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Article Published on - Sunday, October 30th, 2011 at 9:31 pm  This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Opinionmeter’s TouchPoint Mobile survey application has always accommodated the ability of our customers to brand the look and feel of their survey instrument, including the option of customizing the logo, fonts, button and screen background colors, even the inclusion of a watermark. However, in an effort to enable our clients to further reinforce their brands we are now extending our system’s branding capabilities to include comprehensive white-labeling. This will include the ability to completely customize the Login, About Us and Home screen pages within the TouchPoint survey application as well as the web-based Survey Manager portal. This will provide a complete white-label solution for our enterprise customers.
The white-labeling process for the application will be managed through the client’s SurveyManager account. We are providing a branding module within the SurveyManager where clients can upload their own artwork to replace the default Opinionmeter logo that resides on the desktop of the mobile survey application. Additionally, from the same branding module, clients will be able to upload their own screen art to replace the default Login, About Us, Home Page screens that resides on the device. This way, clients can control their own branding from one central place which will automatically update all the devices being run from their SurveyManager account – automatically updating all existing devices in the field as well as any new devices added to the client’s SurveyManager account.
Article Published on - Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 at 12:32 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
There’s no question the maturity and acceptance of mobile research technologies has passed the tipping point and has forever altered the market research landscape. Mobile devices provide continuous real-time flow of rich customer feedback data for marketers. This mobile research data is also linked to the customer’s location which enables the delivery of location-specific rewards and information to in-store survey respondents in real-time. What’s more, this technology has been harnessed by several innovative market research software companies providing sophisticated DIY research tools to businesses that in the past needed to go through the more traditional market research companies to access their customer research data.
In fact, Harry Henry from Outsell recently posted commentary on this very topic:
“Other areas in the Marketing Information segment feeling the shifts due to mobile are the traditional market research providers. On one hand, they can now enter the fray and have much of this very rich data on consumers and shoppers that was previously very time consuming and expensive to get. On the flip side, some may feel the impact on lines of business where surveys were performed, since clients are now getting streams and rivers of data in near real time. Many are adjusting by both developing new methods and buying firms that have developed these capabilities.
There is also a coming wave of change for the survey-based market research community as the mobile device is un-tethering individuals (aka potential survey respondents) from their laptops and desktops. The implication here is that people will spend less time on “the computer” in favor of a smartphone or tablet, and with those mobile devices they will less inclined to sit through long surveys. Recent announcements by survey research platform firms Opinionmeter and Answerthink (a business unit of CINT AB) are leading the way here by providing tools to assist the market research community in adapting to the way of the mobile world.”
Article Published on - Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 3:16 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Research plays a fundamental part in enabling businesses to make better decisions. Amidst a recession and continued budget cuts, small and medium sized businesses may no longer be able to afford outsourcing their research needs. Enter DIY surveys, do-it-your-self surveys that can afford businesses the research data they need without the help of a professional or third-party company. More after the jump.
The creation of online survey tools provides DIY researchers a readily available survey platform to create and launch surveys, all with a low cost of entry. Recent statistics by Cambiar estimates DIY spending to be at $700-$800 million worldwide, a compelling number fueling companies to create an online survey tool that caters best to DIY researchers. With the introduction of more competitive survey tools, we can expect that it will not only propel the self-service sampling industry forward but will eventually increase the acceptability of DIY surveys as research tools for all businesses.
Addressing choice overload
With over 100 online survey tools currently in market, finding the differentiating factor between them can be difficult. New platforms offer features that other platforms lack while they further develop innovative features that current users need and want. Furthermore, the challenge for users is to be able decide which is DIY platform is most appropriate for their research needs.
From interface design to the survey creation process, each platform offers something different. A simple interface lets users quickly create and launch a survey, sometimes in as little as six minutes. Some platforms also offer pre-made templates, tailored questions and the ability to add incentives. Customizable features coupled with ease of use help to improve the survey creation experience for the user while making the survey taking experience more engaging for the respondent, and thus, providing better quality data.
Once created, surveys are sent to a selected list of contacts; and in most cases, the user needs to own each contact’s email address. That is one of the main differences between DIY and traditional research methodologies. Third-party research suppliers can offer access to millions of consumers, but a DIY researcher is limited only to email addresses they possess. Without sample, do-it-yourselfers are denied access to an audience they potentially need simply because of a lack of email addresses. While sufficient in some cases, not being able to reach a broader audience when needed can prove to be detrimental to the research data collected.
Online survey tools that offer access to sample bridges that gap, by allowing users to launch their surveys to a targeted sample pool of consumers from today’s growing social media population (similar to what a research supplier can provide) at a minimal cost.
What are the benefits?
Fast, cheap and accessible. DIY surveys are meant to be affordable and less time consuming while technological improvements are enabling online survey tools to become accessible to almost anyone. Certainly there are times where DIY surveys are more appropriate; a simple poll of asking employees what they want for lunch or a customer satisfaction survey requesting feedback about a new product. By design, DIY surveys are better suited for straight-forward research, including situations where feedback needs to be collected quickly or insights can be achieved with only a few questions.
It’s also important to note that not all DIY researchers are seasoned survey writers, and that fact is the root of many concerns regarding DIY surveys. Alternatively, the beauty of self-service sampling is that it is available even to those who aren’t in market research, can’t afford it, or need faster results. However, it’s our intention and responsibility to promote proper survey writing as best we can, and in the end, we all want the user experience to be enjoyable and the survey results to be insightful.
In our experience, there are certain things users can do to ensure they reach such goals. So before hitting send, I encourage do-it-yourselfers to consider the following tips:
• Pay attention to survey length – keep in mind the time it takes to complete a survey and aim to keep it under 10 minutes.
• Avoid loaded, leading or confusing questions – make sure questions will not lead a respondent towards a certain answer
• Use clear, readable English – technical and elaborate words are not part of the average person’s vocabulary and might only confuse them.
• Offer incentives – rewards are a good way to thank your audience for taking the time to complete a survey. It’s also a proven way to increase response rates.
• Test, spell-check and test again – a survey full of typos, poor grammar, or incomplete sentences will only make you look bad. Similarly, a survey that does not make logical sense can often frustrate the respondent and result in a low response rate.
