MFour Mobile Research is pleased to have added Daniel Baker to its operations team as a Project Manager.

Baker previously was a product analyst for two divisions of the Walt Disney Co., Disney Interactive and Disney Consumer Products. His work there on Disney Infinity video games and Playmation toys gives him a close acquaintance with Mickey Mouse, the Incredible Hulk and many other illustrious personages. Daniel arrives with an academic background in computer science at Orange Coast College.

By Chris St. Hilaire, cofounder and CEO of MFour Mobile Research, Inc.

The window is closing on consumer surveys fielded online to personal computers, but a new era for market research is opening wide on smartphones.

The evidence is in the numbers for anyone in the industry who’s willing to see.

• As of late 2014, 15% of Americans 18-29 had cut the PC cord entirely and were “heavily dependent” on mobile alone for Internet access.
• Ownership of laptop or desktop computers is slumping, from 80% of U.S. adults in 2012 to 73% in 2015 – the lowest market saturation for PCs since before the Great Recession.

If these statistics compiled by the Pew Research Center don’t convince you that the PC’s sun is setting, how about Intel’s recent announcement that it’s de-emphasizing the memory chips for PCs that made it a corporate giant? The company that literally knows PCs from the inside realizes that the future lies elsewhere – with mobile devices and the cloud, not laptops and desktops.

Intel announced its shift on April 19, a day after my company debuted MFourDIY, the nation’s first do-it yourself survey platform designed strictly for smartphones.

Mobile DIY will usher many more researchers into mobile by making it fast, easy and cost effective to create sophisticated mobile surveys with the simple-to-use tools now available. Adopters will harness the vast capabilities of smartphones as transmitters of survey data that’s instant and reliable. In a nutshell, 2016 is a 1776 moment for this industry – a revolutionary moment that marks the democratization of mobile market research.

The American Revolution unshackled a new country from an outmoded form of government. The mobile revolution will unshackle market research from the demographic and technological constraints of the outmoded online studies that are choking off access to fast, accurate and representative data. Taxation without representation was wrong in the 1770s. Claiming today that online market research data is representative and accurate when it can’t reach vital, rising consumer demographics such as Hispanics and the Millennials who practically live on their smartphones – that’ not only wrong, but a deluded blueprint for failure.

MFour’s sole business since 2011 has been developing a self-contained all-mobile strategy. That has meant addressing both ends of the research equation: creating survey software that taps into the vast computing power and multimedia capacities of today’s smartphones, and developing a demographically diverse panel whose members stay engaged because display and performance are tailored to the devices that have become a fifth appendage.

An all-mobile approach that uses the best technology and best practices can revitalize the survey-fielding process at every step, from panel recruitment to data return.

Recruitment becomes fast and efficient. With all-mobile, panelists get a “push” alert – a text message that there’s a survey to take. This solves an inherent problem of  online surveys’ standard email notification – they’re very easy to miss or ignore. For recruiting Millennials, who opt for texting over email, the gap in effectiveness between texted pushes and email notifications becomes even greater.

A common misconception about mobile surveys is that they’re easily dropped when the respondent can’t get a good enough signal to speed the survey along, or can’t access WiFi.

With state-of-the-art mobile research there’s no such issue. Panelists sign up for surveys by downloading a “native” app that loads the entire sequence of questions instantly into their phones – including pictures and audio/video content. This allows respondents to answer while they are off-line – no signal or WiFi needed, and no frustration from slow loading or dropped Internet connections that can turn non-native mobile survey-taking into frustration. With a native app there’s also no longer a need to restrict LOI to five minutes on mobile because of connection issues.

Submitting the completed survey is also instantaneous; less advanced mobile technologies require a separate, one-at-a-time online interchange and load-in for each question and answer.  Again, that leaves the lesser mobile approaches vulnerable to poor signal quality leading to slowness, frustration, and drops short of completion. But remember -- this is not where mobile’s capability is really at.

Mobile  also puts smartphones’ geolocation and multimedia features at a researcher’s disposal. First pinpoint panel members at locations that are relevant to a study, such as a retail chain store or a cinema. Then field a survey on the spot, or soon after respondents have left. The result is vivid, quick responses, generating data that won’t be skewed by faulty recall.

Multimedia components in mobile surveys dovetail with smartphone users’ delight in their devices’ cameras and audio-video recording and playback functions. They’re perfectly willing to receive questions based on pictures or clips sent to their phones with survey questions  – or to create and submit their own multimedia content to enhance an answer.

\To sum up, all-mobile surveys give market research a new, two-way street to success. For respondents the experience is easier, more flexible, more engaging. For researchers, mobile drives faster, more efficient access to more reliable data, and opens new avenues into consumers’ in-the-moment thoughts and emotions.

This is how the world is moving. It’s movement in a direction that could revitalize market research -- if only market research would move with it.

This commentary first appeared in RW Connect.

When it comes to market research, the all-mobile approach lets you have your cake and eat it, too.

