Are Big Data and survey-based research destined to be enemies? Michael Smith, MFour’s Chief Product Officer and Director of Panel, doesn’t think so. That’s why he’ll be delivering a presentation at this week’s Big Data Summit in San Francisco that lays out how Big Data and consumer surveys can be allies. Michael will be talking about how to bring them together in a “both-and” partnership between numbers and people, instead of thinking in reductive “either-or” terms. If you’re going to the conference, Michael’s presentation is Thursday, April 20, at 2:30 p.m. And if you’re not, here’s a quick rundown of key points.

How Big Is Big Data?

• Humanity has been compiling information at least since the dawn of writing some 5,000 years ago
• And because of Big Data, 90% of that information has been recorded in the past two years

What Big Data Does

• Collects vast amounts of consumer information from multiple inputs
• Uses data-based assumptions to model consumer behavior

And Doesn’t Do

• Can’t give you the human dimension – the “who” and “why” behind the “what”
• Thoughts, feelings and motivations require answers from real people

Finding the People Inside the Numbers: Follow the Mobile Footprint

• Each mobile device has a unique code, known as an Advertising ID
• Advertisers get the code for each phone that receives an ad
• To unlock the human dimension, match Ad IDs to real, live mobile panel members 

What’s Next? Getting To Know Them

• Are your mobile ad recipients really the audience you paid to reach?
• Use aggregated mobile panelists’ demographic profiles to get the answer
• Survey matched ad recipients to go beyond Big Data – ask "how" and "why"

The Name of the Game: Consumer Insights

• Identify actual mobile ad recipients, sorted by age, income, ethnicity and more
• Identify actual app users, then survey them for insights
• See how they use your app and experience your brand – or a competitor’s
• Get reliable ad metrics – effectiveness, content evaluation and lift

Now that you’ve seen how Big Data and survey insights can be happily married, it’s time to explore how the combination will work for you. Just contact us at sales@mfour.com.

When does a consumer research provider not have to lift a finger to recruit qualified, validated survey-takers?

When its survey technology and commitment to giving panel members the best experience possible generate so much natural, unsolicited word of mouth that consumers line up to participate in its clients' studies.

MFour’s latest unsolicited recognition comes from the financial news website FX Daily Report, which singles out our Surveys on the Go® all-mobile research app as one of the “10 Best Mobile Apps To Make Real Money on Android.”

The article aims to save consumers time and frustration by guiding them to the best app experiences that carry monetary rewards. Its recommendation describes SOTG as “a good survey application you can use to earn extra money for your opinion on products.” Significantly, the article notes that panelists provide demographic data when they download the app. This is a crucial targeting advantage for consumer insights professionals, because the detailed demographic profiles already on hand allow you to find and survey the panelists most likely to qualify, saving you time and expense. SOTG's active panel of more than one million members is the nation's biggest all-mobile research panel, stretching across all demographic groups researchers need for valid data and reliable insights.

We’re honored to make FX Daily Report's list. But what thrills us most is the unsolicited ratings and reviews we get from SOTG members who leave their comments at the App Store and Google Play. In both stores, Surveys on the Go® consistently commands user ratings of 4.5 stars out of 5, and it is rarely out of the Top 100 Lifestyle apps on Google Play. The ratings aren’t just for show. When consumers enjoy great experiences on their phones, they become engaged. And an engaged panel is the indispensable fulcrum on which market research turns.

A recent comment by panelist Tashee Paul sums it up: “The surveys are real, the payout is real….I did surveys online [and] did not receive money. This app [I] received money first time I used it.”

Thanks to all our panelists, and to all members of the business media and the insights community who recognize the significance of app-based, advanced mobile research.  For more on how Surveys on the Go® can work for you, contact sales@mfour.com to set up a demonstration.

One way to think about Big Data is to think about a day at the races – not the Marx Brothers movie, but a real racetrack where real horses run.

Every track has its regular bettors, and the ones who regularly win are the ones who are motivated and patient enough to take a Big Data approach writ small. What are the horses’ records? What were their recent times? Ditto for the jockeys. What do the data say about how weather and track conditions affect each horse and rider? Handicappers who can systematically crunch those multiple data streams will have the best chance of beating the odds.

The horse race for the consumer dollar isn’t all that different. Big Data, when properly sorted and analyzed, gives business decision-makers all the relevant information about past performance they could ask for. Next they try to draw correct inferences about the future – what bets to place next on products and packaging, price discounts or brand messaging.

But, turning back to the racetrack, think of what those data-rich bettors could accomplish if they could talk to the horses. They’d get unique insights into the next race that would make a winning bet much more likely than one based on past performance data alone.