Consider the situation – don’t waste energy trying to fit a difficult research project into a simple DIY survey. This can only lead to higher costs and more time needed to generate usable data. Instead, consider partnering with an online panel provider to ensure your research results are as representative and as insightful as possible.
Using these DIY survey tips, coupled with taking the time to understand effective survey writing, will generate quality results at affordable prices. But most importantly, it will give DIY surveys and online survey tools a better reputation now and into the future.
Guest blogger Noman is the CEO and co-founder of Peanut Labs, an innovative company that provides monetization for social media sites through advertising offers and market research surveys. To view the original blog post please visit: http://socialtimes.com/not-your-typical-survey-tool-what-a-new-online-survey-tool-means-for-the-diy-survey-market_b79842
Article Published on - Monday, September 12th, 2011 at 9:47 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Let me first say that incentives are not always necessary to ensure strong response rates in customer experience surveys. In fact, with in-store surveys, when the survey instrument is designed to suit the environment and the survey technology is implemented correctly (placement, signage, staff awareness) our customers enjoy upwards of 8-10% response rates without the use of incentives. Although it varies from industry to industry, we find a large portion of consumers, especially those who are invested in the success of the merchant; are willing to participate in customer satisfaction surveys without the need of incentives to help improve the products and services. However, when the decision has been made to use incentives, we encourage our clients to consider the various forms incentives can take.
There are two basic types of incentives – rewards and information. Rewards are by far the most commonly used and often take the form of some kind of financial reward or product sample. What we find far more interesting (for both the business and the customer) is providing information as the reward. Often times the most compelling type of information is the survey results themselves, which can be displayed at the conclusion of the survey. There can be proprietary issues with divulging this information; however there are ways around this. For example – you can reveal results on selected questions only. Other options include the use of Opinionmeter’s quiz feature and display the results of only those quiz related questions at the conclusion of the survey. Additional ideas may include sharing how the survey results have been or are intended to be implemented to improve the product or service. This has the added bonus of instilling continued customer engagement and a sense of ownership and participation in the business’s success and growth.
Article Published on - Monday, August 22nd, 2011 at 4:28 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
At Opinionmeter our focus has been exclusively on delivering Business to Business (B2B) survey apps for capturing real-time consumer insights at the point-of-experience. However, with the recent explosion of smart mobile devices among the general population, it only makes sense to extend our two decades of experience in building customer survey applications that benefit the consumer directly – Introducing the Business to Consumer (B2C) survey app!
At this writing we are finalizing a beta version of our first B2C survey app code named “TouchPoint Shopper”. In addition to the feature-functionality of our B2B survey apps, the B2C app will have the ability to push and pull surveys in multiple ways.
Pulling Surveys: Unlike the B2B app that can only pull surveys that are assigned to it, the B2C app can pull surveys in the following three different ways:
- “Find Surveys Around Me” – when a customer selects this button, they are asked for a distance radius (miles or kilometers) and the search results are displayed in Google Maps with waypoints indicating the Merchant name and location. When selecting the waypoint, the survey downloads automatically to the mobile device.
- Search by Business Name – there is an input field where the customer can search by business name or survey code. When entering a business name, any businesses matching that name within the distance radius selected will appear as waypoints to be selected within Google maps.
- Search by Survey Code – the use of the survey code is for signage at the point of sale, where a merchant can enter a five digit code which will download the survey to the customer’s mobile phone.
Note: all surveys can also be password protected. By default this option is turned off.
Pushing Surveys: In addition to pulling surveys, the B2C survey app can also receive pushed surveys – surveys the customer has subscribed to receive from selected merchants. These surveys arrive as push notifications to the mobile device – similar to a text message prompt. The consumer is in full control of this feature and if they have opted into receiving push notifications, they can always turn this feature off from the apps admin menu.
I hope this gives you a sense of the basic framework of how our B2C app will distribute surveys to mobile devices. We are also working on leveraging the camera to scan barcodes at the store shelf. The idea being that a consumer can scan a product’s barcode and in exchange for answering a few product-related questions, receive an electronic coupon that can be scanned at the cash register for real-time discounts.
Article Published on - Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 at 4:34 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
In recent blog posts, I’ve focused on the client-side of the solution equation– whether the client-side survey technology being used is device-based, mobile-web, online or even paper. We’ve recently discussed the advantages of having a resident survey apps installed on the actual device opposed to going with a more limited mobile-web or online solution – although there are definitely times when mobile-web is a great solution. In this post I’ll be discussing the myriad ways an enterprise level back-end portal can leverage the real-time streaming data pouring in from all the mixed-mode data collection touch points. For example, in addition to the actual survey responses being recorded, our TouchPoint Mobile survey app also captures by default the following data points: Time, Date, Duration, GPS Coordinates as well as any media captured during the survey process (images, video, sound recording). This provides our enterprise feedback platform (a.k.a. The SurveyManager), with a terrific amount of rich data to feed into our analytics engine. In fact, we even have Google Maps integrated into our reports so that clients can view the location’s geographic details for every survey taken.
Additional advantages to real-time access to point-of-experience data:
Real-time data transmission vs. Scheduled uploads (batch uploads): When you have a mobile survey app installed on the device, you then have the option of when and how your survey data is uploaded to the web-portal.
Real-time – Persistent Connectivity
Scheduled Upload – batch upload at specific time of day
Offline survey app capabilities – It’s also worth pointing out that local survey apps are not dependent on an internet connection to function. If the app detects a weak or non-existent Internet connection the survey data is stored locally on the device and transmitted when connectivity resumes.
Push or Pull Reporting: Now that you have data pouring into your web-portal in real-time, you can choose to generate and deliver reports in a number of ways. Keep in mind that all the reports are available in multiple formats such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF even Web.
Push Reports on a Scheduled basis: when pushing reports, you simply create your report once and then schedule it for delivery whenever you want, to whomever you want and in any of the aforementioned formats you want! This means you can customize your own report and save it as a template and then have it delivered by email attachment to an unlimited number of individuals. You can even tell the system to reach back historically as far as you wish to include whatever data set you wish in the report. Pretty cool!