We’re sharing the very best recipe for success in our weekly webinars, introducing the research community to MFourDIY, the industry’s first and only all-mobile, do-it-yourself survey-building platform. Next up: "MFourDIY: Getting Started," Wednesday, May 18 at 11 a.m., Pacific.

The cake is speedy data acquisition, which makes your work timely and cost-effective. The eating is in the quality of the data, which determines whether your research will yield accurate insights that can lead to tangible payoffs in the marketplace.

Here's just one fact  to consider: your surveys will be received, completed and submitted by our million-member active panel, with the whole process carried out strictly on the respondents’ smartphones. We pair this diverse, engaged group with software and app design that’s beyond anything else in the mobile field. As a result, you can expect a 50% response rate within 24 hours.

Sign up for a webinar and get all the facts. Once you do, we think you'll want to roll over your research to MFourDIY.

Here’s what's scheduled:

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

MFourDIY: Getting Started      

Wednesday, June 1, 12 noon, Pacific                                                                              

Click here to register

You can connect instantly with 175,000 Netflix watchers -- just choose MFour Mobile Research's App Tracker feature. It's the fastest, most precise , most efficient way to find just the respondents you need, based on the apps they use.

Our tracker identifies all the apps that members of MFour’s million-member, all-mobile active panel have downloaded to Android smartphones. Passive tracking automatically identifies and verifies the apps they use. In the case of Netflix, 175,000 people on the Android half of our panel have it on their phones.  

We’ll direct your survey to them – or to any other app-specific group you'd like to reach. 

Besides asking Netflix watchers about what they're watching, MFour lets you watch them. Using  our multimedia capability, you can ask respondents to create video clips to enhance their answers -- for instance, telling you in their own spoken words what they think of Netflix. You also can include multimedia elements to go with your survey questions. 

Contact us now, and get started using the App Tracker to find exactly the respondents you need.

Market research professionals probably can’t identify with the old saying that “information wants to be free.” They know that good data doesn't  come cheap, let alone free. 

Nevertheless, unlimited free information is here, courtesy of MFourDIY, the first all-mobile, do-it-yourself survey-building platform. But only for another week.

Through May 18, MFour, the pioneering leader in all-mobile research, will double for free any amount researchers care to put in to launch an MFourDIY account. There's no minimum, and no upper limit. Put in $1,000 and you’ll get $2,000 worth of research. $20,000 gets you $40,000 – and so on.

Once you’ve signed on and funded your account, you can field as many surveys as you want, taking as long as you want, until your initial budget -- your funds plus our dollar-for-dollar match -- is used up (scroll down for more). 

We could go on and on talking about MFourDIY’s virtues – how it’s fast, cost-effective (even without special offers) and easy to use, yet gives you a new research tool that’s sophisticated and versatile. Unrivaled, in fact, when it comes to reaching elusive, smartphone-oriented consumer demographics such as Millennials, Hispanics and African Americans, and in letting you field geo-located surveys to panelists verified to be where your research needs them to be.

Even apart from our special offer, it’s always free to open an account that lets you test-drive MFourDIY and see how it works before you decide to field an actual survey. Once you’ve had a look, we think you’ll want to take this unique vehicle out on the research road for real, and field surveys to our diverse, all-mobile active panel of more than a million members.

The insights you’ll get from them are worth the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And through May 18 we’ll take you twice as far at no extra cost. Click here to find out how.

Aw, shucks. We’re absolutely touched by this loving endorsement sent in today by one of the million Americans who make up our superb Surveys on the Go® panel. You made our day!

Check it out below:

[video width="144" height="192" mp4="http://mfour.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Panelist-video.mp4"][/video]

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

A new equation in research: app-tracking + GeoValidation® = unprecedented data

Targeting the right respondents is crucial to getting good research data, so MFour Mobile Research has developed a new pipeline to push surveys to consumers based on the smartphone apps they use. Hoteliers, for example, can find out what people who’ve downloaded their chain’s reservation app liked or didn’t like about their most recent stay -- from broad impressions to the most detailed particulars about check-ins, minibars and bellhops. Or they can eavesdrop on what a competitor’s app-using customers say about its own amenities and services.

The value of surveying app-users about their consumer experiences extends across all business sectors. MFour’s leadership position as the first and only all-mobile research company means it can infuse app-targeting surveys with even greater capabilities. We power all of our clients’ projects with the most advanced mobile-survey technology. With us, they can leverage the nation’s most effective survey panel – the million-member active panel that uses MFour’s own signature smartphone app, the 4.5-star rated Surveys on the Go.® You get fast, reliable results that fully include typically hard-to-reach demographics such as Hispanics and Millennials.

The app tracker accesses the 50% of our panel that uses Android devices. Knowing the apps they have, we can lead you to a rich, new vein of fast, reliable data. Rather than asking panel members which apps they use, MFour’s app-targeting is based on passive tracking that automatically identifies and verifies the apps they’ve downloaded. This tool becomes even more powerful when combined with another proprietary feature, the GPS-enabled respondent-locator we call GeoValidation®.

