, and using the latest market research techniques can help with that. "Mobile messaging-based approaches work really with younger cohorts, but it actually works across all cohorts," said Dara St. Louis, Senior Vice President & Founding Partner, during her presentation with Matt. A Facebook study found 65% of Millennials, 65% of Gen Xers and 63% of Boomers prefer messaging over phone calls or email.

With its wide appeal, mobile is an effective channel to reach any target audience and provides the opportunity to bring unheard voices into the research process.

Capture real-time feedback

We all know recall bias is a persistent issue with market research. With email-based surveys, Matt notes, “We are asking people about behaviors that took place maybe a couple of weeks in the past. Yet we ask for them to talk about it like it occurred minutes ago."

Rather than pinning hopes on your audience remembering their behaviors in the past, mobile lets you minimize recall bias through in-the-moment research.

From Jägermeister to Tyson Foods, many clients we’ve been working with in the past two years have proven that engaging with consumers in real time and getting close to the behavior you wish to examine is an effective way of gaining a deeper understanding of the underlying motivations driving customer behaviors. 

Get video feedback—seamlessly 

Some of the latest market research techniques that have emerged in the last decade are video-based. It’s not surprising why. Videos are powerful because they provide depth and context that’s impossible to get with just quantitative data alone.

When used effectively, video feedback is also a potent storytelling tool, enabling you to bring your customers into the boardroom and inspire action. Compared to many recent market research techniques, videos provide a unique and effective way of shining the light on your customers and getting more attention for the insights you’re generating. 

You don’t need a standalone video feedback platform to capture videos. In fact, our proprietary approach—combined with the mobile-first research platform from our sister company, Rival Technologies—makes it seamless to get quantitative and qualitative customer feedback in one mobile-first experience. 

You don’t need a standalone video feedback platform to capture videos.

To see this in action, check out this video showing how we engaged Gen Z Fortnite players in a recent study.

Conclusion

In the end, companies need to pay attention to the latest market research techniques not only because these are cool but also because they can improve business outcomes. The conversational, mobile messaging-based approach we’re suggesting is a means to an end: it helps to uncover deeper, richer insights that will help you get foresight on what’s ahead in the consumer landscape. 

To learn more, check out “Everyone wants to be heard. No one wants to be studied!”—a presentation chock full of case studies from Dara and Matt.