Pull Reports – on-demand access: in addition to automating the delivery of your customized reports (i.e. pushing reports outlined just above), you can of course login to your account at any time and view or generate reports that include up to the moment survey data.
Real-time Satisfaction Alerts and Service Recovery: the system allows you to set trigger points within your survey instrument that when triggered – a real-time alert containing the survey question and responses, time/date and location details of the survey are sent via email or SMS text to any number of responsible individuals (or up the chain of command). This initiates a “service recovery” process. The SurveyManager also has a built in alert management module that enables managers to track the service recovery process (from alert to resolution and track their comments and notes for future reference).
Remote monitoring for support purposes: an often overlooked advantage to real-time access to mobile survey devises and survey kiosks is remote support. Our support engineers can establish a remote session and control the device in the field. This provides enormous support value, allowing support engineers to remotely manage and maintain survey devices in the field.
Article Published on - Sunday, August 7th, 2011 at 9:24 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Lately we’ve been noticing a surge of interest in our offline survey apps. When taking a look at the inquiries for our mobile research solutions, we’re finding one of the dominant client requests is for mobile survey devices that have the ability to run in both online and offline modes. So I thought I’d dig into this a bit further to discuss the differences between online and offline survey apps.
In simplistic terms, offline survey apps have the advantage of running in both in online and offline modes, whereas online-only survey solutions can only run when a reliable Internet connection is present. For an offline survey app to function properly, there must be a survey app resident on the device.
In contrast to online surveys, when a survey app is installed on the device it solves most of the issues suffered by mobile web surveys (online surveys optimized for mobile browsers). When you have a resident app running on a device, there are many advantages such as application speed, access to advanced features (e.g. media capture, branching, multimedia, etc.) and of course avoiding the disruption of the survey when an Internet connection is lost or slow. Opinionmeter’s mobile survey app is designed in such a way that a researcher can walk in and out of connectivity range without the app missing a beat – if no Internet connection is detected the app automatically stores the data locally on the device and will upload that data at a later time whenever connectivity resumes. All this occurs in the background without disrupting the researcher or compromising the survey apps functionality. The one potential challenge offline survey apps may present is if you are interested in cross-platform compatibility. Given the offline survey app is developed for each platform, most vendors will not have separate apps for all the major platforms such as Apple, Android, Palm, Windows 7, Blackberry and Symbian. If you need ubiquitous use, then a mix of resident apps and mobile web may be the best way to go.
Article Published on - Saturday, July 30th, 2011 at 12:37 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
I normally blog from the perspective of an industry expert focused on market research survey software, discussing the multitude of applications, emerging technologies and best practices. Today however I’ll be writing from a more personal point of view. Without a doubt, the industry sector most in need of customer satisfaction feedback tools, methodologies and processes is healthcare. At Opinionmeter, we’ve dedicated ourselves to helping our healthcare customers apply the wide-range of survey technologies now available and healthcare represents the largest vertical for our business, but it seems we’ve just scratched the surface. The majority of healthcare organizations are still in the dark-ages when it comes to customer care and managing patient satisfaction feedback. Let me relay a story I heard just last night – unfortunately, these types of stories are all too prevalent.
A dear friend of mine, who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, was scheduled for an MRI. The MRI was necessary prior to meeting with the surgeon to discuss surgical options. Needless to say, anyone in this situation will be in a sensitive, fearful disposition. How much is it to ask that medical staff anticipate and be sensitive to patients state of mind (in this case, the radiology staff)? Is not empathy one of the most basic considerations for a caregiver to provide a patient – especially in these circumstances? I’m sure you can anticipate where this story is going…
My dear friend was first told that her sister, who was there to provide comfort and support, could not be present during the MRI procedure. Additionally, the radiology staff failed to orient her about what to expect during the procedure, which involved lying motionless within the MRI machine for 45 minutes face down on a hard cold surface pressing against her sore breasts (which were sore from recent biopsies). During the MRI procedure, staff did not once communicate with her; ask how she was doing, let her know how much longer the procedure would take, nothing! She was in pain, claustrophobic and in fear. When she emerged from the MRI machine, she told the staff “that was horrible! I would not wish this on my worst enemy, why didn’t you warn me…” The staff’s response was silence. The facility where my friend received this unacceptable, insensitive and in my opinion – incompetent service was the John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek – a highly respected healthcare institution! Makes you wonder what’s going on elsewhere, doesn’t it!
To bring this story back within the context of patient satisfaction surveys and the intelligent use of available customer feedback tools and technology – when my friend returned to the waiting room following the procedure, the only feedback method available was a ridiculously designed 5x7” paper feedback card with a scale of 4 smiley faces and a 2-inch space adjacent each of the 6 questions for the patient to input open-ended comments. John Muir is a wealthy, high-tech medical center and they are clearly not investing in patient satisfaction survey technologies that are widely available and proven to be even more cost-effective than paper surveys. For example, if they had a touch screen survey device (this could be a tablet, kiosk, or wall-mounted touch screen device). My friend could have provided her feedback quickly and efficiently at the point-of-care, which then could have triggered a satisfaction alert that would be delivered in real-time to the chain of command responsible for that radiology department. This would have triggered a service-recovery process and would have provided them a chance to intervene and recover a patient as well as avoid the spread of a different kind of cancer – patient dissatisfaction – which believe me, has already metastasized and spread throughout my friend’s family, friends and now this blog. When will healthcare institutions WAKE UP! It’s one thing to provide unacceptable patient care, but to add insult to injury is to not invest in patient satisfaction survey technology that can monitor and manage patient feedback in real-time.
A postscript to the above – the next day when my friend called to request the CD with the MRI images she was told that since she was menstruating at the time (which she disclosed to the staff prior to the procedure), she would need to go through the process all over again!
Article Published on - Saturday, July 16th, 2011 at 4:05 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Along with mobile research, mixed-mode data collection has become a hot topic within the market research community. Mixed-mode data collection refers to collecting research data in a variety of “modes” or methods. For example, to reach your required population you may need to reach respondents in a variety of ways – both online and onsite.