Luckily for business decision-makers and insights professionals, you can talk to consumers if you know how to speak their language and approach the right ones at the right place and time. Survey data from well-designed mobile studies gives you testimony from the horse’s mouth about what consumers are thinking, feeling and planning to do today and tomorrow, and why they want to do it. They’ll let you know how their past experiences inform their present thinking.

There’s a lot to know about how to choose the best solutions for obtaining the “who,” “why,” and “how” to go with Big Data’s “what” and “when.” Michael Smith, MFour’s Chief Product Officer and Director of Panel, will explain how to do it in a presentation at this week’s Big Data Summit in San Francisco. Michael will be speaking Thursday, April 20 at 2:30 p.m. on how to combine Big Data with demographics and survey data from real mobile consumers. He'll give a rundown on  how to match the Big Data brands and advertisers have amassed to an engaged, representative panel of validated individuals whose profiles and opinions can be accessed on the smartphones that are today’s essential information and communications tools.

With its quality all-mobile panel, innovative, app-based research technology and consistency of service and outcomes, MFour has the horses. Contact us at sales@mfour.com and we’ll talk about how to get you saddled up and on track to bring home the insights you need.

Here's your Friday roundup of 3 items from the MFour blog to keep you up to speed on mobile.

• Mobile Ad Measurement 101 – the Power of Device IDs 

• Mobile Ad Measurement's Too Important for Half-Measures

• MFour's Growth Surge Attracts $5 Million in New Funding

And here's a Friday Tune to help you parade into your weekend.

There’s no question that companies and brands are all-in with mobile advertising. But questions abound as to whether they’re getting their money’s worth for the billions they’re spending. Are they reaching the right consumers? Are ad recipients even aware of the commercial messages that appear on their screens? How effective are mobile ads in provoking interest in products and instilling an intent to buy?

The stakes surrounding these questions are incredibly high. Mobile ads accounted for 84% of Facebook’s  global revenues in 2016. For Google it was 59.5%, and 90% for Twitter. Advertisers know where they have to be. But so far, they don’t have a clear read on what all that spending accomplishes.

Many would-be solutions call for inferring mobile ads’ effectiveness by aggregating data that quantifies ad impressions and correlates them to sales lift. That’s important to provide a framework for understanding the “what” of ads’ correlations to consumer behavior -- but not the “who” or “why.” The real keys to unlocking the insights you need are the unique mobile Ad IDs that identify each device that receives a particular ad. Here's how the process works:

• When a smartphone or tablet receives an ad, the device’s Ad ID automatically is collected by the publisher, advertising agency or advertiser.

• Once you’ve obtained the Ad IDs for your campaign, you can match them against known recipients to see if those recipients fit the consumer profiles you’re trying to reach. .

• By partnering with MFour, you’ll match your AD IDs against more than one million active panelists who use the Surveys on the Go® research app. Now you’re ready to get insights about who those validated recipients are, and how they experienced your ads.

You now have two very useful options, each relevant to a specific need:

• Knowing your audience: Collect detailed, validated aggregate demographic data on these known recipients, which MFour collects from all panel members when they join. Do most of your mobile ad recipients fit the profile you’re paying to reach?

• See whether your ads are working: Survey these known and validated ad recipients to obtain insights into advertising awareness and recall, creative content, and to measure advertising lift.

• Did the campaign pay off? Follow up with respondents who report an intent to purchase with a subsequent survey to determine whether they actually shopped and bought. MFour experiences an 85% average response rate for follow-up surveys fielded within two weeks of the initial interview.

Do you agree that mobile ad measurement is a huge conundrum? Do Ad IDs sound like a way to find clarity? Let’s have a conversation about it. Please get in touch at sales@mfour.com.

It’s important for advertisers, marketers and research professionals to understand the mobile device IDs commonly known as Advertising IDs – what they are and why they’re uniquely powerful tools for obtaining trustworthy data and insights amid the rapid changes brought about by the explosion in mobile advertising. But when it comes to measuring mobile ads, confusion abounds. Mobile Ad IDs let you cut through the fog that has called metrics for mobile ads into question. Here are the key steps to clarity:

• Match your mobile Ad IDs to find validated recipients on the nation’s only all-mobile panel.

• Obtain complex key demographic characteristics of known ad recipients. Use to audit correct placement of your mobile ads or to detect fraud.

• Precisely target surveys to your known ad recipients to evaluate content and measure lift.

The key that opens the door to these insights and new research opportunities is the unique ID code attached to each smartphone. On iOS devices it’s called an Identifier for Advertising (IDFA) and on Android it’s the Google Advertising ID (GAID). Advertisers can collect these codes after an ad has reached a phone, then match the codes with phones used by members of MFour’s fully-representative, million-member active panel. You can opt for aggregate demographic information to see whether these validated ad recipients are in fact the audience you’re paying to reach. Then you can take your research a step further by surveying known ad recipients for fast, intelligible, and trustworthy insights into how your mobile campaign is performing. For more details on how Ad IDs can power pinpoint research, please contact sales@mfour.com.