GeoValidation® certifies when panelists have arrived at a given retail outlet or other location that’s relevant to your survey. You can then field a survey to be completed on the spot, before respondents have finished shopping, or shortly after they’ve left, while the experience is fresh in mind. So a market researcher seeking insights about a hotel-chain’s customers (or its competitors’ customers) doesn’t have to ask hotel-app users to recall their most recent stay, which may have happened months ago. Pairing app-tracking with GeoValidation,® this study would proceed from a sure understanding that its subjects were current guests, or travelers who had just checked out. To call the resulting data “premium” would be a serious understatement.

Find out how in 30 minute webinars introducing game-changing MFourDIY 

Need Millennials -- and fast? Invest 30 minutes to find out how to fill all your quotas in one day. Sign up now for weekly half-hour how-to webinars on MFourDIY, the unprecedented new do-it-yourself survey-building/all-mobile panel platform from MFour Mobile Research.

Mobile Panel 101: Tuesday, May 10, noon Pacific
Reaching Millennials and Other Elusive Demographics

To register for May 10: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/9141654506830765570

The "Getting Started" overview/introductions take place every other week. In between we spotlight specific features of MFourDIY – what they do, and how to use them.

MFourDIY: Getting Started: May 4, 9 a.m. Pacific & May 18 11 a.m. Pacific

To register for May 4:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/9141654506830765570

To register for May 18: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3516797111734130436

How awesome would it be if you, the market researcher, could get answers from hundreds of shoppers at the exact moment they’re standing in the exact aisle of the exact retailer needed to extract the exact kinds of data you need? And fast?

It would be incredibly awesome. Which is exactly why MFour Mobile Research has made this kind of research possible – make that not only possible, but easy and affordable -- by introducing MFourDIY™ --  the nation’s first do-it-yourself survey-building platform for all-mobile research.

An ongoing series of webinars is introducing the industry to what MFourDIY will let you do, and how to do it.

The topic Thursday morning was Building GPS-Enabled Surveys: A Thousand Completes at Walmart Today.” In 27 minutes, 19 attendees representing major firms and brands learned how to add this powerful survey-building platform to their research arsenals and pinpoint those thousand particular panelists

.

MFour’s Chief Product Officer, Michael Smith, started with a brief overview of why MFour’s product – advanced, highly-engineered conduits for fielding surveys strictly to smartphone users – marks a leap ahead for survey-based market research. In a nutshell, because the smartphone has eclipsed desktop and laptop computers as the public’s favored information and communications device, MFour can deliver the panel you need with far more speed and demographic range than any method that’s not fully mobile.

In Smith’s words, MFourDIY clients get “the largest panel” (one million active members, all via mobile devices) with “the most detailed demographics” (including complete, rapid responses from otherwise hard-to-reach groups such as Millennials and Hispanics).

Smith walked the webinar attendees through two actual examples to show how they can build a GPS-enabled survey. MFour had conducted the two surveys within the previous two days, testing its guarantee that you can, in fact, get “A Thousand Completes at Walmart Today” -- or at myriad other retail chains or other business venues on a list we’re adding to all the time.

It starts with having the right advanced technology: a proprietary process MFour calls “GeoValidation”®, which, Smith said, goes several steps beyond other GPS-enabled survey systems. MFour paints a locator bullseye right on the store, verifying that respondents are in fact at the store. That triggers a push notification on their smartphones inviting them to take the survey either on the spot or soon after they’ve finished shopping.

Smith noted that competing location approaches are no more than a tenth as accurate as MFour's GeoValidation®. Others will tell you whether an individual is within about 100 to 150 feet of the store; ours certifies that the person is right at the entrance. You don’t have to ask respondents whether they’ve recently been to a Walmart. You know for a fact that’s where they are right now.

In our test surveys we sought 1,000 completes from members of our mobile panel who’d been GeoValidated at Walmart stores. We were looking for 200 to respond while they were still shopping, and another 800 to answer questions after they’d finished shopping and left the store.

The survey included instructions guiding both groups to the products and displays we were focused on. Some questions tapped into the multimedia capacity of smartphones – researchers can send pictures, video or audio as the basis for questions, or ask respondents to take photos or make audio or video recordings to enhance their answers.

We captured our thousand-respondent quota easily. The average completion time was less than 13 minutes for the in-location survey, gathering 200 in-store interviews within four hours; for the after-visit survey, we landed the 800 responses we needed within 7 hours – even though we’d told those panelists it was OK to take up to 48 hours.

In-Store and After-Visit surveys are just one facet of how MFourDIY is democratizing mobile research. Take advantage of a special introductory discount at mfourdiy.com, and register for one or more of our upcoming webinars, including MFourDIY: Getting Started on May 4 and 18, and Mobile Panel 101: Reaching Millennials and Other Elusive Demographics on May 10.

Click here to learn more about MFourDIY™