Online distribution may take the form of online surveys (viewed on a PC) or mobile-web surveys (optimized for mobile browsers), or both. Additional online methods can include mining social media content as well as building survey panels (virtual focus groups). One drawback to online surveys are that you and you population must have an Internet connection to distribute and access the survey.
Onsite surveys on the other hand involve distributing surveys via mobile survey devices – the one exception to this is the traditional paper survey (interviewer with clipboard). However, paper is rapidly being replaced by mobile survey devices such as PDAs, Tablets, iPads, etc. (CAPI – Computer Assisted Personal Interview). There are many advantages to using survey devices and I discuss this in my other blog entries – suffice to say, survey devices provide interviewers with multiple advantages and efficiencies not to mention real-time data and reporting access. One word of caution – when shopping for a mobile research vendor – be sure that the survey app can run offline as well as online – you don’t want your survey to be dependent on an Internet connection to function!
Let’s dig a little deeper into the onsite survey distribution options that are available. We’ve already mentioned the mobile research options for CAPI above. However, with the advent of mobile phone survey apps – there is an entirely new distribution opportunity for market research companies. We can look at this from a B2B and B2C perspective. The B2B mode – where companies use their own mobile devices running mobile a survey app and use the device as a data capture device (it could be an iPhone, iPad, etc.). On the other hand, a business can promote free survey apps for their customers to download and use to participate in feedback. Additionally, touchscreen survey kiosks can be placed at the point-of-sale, point-of-service, point-of-care, depending on the nature of the business and capture spontaneous real-time customer feedback. The advantage to using unattended survey devices like survey kiosks (whether they’re mounted in a kiosk, or on a table-top, wall or aisle) is they require no staff involvement and often can be monitored and maintained remotely.
Certainly there are advantages and disadvantages to each and every modality for capturing survey data, we at Opinionmeter are dedicated to supporting all these methods so that our customers can deploy surveys in a truly mixed-mode environment – “Author Once, Distribute Anywhere”. Among the many advantages to this type of feedback platform is you can create and deploy the same survey to a variety of destinations and also all your survey data resides in one database – whether that data was captured using paper, online, onsite, mobile-web or mobile app.
Article Published on - Sunday, June 26th, 2011 at 12:56 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Determining the best method for measuring patient satisfaction requires analysis of several important factors such as the healthcare delivery system, staff workflow process and the patient setting (touch points). In this article we’ll discuss several of the most common healthcare touch points and match them up with state of the art patient satisfaction survey technologies now available.
First we need to define the touch point environments. For example, are you measuring patient satisfaction in an outpatient or inpatient setting? Are healthcare providers capturing real-time bedside feedback while rounding, or do you want to gather feedback at the point-of-care from an outpatient clinic or an exit survey in your pharmacies? Each of these touch points call for unique patient satisfaction measurement tools.
Common Healthcare Touch Points:
• Outpatient Feedback: Within the outpatient setting, you have several available feedback options and perhaps a mixture of these solutions should be considered. Mobile survey devices can be a very efficient method of capturing spontaneous patient satisfaction feedback at the point-of-care within the exam room or while checking out with the staff at the front desk. Additionally, survey kiosks (which can be stand, wall or table mounted) can be used in the lobby area or near the exit. Advantages to the survey kiosk are that it requires no staff involvement and is a stand-alone solution. Often, a mixture of the two survey technologies is the best approach – combining survey kiosks with mobile survey devices. When using the survey kiosks or mobile survey devices, your survey can also capture the patient’s email address which then can be used as a follow up survey delivered by email. We refer to this approach as a mixed-mode survey approach.
• Inpatient Feedback: When gathering patient feedback within an inpatient setting, the healthcare provider will most likely want use a mobile survey device or mobile survey app on their own personal mobile device (phone, tablet, iPad, etc.). Popular use cases for inpatient feedback are for rounding (bedside patient feedback) and at discharge. There are a number of options here – from dedicated mobile survey devices to survey apps such as an iOS survey app that can run on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Whenever selecting a customer survey app, it’s important to make sure the app can run in online and offline modes. By online mode, we mean real-time which is critical for service recovery purposes (allowing healthcare provides to be notified in real-time when there is a service recovery issue); and offline mode meaning that when the device loses Internet connectivity that the survey app continues functioning regardless if Internet connection is lost, and most important that data is not lost but stored on the device until the Internet connection resumes.
Real-time Point-of-Care Feedback: the “pain-point” we most commonly hear from healthcare providers is the delay in receiving actionable survey data. This is because there is often a significant delay from the time the patient provided the feedback to when the healthcare provider receives the survey data. This makes it difficult to be responsive to patient requests and impossible when it involves service recovery. The good news for healthcare provides is delayed survey data is no longer necessary. With the current availability of sophisticated, cost-effective survey technologies, healthcare providers are now able to implement more effective and cost effective patient satisfaction feedback programs.
Article Published on - Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 9:19 am This post was written by Morgan Strickland
As mobile research continues to gain popularity within the market research industry, the demand for a robust mobile research platform is paramount. However, before we can define what constitutes a “robust” platform, we really should determine the requirements of the mobile researcher. Only then can we be sure the platform of choice can meet those demands.
From what we hear from our customers, mobile researchers require a platform that can delivery media-rich surveys with access to the device’s API calls (so the survey can take advantage of the devices native features, e.g. cameras, GPS, etc.) delivering real-time survey data to a remote analytic engine – all this without being dependent on a persistent Internet connection. A tall order, wouldn’t you say?
Below, I’ll discuss several of the most popular modes for conducting mobile research – their advantages and disadvantages.
MOBILE WEB – online surveys for the mobile browser
Prior to mobile research, it was the advent of online survey software that was the technological innovation that impacted the market research industry. It should be no surprise then that the first approach to mobile research was to leverage existing online surveys within the mobile browser – (aka “Mobile Web”). In some ways this approach carries the promise of being truly cross-platform and device-independent; given all smartphones have mobile browsers. Additionally, online survey software can detect the connecting device’s configuration and automatically deliver the appropriate resolution and media supported by that phone’s browser and operating system. What’s not to like?
