Editor’s note: Jason Jacobs is a mobile solutions engineer for Confirmit, N.Y.
With the adoption of mobile technologies reaching new heights, the abilities and capabilities for researchers are ever expanding. It is estimated that over 80 percent of the world now has some type of mobile device and that over 20 percent of the globe now owns a smartphone. In America alone it is somewhat comical that if you put 100 Americans in a room you could count 103 phones!
This penetration and adoption of mobile devices has a direct impact on so many areas and industries and has been particularly beneficial in the area of research and data collection. Not only can mobile devices collect traditional qualitative and quantitative feedback from respondents, but the ability to capture multimedia adds a new dimension to your data.
Capturing multimedia is something many of us do on a daily basis. Whether for social media, for the purpose of sending to our friends and family or to capture a memory of a certain occasion, we are likely familiar with using our phones to record our lives. We have also likely been in a situation where we wanted to take a photograph of ourselves but didn’t have someone nearby to take the photo. We resorted to flipping our camera around, extending our arms outward and taking what is referred to as a “selfie.”
This past year can really be known as the “Year of the selfie” with the world selfie making its way into the dictionary just months ago. This year the record was also set for the most re-tweeted photo ever with the famous Oscar selfie. Selfies and traditional photos have a unique ability to show a person’s feelings and experiences in a way that textual or numeric responses can’t. The power of people taking pictures of themselves has great potential for researchers or for anyone looking to collect respondent feedback. Not only can we ask for written feedback from respondents, but we can ask them to show us their thoughts and experiences using their device’s camera.
An example can be brought from retail stores wanting to collect consumer opinions and to gather real user-generated content but eliminate some of the cost of doing so. Asking consumers for their opinion on styles and preferences is the first step to learning from shoppers but asking for them to capture themselves with their favorite items in a photograph is the next level. Stores can take these photos and use them as user-generated content in their stores, on their Web site and on their social media pages. The stores also benefit from learning what items shoppers are looking for and from driving excitement and engagement to their brand. Consumers benefit from having their “15 minutes of fame” and knowing that their feedback is being listened to. In this example everyone wins.
This of course is not limited to retail environments and can be used to record all sorts of insights. Travel companies are asking clients to record their destinations to showcase to new travelers. Builders are using this technology to photograph their progress on construction projects. Advertisers are taking portable devices to remote locations in lesser developed countries and capturing photos of potential promotional space. The scenarios for a successful program are endless as is the power of multimedia capture.
Here are three things to keep in mind when planning for a successful program:
Stage 1: Define what your goals are and what you are trying to accomplish. This can be a financial goal, an increase to consumer retention or just an overall benefit to brand awareness. Regardless of what the specific goal is, it is important to have this outlined and defined before you begin your program.
Stage 2: Listen to your respondents and listen to what people are saying. Once you have information coming in, the task is to make sense of all that data. This can be textual data, numeric responses or multimedia but the key is to understand what people are telling you. There are multiple ways to read and interpret your data but we often find that through the creation of online dashboards with graphs, charts, trend analysis and text analytics you are able to view the complete respondent profile and get the best picture for all your data.
Stage 3: Act on what your data is telling you. Perhaps your customer experience is lacking or your product line is outdated. Maybe your business moves too slowly and doesn’t meet the demands of your consumers. Looking at your data properly can help you act appropriately and better your business.
The overall key behind this strategy is to truly collect the best information that you can and drive results that really matter. Enabling your respondents to interact with you through multimedia allows them to share more about what drives them and allows you to build the most complete respondent profile and gain the greatest insights.
Who knows? Maybe selfies are more valuable than we think.