MFour Mobile Research has partnered with Kayne NewRoad Ventures Fund for $5 million in new investment that will rapidly accelerate the mobile technology and consumer research company’s fast-paced expansion.  

The Insights technology leader will increase its 1 million-strong panel, launch mobile ad measurement products and expand mobile DIY capabilities in Q2. The funding comes after record 2016 growth that saw MFour add 88 new clients, including more than 20 Fortune 500 companies.

 “We’re just getting started,” said Chris St. Hilaire, MFour’s co-founder and chief executive.  “Market research needs to realize that you can’t field representative surveys with online panel anymore. Mobile is the future, and researchers need to get on board or find a new profession.”

The $5 million in funding will be used to scale technology and research staff, with more than $2 million dedicated to marketing the industry’s only all-mobile, do-it-yourself (DIY) survey platform. MFourDIY® gives consumer insights professionals the opportunity to design, field and analyze their own surveys. With mobile DIY, users can locate shoppers and send them push notifications at the moment they’re making their buying decisions.

MFour will use the remainder of the investment to expand internationally and scale its staff by adding to its Labs & Engineering, Operations and Sales departments. The team will number more than 100 employees by the end of Q2, 2017, double its staffing strength from Q2, 2016.

Kayne NewRoad Ventures Fund backs rising companies with proven growth models and experienced leadership, especially in the technology area. 

To paraphrase Barbra Streisand, people who know people are the luckiest people in the world.

But what about people – let’s call them consumer insights professionals, advertisers and marketers -- who are drowning in numbers that tell them about people, but don’t give them the direct human interactions they need to really know people?

Big Data consists of numbers about people. It automatically tracks digital footprints that can reveal purchasing behavior and visits to retail sites. Insights gained from Big Data are inferences drawn from circumstantial evidence.

Advanced, survey-based mobile research is different, but harmonizes well with Big Data. It gives you direct evidence – the testimony you need to hear from real consumers in the Smartphone Era. This is how you can really know them: targeting them by demographic niche or observed behaviors, and then having a direct conversation about their  feelings, preferences and motivations. Just as in courts of justice, direct testimony from advanced mobile surveys and circumstantial evidence from Big Data go hand-in-hand.

Now there’s a numerical code that gives you a powerful new way to unlock the human side of that equation. It’s called the Advertising ID – and each mobile user has one attached to his or her phone or tablet. Acquire that number, and you can reach the real person who uses that phone.

In the next few days we’ll be telling you more about how Ad IDs are your conduits for getting to know consumers who are part of the massive digital majority that uses mobile apps and receives mobile ads. Once you master Ad IDs, we think you’ll feel like the luckiest consumer insights people in the world. So stay tuned.

Here's your Friday roundup of 3 items from the MFour blog to keep you up to speed on mobile as you head into the weekend.

If You Believe in “Mobile Optimized” You’ve Been Sadly Myth-led

Deep-Diving with Mobile Research

Are Mobile Panelists Distracted? Truth vs. Fiction.

And here's a Friday tune to get you bopping into a mythic weekend.

Your attention, please. Oh, never mind – we just remembered that today’s public can’t pay attention to anything at all. If a much-publicized Microsoft study has it right, the average human attention span is 8.25 seconds and you’ve already moved on to the next thing.

Millennials bear the brunt of lamentations about collapsing attention spans. They’re regularly accused of leading the charge to distractedness thumbs-first, with impulsive, non-stop swiping on their smartphone screens. Microsoft reported that “77% of people aged 18 to 24 responded `yes’ when asked `When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone.’”

But is using a smartphone an intrinsically attention-killing activity? Believing this plays into a common myth about mobile research – that anything to do with a smartphone diminishes our concentration and makes phones unreliable and undesirable for obtaining quality consumer data. You need to pause for a moment in the face of this myth and consult your own common sense and personal experience with smartphones. It will tell you that you can and do pay close attention to what’s on your phone – if and when that content is relevant and engaging.

And well-designed, intelligently fielded mobile surveys will accomplish exactly that – ask consumers about experiences and preferences that are deeply relevant, and keep them engaged by making survey-taking exactly the kind of fast, smooth in-app smartphone experience they relish. Having fielded hundreds of in-app mobile surveys with LOI of 20 minutes or more, we can assure you that they routinely enjoy completion rates of 90%, with a drop-off rate of no more than 6.5%. To find out how you can capture consumers’ attention by using advanced mobile, please get in touch at sales@mfour.com. We promise the kind of attentive and informative exchange you deserve.