Where mobile web struggles is with its dependence on connectivity to function. Slow or intermittent connectivity is the Achilles heel of mobile web surveys. With a slow connection, page loading times can become unacceptable and with intermittent connectivity – surveys fail to load altogether. There’s also the issue of mobile web surveys not having the capability to access the device’s native API’s which allow developers to take advantage of rich features such as accessing cameras, sound recording, media, etc. Another consideration is the user interface of online surveys – they are designed for mouse pointers, not human fingers navigating a touch screen. Enter the world of the Survey APP…
MOBILE SURVEY APPS – offline survey apps
Having an offline survey app resident on the device solves most all the issues suffered by mobile web survey. When you have a resident app running on a device, the app can take full advantage of the native API calls provided by the operating system. This allows developers to provide robust features, such as accessing the device’s camera or microphone or accelerometer or GPS chip; all of which provide some very interesting functionality within a survey app. The risk exposure to Internet connectivity also goes away. Apps can store survey data locally on the device when an Internet connection is lost, avoiding disrupting the data collection process. When the Internet connection resumes, the data is automatically uploaded to the remote server. The user interface is also superior, given the app is designed for human touch and not a modified online survey which is designed for a mouse pointer.
The challenge for mobile apps is device-independence. Unfortunately for the mobile developer, each operating system requires a unique app. You cannot run your Apple app on an Android or visa-versa. There are currently four major device platforms within the smartphone market in the U.S. – Apple (iOS); Android; Blackberry; Windows7. This presents a challenge for developers wanting to achieve cross-platform compatibility.
Article Published on - Sunday, June 5th, 2011 at 8:42 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Although Opinionmeter is a one-stop survey shop – supporting a wide range of survey technologies (mobile research, online surveys, onsite surveys – intercept and survey kiosk, paper, etc.), one of the areas where we have unique expertise is with the self-administered, stand-alone survey kiosk. In fact, my father, Bob Strickland patented the first survey kiosk back in the 70’s!
When it comes to touch screen systems, Elo Touch Systems has been our vendor of choice for survey kiosks. There are several excellent all-in-one computer vendors such as IBM and Planar, but given Elo invented touch screen technology and has the widest range of screen technologies (resistive, capacitive, infrared, acoustic touch, intellitouch), we went with them as our preferred vendor. We have been very pleased with Elo and continue to use their hardware, but we are beginning to receive more requests for the flexibility only a tablet computer can provide. Let me explain… when using a tablet within a kiosk enclosure you’re getting two systems in one: stand-alone and mobile. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts: “At any time, we can unlock and remove the iPad from its iPad Kiosk enclosure (where it’s running off AC and in lock-down mode), and continue using the same device as a mobile intercept research tool.” It’s not that simple however, there are several considerations when using a tablet computer as a survey kiosk (or any type of kiosk for that matter). The following are a few of the categories to consider:
Connectivity: Wi-Fi comes standard in tablets and some have Cellular options (e.g. iPad), but it’s not always possible to connect tablets via Ethernet. Be sure your installation doesn’t require Ethernet cabling before deciding on a tablet PC for your kiosk solution.
Screen considerations:
- Screen Size – tablet computer screen dimensions are normally in the range of 8-10”, whereas touch computers come in a variety of sizes: 10, 15, 17, 19” and larger.
- Durability – This is the area I would pay most attention to. We prefer Elo’s intellitouch screen technology; given it has a thick layer of glass as well as high touch sensitivity. This screen technology is similar to the rugged touch screens you find in many ATM machines. The iPad uses a Multi-Touch display with IPS technology. This screen will be more likely to shatter and scratch, so depending on the environment, you may want to consider using one of the protective covers available for the iPad (e.g. www.zagg.com/invisibleSHIELD)
- Outdoor use – if your survey kiosk will be placed outdoors, you need to plan for moisture and consider issues related to reflection. You’ll want to be sure the screen you chose is sealed and the contrast can be adjusted to reduce reflection from sunlight.
Recommended Device Configuration for the iPad Survey Kiosk: when using the iPad as your tablet of choice within your survey kiosk enclosure, we recommend securing your iOS device with the following device configurations. Each of these settings can be found in the Settings > General tab in the iOS device.
- Turning off Multitasking Gestures
- Turn Passcode On
- Turn off Auto Correction – unless your survey app does this for you. Opinionmeter’s TouchPoint Mobile app handles this within the app.
- Multilingual keyboard – If your survey contains more than one language, make sure the iOS build supports the localization you plan to use within your survey instrument.
- Use a locally installed Survey App, not a Browser-based solution – we do not recommend attempting to run a browser based survey solution on survey devices (e.g. online survey or web survey software). There are many advantages to running a locally installed survey app when it comes to using any type of device for capturing customer feedback, especially survey kiosk. A few of the most important are:
Offline data capture – with a locally installed survey app, if your Internet connectivity goes down, your survey doesn’t! Whereas if you are running online survey software on a device, when you lose your Internet connection, you lose your app!
- User Interface – Online survey software’s user-interface is designed for a mouse not a finger!
- Security – A locally installed app can lock down the device and prevent respondent access to other areas of the system
- Feature/Functionality – Only the survey app that is designed for the device’s operating system, can utilize the native API’s to provide rich feature/functionality. For example, the TouchPoint Mobile survey app can control the microphone for capturing verbatim comments or the camera for images or video. This type of functionality cannot be provided using browser-based survey solutions.
I hope the above will assist you in your next onsite research project!
Morgan Strickland
Opinionmeter
Article Published on - Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at 6:29 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Throughout Opinionmeter’s long history, we have focused exclusively on building survey solutions that enable businesses to collect feedback from their customers. The survey apps that we have designed have been provided to businesses and market researches to capture consumer feedback in a variety of ways: in store kiosks, mobile intercept surveying, point-of-sale feedback, exit surveys, audience response, etc.
With the upcoming release of our newest app – “TouchPoint Feedback” – we will for the first time be making our survey technology available directly to the general public. This is a radical change for Opinionmeter – in fact it’s a 180 degree shift – providing the survey technology to the general public. Using “TouchPoint Feedback” consumers will be able to use their own smart phones or tablets to give real-time feedback to the local merchants and businesses they frequent.
