Smartphones put the world at shoppers’ fingertips. And understanding how those fingertips are tapping on mobile apps is a new goldmine for insights.
For example, if your research project focuses on finance, knowing who’s got a banking app lets you make a beeline to the exact banking customers you need to know. The same goes for finding survey respondents for studies of quick-serve restaurants. In that case, whoever has an app for a QSR brand is someone worth knowing. What if you need to talk to sports fans about buying team jerseys, or about what they like to eat and drink at viewing parties? Getting in touch with users of league apps or sports channel apps would be a great place to start.
Mobile app-tracking makes it all possible by giving you a fast, efficient, cost-effective and unerring way to target survey panelists. In one project, a researcher wanted to know how willing Panera Bread customers would be to pay $3 for delivery service. Here are some information points to show what app tracking meant for that study, and other potential uses.
- Mobile App Tracking efficiency achieved a 100% incidence rate for targeting Panera app users – not surprising, since targeting respondents by the known apps currently on their phones is a sure thing.
- App tracking removed the problem of relying solely on respondents’ stated assurances that they buy from Panera. Having the app is a strong validation point.
- Target consumers who use more than one app in a category – for example, both Panera and Subway, or Walmart and Target, for competitive insights and a broader understanding of how these consumers decide which app to use when confronted with a particular shopping objective.
- Target an app’s users to learn about satisfaction with the app itself, and how well it’s driving revenues. Does the app need to be more user-friendly?
- Find exactly who you need to talk to in satisfaction studies – products, brands, and shopping experiences.
- Study non-buyers by starting with consumers who have a competitor's app, but not yours.
- Get broad insights into a consumer segment: for example, to understand readers, target panelists who have the Kindle app. To understand travelers, home in on people who have hotel or car rental apps.
While Mobile App Tracking works directly on Android devices, panelists with iOS devices can also be tracked down by their apps with an uncomplicated alternate targeting approach. There’s a lot more to say about mobile app tracking, given its immense versatility as a door-opener for sophisticated research. To have that forward-looking conversation as it relates to your specific projects, just get in touch by clicking here.
And for a quick, entertaining video overview of mobile research, click here.