As Pew Research Center has documented, consumer insights research needs to be mobile to reach the representative slices of the public that successful market research requires. But there's a deeper layer of understanding insights professionals must master to get mobile right. Here are some tips as you explore mobile research solutions: 

• Understand why “mobile research” is not a generic term.

• Learn the key differences between the two kinds of mobile – “mobile optimized” (also called “mobile web”) and mobile-app.

• Be aware that “mobile optimized” research is traditional online research conducted on smaller devices. It’s a new vehicle for the same old online research environment.

• Consider data that shows consumers' overwhelming preference for the mobile-app environment over the mobile-web environment.  

• eMarketer reports that U.S. adult smartphone owners’ average daily mobile app usage exceeded mobile web usage by a ratio of 5.6 to 1 in 2017 – 145 minutes for apps, and 26 minutes for mobile web.

• This year, the gap is predicted to grow to 6 to 1 as time spent rises 6.9% for apps while staying level for mobile web.

The decisive takeaway is that when you’re talking about consumers inhabiting a mobile environment, you’re actually talking about people living in the mobile-app environment. Asking them to take surveys via the mobile web is tantamount to not using mobile at all.  

To dig deeper into the differences between mobile-app research and mobile-web/mobile optimized research, check out this blog post, “Mobile 101: Why Native App Technology Beats `Mobile’ Optimized.” Or you can set up a one-on-one demo to explore the whole story about how MFour’s mobile-app solutions can meet your own specific research needs. Just click here.

Consumer insights professionals need to understand today’s consumers in their natural environments, and by now they know that means reaching them on mobile.

Recent readership statistics reported by the Assn. of Magazine Media affirm just how big and necessary the mobile ecosystem has become for anyone who needs to engage consumers. The study shows that mobile devices continue to achieve separation from desktops and laptops as U.S. consumers’ choice for magazine content.  

• The association's Brand Audience Report for March says that 32.2% of the month’s 553.6 million magazine readers arrived via mobile, up 8.5% year over year.

• Only 11.6% of magazine site visits occurred on PCs, down 8.9% from March, 2017.

The report also shows that, of the five most-read publications, three received their greatest audience share from mobile. And all five attracted far more readers on mobile than they did on PCs. Here are the comparisons:

• WebMD Magazine: 59.1% of 60.8 million March readers were mobile; 21% arrived via PC.

• Allrecipes: 60.7% of 46.2 million readers were mobile; 19.9% PC.

• ESPN the Magazine: 43.7% of 96.5 million readers were mobile, 25.7% PC.

• People: 36.8% of 78 million readers were mobile; 8% used PCs.

• AARP magazine: 14% of 49.4 million readers were mobile; 7.9% used PCs.

In fact, of the 116 titles for which the Assn. of Media Magazines provided comparisons, only five attracted more readers on PCs than on mobile: Automobile, Car Craft, Flying, Hot Rod and Street Rodder.  Prestigious titles in which mobile access dominated over PCs include The Atlantic, Car and Driver, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Fortune, GQ, Money, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Smithsonian, Time, and Vogue.

Print readership + subscriptions to digital editions of print publications retain an overall lead, according to the study, at 51.3% of total magazine readership. However, that category continues to drop, with a 1.7% year-over-year decline compared to mobile readership's 8.5% rise. This suggests that established mag readers and, perhaps most important, new readers, are turning to mobile.

The key takeaway for market research and marketing is that following mobile consumers into their natural environment is crucial to growth for virtually any business. Which is exactly what MFour has been urging since 2011, when it pioneered mobile market research by introducing Surveys On The Go^® as the nation’s first all-mobile research app.

For insights professionals who are ready to dive into mobile, these are the questions that need fast, authoritative answers: 

• What are the best practices in mobile market research? 

• What are the most advanced capabilities for obtaining the most relevant, accurate and insights-rich data?

• What sample quality and representation should I expect?

• In going mobile, does gaining access to consumers mean having to dumb down my research and sacrifice data quality?

You can get all these answers and more by setting up a one-on-one demo that will focus on meeting your projects' specific needs with proprietary, mobile-only research products such as Path-2-Purchase™ Platform and MFourDIY^®. Just get in touch by clicking here.

To know it is to love it. MFour Mobile Research’s new MFourDIY, that is. We invite all market research professionals to see for themselves. Sign up for our webinar series on how to use the industry’s first and only all-mobile, do-it-yourself survey-building platform. Next up: Mobile Panel 101: “Reaching Millennials and Other Elusive Demographics,” Tuesday, May 10 at noon, Pacific.

Here are all the currently-scheduled webinars and their topics:

Mobile Panel 101
Reaching Millennials and Other Elusive Demographics
Tuesday, May 10, noon, Pacific
Click here to register

MFourDIY: Getting Started
Wednesday, May 18, 11 a.m. Pacific
Click here to register

Getting Responses from "Non-Buyers"
Creating an After-Visit Survey
Tuesday, May 24, 12 noon, Pacific
Click here to register