We’re very excited about this new approach and have been building a number of powerful options into the survey software. For example, the survey app will provide both push and pull technologies. For those consumers who opt-into receiving survey invitations from merchants they frequent, those merchants can send push notifications to the consumers smart phones when a new survey is available to download. When it comes to pulling or downloading surveys to their devices, consumers will have the following three options:
1. “Enter a Survey Code” – by entering a survey code into the survey app, the merchant’s survey will automatically download to the device. Survey codes are usually found on “call to action” signage within a business or store.
2. “Enter a Business Name” – by entering a business name, consumers can search for a business within a certain distance radius to where they are currently located and download any available surveys.
3. “Find Surveys Around Me” – Consumers and easily find any participating merchant or store within a distance radius from where the consumer is at any given time.
When it comes to consumer research apps that are free to the consumer, motivation becomes a key point. For this reason, we are evaluating several options for incenting the consumer to actively give voice to their opinions and participate in helping their community of merchants provide better products and services.
This indeed is an exciting time for Opinionmeter and we’re looking forward to this next chapter in our ongoing development!
Article Published on - Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 7:45 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Along with the all important requirement of capturing a “representative sample” from your survey population, adequate “response rates” are also critically important when it comes to self-administered onsite survey campaigns. What follows is a list of steps you can take to ensure a healthy response rate:
Placement – Being a self-administered survey system, it’s critical the customer notices the Opinionmeter device. It’s also very important to have the Opinionmeter device located at the optimum point in the transaction/service flow – appropriately placed for when you wish to solicit the feedback. For example: if you wish to capture feedback regarding the customer’s experience, then the device should be placed in the exit path or discharge area. If on the other hand you wish to gather pre-visit or data relating to the overall experience from repeat visitors, then you can take advantage of waiting time and place the device in the waiting area or queue line.
Signage – Along with placement, signage can significantly help draw attention to the Opinionmeter device. Signage can also be used to effectively communicate the importance and use of the data being collected, along with any incentives being offered, if any. When using signage to inform the customer of changes that have or are in the process of being implemented based on previous survey feedback, it creates a strong sense of ownership and participation.
Staff Involvement – The single most powerful driver of response rate is staff involvement. At the conclusion of the visit, if staff ask the customer to provide a “minute of their time to give us their feedback” – a high percentage of customers will do so. It’s also important that staff be educated about the survey so they do not feel intimidated by the data being collected (e.g. that they’re being judged negatively by the customer’s responses).
Survey Length – The shorter the survey the more likely you will have a higher response rate. This is always a challenge, balancing the need to ask the required questions to achive your survey objectives and yet keep the length of the questionnaire appropriate to the environment in which you are asking participation. This is especially the case in highly-trafficked areas. For example, if you are capturing feedback after a customer’s visit, or have a kiosk adjacent a queue line, the questionnaire should be quite short. On the other hand, if your customers are waiting for services, a longer survey instrument may be appropriate.
Incentives – Opinionmeter devices have several optional incentive features. The “Winning Number” feature issues winning notifications to respondents according to a sequence number you select (e.g. with a sequence number of 50, every 50th respondent would be a winner). The “Winning Quiz” identifies winners based on how they respond to the survey – they must answer the survey quiz questions “correctly” to be a winner. These are optional features which can be fun and increase response rate when used in appropriate settings.
Feedback resulting in Action – It’s critical, especially in environments where you have repeat customers, to inform the customer of the actions that have been or are being implemented based on customer feedback. This can be done through simple signage placed at the survey station, on the device, even on the introductory screen of the survey itself or through a company newsletter, website, etc. Customers need to know their feedback is not only being recorded, but that their feedback is resulting in actions being taken to implement change.
Article Published on - Sunday, May 15th, 2011 at 11:56 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
If we agree that customer satisfaction feedback that is fresh and spontaneous is of more value than delayed or aged feedback, then we can also agree that this feedback is best captured as close as possible to the customer’s experience with the product or service. This brings us then to the necessity of reaching the customer and gathering that “point-of-experience” feedback at each “touchpoint” or encounter the customer has with the company – before, during and after the customer’s experience with the product or service.
This can present some interesting challenges – how do you capture spontaneous customer feedback at the point-of-sale, point-of-service or in the case of healthcare, point-of-care. How do you follow up with the customer after the initial purchase or how do you track the customer’s experiences with repeat purchases. How do you respond in real-time to customer questions, complaints or praise?
We at Opinionmeter have been struggling with these questions for quite some time now – actually for the past 17 years! We are pretty laser-focused on just this conundrum. As you can imagine, the solution requires multiple approaches and capabilities. I’ve listed below a few of the key elements we’ve found critical to capturing real-time spontaneous feedback at the “point-of-experience”. I use the phrase “Point-of-experience” because it encompasses all of the various industry verticals – retail (point of sale), service industry (point of service) and as mentioned above healthcare (point of care).
Onsite as well as Online Surveying: in order to gather feedback while the customer is experiencing your products and services most likely means capturing in-store feedback. The most effective way to do this is through touchscreen survey devices that are strategically placed at key “touchpoints” with the customer experience. These devices can also provide digital signage as well as capture complex survey data, including open-ended comments and branching logic.
Survey Device Independence: finding a feedback management platform with software capable of device independence will help ensure you have the most suitable device for your environment. What screen size or “footprint” is best for your shelf, counter or stand-alone environment? Do you need a stand-along survey kiosk located by an exit or mounted on a table-top? Perhaps you’d like the flexibility of stand-alone as well as mobile survey devices… If your survey vendor is device independent then the hardware choices will follow your requirements and not the other way around!
Offline Data Capture: depending on your customer environment, you may or may not have Internet access. For this reason, finding a survey solution that can record survey data both offline as well as online is very important. Ideally, you want survey software that can do both without missing a beat!
Real-time Survey Data: now that you’re capturing your customer’s feedback while their opinions are fresh and spontaneous, why not respond to them in the same fashion! With customer survey software that has real-time data capabilities, you’ll be able to set up satisfaction alerts that can literally have your store manager’s phone ring as soon as a customer answers a survey that triggers a low-score alert – or whatever alert triggers you’ve built into your survey. You know what they say about an unhappy customer telling 10 of their friends! Now, you can have management intervene with customers before they have a chance to leave the lobby.
Automated Report Delivery: With your real-time survey data streaming in, the next step is to have your customized survey reports delivered on a continuous basis. Be sure to select a survey vendor with robust reporting capabilities. We’ve found our customers find great value in the ability to customize their reports and then save them as templates. These customized report templates can then be scheduled to be delivered throughout the organization at any interval of time and in any format – be it as an Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, PDF or web page format.
Article Published on - Monday, May 9th, 2011 at 11:51 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Thanks to Apple and the breakthrough of their iPad tablet computer (remember the Newton!), market researchers now have a plethora of device options available to meet their mobile research demands. At last count, there were over 85 different tablets in production – all trying to catch up with the demand awakened by the extreme success of the iPad. From a survey-geek’s perspective I’m ecstatic – not just because the iPad device offers so much (mobility, battery life, screen resolution, multimedia capture, application distribution platform, processing speed, installed base, etc.), but also because it has unleashed an army of engineers from other competing companies focused on trying to improve upon the iPad design. We all will benefit from this massive amount of energy currently focused on achieving the “best” tablet device.
Within our niche – real-time onsite customer feedback – the tablet PC (iPad included) is an ideal survey tool. Just thinking about the form factor alone, it enables us to use the same piece of hardware as mobile survey device for intercept surveying and as a stand along survey kiosk. At any time, we can unlock and remove the iPad from its iPad Kiosk enclosure (where it’s running off AC and in lock-down mode), and continue using the same device as a mobile intercept research tool. The same device; two radically different applications.
Article Published on - Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 8:12 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
So, you have been tasked to manage a customer satisfaction survey project. In addition, your company’s executives learned from their professional networking that a handheld survey device – loaded with handheld survey software – is likely to be the best way to conduct the survey. Congratulations! You’re in for an interesting and rewarding adventure.
But where do you begin, especially if you don’t know the first thing about customer satisfaction surveys? First, we recommend that you take some time to understand the basics of customer satisfaction surveys, in general, and handheld survey tools in particular. You will also want to familiarize yourself with mobile survey software– so that you ultimately select the best handheld survey options for your purposes. Without a working knowledge of customer satisfaction surveys and the tools used for gathering the data, you may needlessly expend limited resources and not get the results you want.
Know what questions to ask
As you search for the best handheld survey device and handheld survey software, here is a checklist of preliminary questions and issues for which you’ll want answers:
- What are the objectives of your survey; what are you trying to find out?
- Who is your target audience for the survey?
- What is the best way to contact and interact with your target audience?
- What is the budget allocation for the survey?
- Do you have authority to contract with an expert in customer feedback projects?
- Is there a specific result or outcome expected from the survey?
- What is your time frame for gathering the data and producing reports?
In the handheld survey device category, PDAs and the iTouch, iPad offer a number of advantages including:
- A touch screen so the device may be handed to patients, visitors or customers for their feedback entry
- Cordless and battery powered so it’s easy to handle and runs reliably for hours
- Generous storage – holds between 20,000 to 30,000 survey records
- Uploading of survey data in real-time or on a scheduled batch basis
- Easy loading and updating of handheld survey software updates
- Multimedia, including images, sound and videos may including in your survey questions and response scales to supplement and improve comprehension
- Multi-lingual capable
- Open-ended verbatim comments via voice recording or text input
- One-time capture of feedback so there’s no data re-entry – saving time and improving accuracy
- Skip patterns and branching logic
For more information about Opinionmeter and their impressive range of customer satisfaction survey products and services, please visit www.opinionmeter.com today.
Article Published on - Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 5:18 pm This post was written by Scott Evans
In this day and age, there aren’t many reasons for researchers to engage consumers with merely a clipboard and pen. This is an archaic modality to collect information from consumers regarding products or services, and it takes weeks for the information to be manually inputted. As consumers, we’ve been trained to know what they are for, and consequently we instinctually want to avoid them.
We have discovered that our customers (retailers, restaurants, hospitality and market research firms) are finding significant value in moving away from this modality, onto the mobile survey devices. The value of doing is enormous; here are some reasons why:
- Consumers Love It! Don’t underestimate the value of this; consumers would much rather engage a slick piece of technology versus a clipboard, for instance. It is highly likely you will see a quantifiable increase in your take rates.
- Real-Time: No longer do you have to “wait” for the information to be faxed/mailed to a central location, sheets given to temps to input data and then start your analysis. Devices have 4 different ways in which they can connect to the internet, and data is uploaded immediately.
- Program Management: I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a project in which edits weren’t being made to the survey questions all the way up to the actual day the project was going to start. This is extremely cumbersome with paper surveys, but it is a non-issue for mobile survey devices since our software communicates with the devices in real-time. Thus, you can be sitting at the comfort of your desk – pushing edits to it in real time – with the devices spread across the nation/world.
- Multiple Surveys: Rifling through papers to find the right survey is disruptive at best. However with mobile devices, there are no limits to the number of surveys that can be hosted on a device. So, just imagine you have a customer who would rather participate in his native language; well, he would simply select it from a multilingual menu on the device, and he’s off and running!
It is high time to discard this archaic mode of paper surveys. Embrace the technology of today by using mobile devices! Have you had a bad experience with paper surveys? If so, tell us about it in our comments.
Article Published on - Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 3:26 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
Over the past 15 years, Opinionmeter International has distributed thousands of customer satisfaction surveys through its wide-range of interactive survey devices. Here are some ‘tips & tricks’ we’ve learned over the years.
• Placement – When using an unattended survey system, such as a Survey Kiosk or counter mounted touch screen tablet, it’s important to carefully consider the optimum placement of the device. You’ll need to consider the transaction or service flow of your lobby environment and at what point in the flow you wish to capture feedback. Do you want to capture spontaneous feedback at the Point-of-Sale, or after the transaction or service? What are the objectives of your survey? Perhaps a table-mounted Opinionmeter adjacent the cashier can take advantage of the customer’s wait-time during checked-out and capture a short, spontaneous survey on their shopping experience. Or perhaps you may want to place the a Survey Kiosk by the exit or discharge area in a healthcare setting, for exit surveys. If on the other hand you wish to gather pre-visit data relating to the overall experience from repeat visitors, place the device in the waiting area or adjacent the queue line and take advantage of your customer’s waiting time.
• Signage – Along with the placement, signage can significantly help draw attention to the unattended survey device. Signage can also be used to effectively communicate the importance of the data being collected, along with any incentives being offered, if any. Another great use of signage is to communicate to the customer the changes that are being implemented based on previous survey’s feedback. This creates a strong sense of ownership and participation on the part of your customers and results in higher customer loyalty. Signage doesn’t need to be static! With Opinionmeter’s digital signage feature, you can run a sequence of videos or images during idle-time between surveys to communicate your messaging.
• Staff Involvement – The single most powerful driver of response rates is staff involvement. At the conclusion of the visit, if staff ask the customer to provide a “minute of their time to give us their feedback” – a high percentage of customers will do so. It’s also important that staff be educated about the purpose of the survey so they don’t feel intimidated by the data being collected (e.g. that they’re being judged negatively by the customer’s responses). If employees are not engaged in the process, they are likely to view it with suspicion or cynicism. This can lead to lack of motivation and in some cases even attempts to manipulate the customer survey.
• Survey Length – The shorter the survey the more likely you will have a higher response rate. This is always a challenge, balancing the need to ask the required questions to achieve your survey objective, yet keeping the length of the questionnaire appropriate to the environment in which you are soliciting feedback. This is especially the case in highly-trafficked areas. For example, if you are capturing feedback after a customer’s visit, or have a kiosk adjacent a queue line, the questionnaire should be quite short. On the other hand, if your customers are waiting for services, a longer survey instrument may be appropriate.
• Using Incentives – There are many ways to use incentives to encourage survey participation and increase response rates. In fact, Opinionmeter provides several incentive options within the SurveyManager software (Winning number and Winning Quiz). In many cases simply explaining why you’re conducting the survey and the value of their participation, provide far more benefit than an incentive. If you plan to use an incentive, you should test the incentive to see if it results in a higher participation rate without sacrificing quality of the data. On the other hand, the more complex and taxing you make the survey (“survey friction”) the more likely you’ll need to incent your customers to participate.
• Feedback resulting in Action – It’s critical, especially in environments where you have repeat customers, to inform them of the actions being implemented based on previous customer feedback they have provided. This can be done through simple signage placed at the survey station, even on the introductory screen of the survey itself or through a company newsletter, website, etc. Customers need to know their feedback is not only being recorded, but is resulting in actions taken to implement change. Customers are imbued with a sense of ownership when they are included in the feedback-loop process: Feedback -> Discovery -> Change -> Re-Evaluate. By including the customer in this process it communicates a very strong message: “We’ve heard your concerns, we’ve understood your opinions and now we’re going to act.” This is an excellent method for building customer loyalty.
Article Published on - Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 6:52 pm This post was written by Morgan Strickland
A great deal of attention has been paid to the importance of the customer feedback loop process – it goes something like this: gather continuous customer feedback, forward data to employees in real-time, analyze the data for the underlying root causes, identify areas in need of improvement, implement change, continue listening!
Although the continuous improvement process is well understood, and the value of real-time data is appreciated, not enough attention has been paid to the importance of how the process itself begins: when and where the customer feedback is gathered. No matter how sophisticated your feedback process, your conclusions and change implementation will be handicapped by the quality and freshness of the incoming customer feedback. I would argue the most important step in the feedback look is how the process begins.
Capturing real-time customer feedback as close as possible to the time and place the customer experiences your business is critical to ensure fresh, spontaneous and accurate feedback data. We at Opinionmeter refer to this as the Point-of-Experience (POE): the time and place of the customer forms a purchase decision or experiences your business’s products and services. The goal is to get as close as possible to the POE when soliciting customer experience feedback regardless of the touch point – be it on the shelf, at the cashier, online or in the waiting room, feedback can be solicited using a variety data collection tools. All these touch points should be capturing continuous, real-time feedback creating a rich stream of input to initiate the feedback process.
In addition to ensuring quality input into your feedback process, when you have a spontaneous real-time POE data stream directly from all touch points across your enterprise, you then have an extremely rich conduit directly to the customer: Voice of the Customer from the POE!
Article Published on - Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm This post was written by Kara Wannamaker
We’re thrilled to be introducing the “Opinionmeter Blog” where we hope to create a forum for discussion and insight into everything having to do with customer feedback research and methodologies. We hope you will check in from time to time and contribute to the discussions as well as keep up to date with the latest musings from Opinionmeter contributors. We encourage you to participate and provide us with your input, insight and feedback!
Let us begin at the beginning: the genesis of Opinionmeter dates back nearly 40 years when Bob Strickland needed to collect consumer market research data for his MBA thesis paper. He asked himself a simple question: How can I automate the collection of all this consumer data I need to gather? In that moment, the Opinionmeter concept was born.
Let’s fast forward to the early 1990’s when Bob’s son, Morgan Strickland, built upon his father’s invention to start a business and transformed the company into what is known today as Opinionmeter International.
Throughout these years, Opinionmeter has evolved from capturing offline feedback using a programmable calculator (HP48) to the introduction of remote programming (via a dialup modem) for survey creation and real-time reports. From here, there was the decoupling of the software/hardware – pulling the software into the cloud and engaging 3rd party hardware solutions. And finally arriving where we are today – using the hardware clipped to an increasing number of hips – most recently, the Smart Phone. Opinionmeter technology now runs on a wide and every growing range of device types – from mobile phone to PDA to tablet to kiosk, as well as paper and online survey distribution. Opinionmeter’s approach is author once, distribute anywhere.
In this spirit of iterating our way into whom we are today by utilizing emerging technologies, we will be monitoring adjunct industries/technologies and will be discussing how they may impact our industry with our readers as well.
Samplings of these are: The smart phone market, social networks, tablet computer; Industries such as Healthcare, Retailers, Municipalities; and segments such as Consumer Insight, Patient Feedback, Market Research, and many more.
Please join us in this conversation and give us your own insights. We look forward to conversing with you!
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