Mobile Research in the Mobile World: My Top 5 Takeaways

The Market Research in the Mobile World conference agenda was packed full of market research thought leaders,  innovative case studies and tools. Below I summarized my top takeaways from the conference and showcased some of my favorite tweets.

#1 Big Data is not having a big impact on marketing yet

Don Sexton from Columbia University presented findings from a recently conducted Marketing ROI in the Era of Big Data that surveyed 253 marketing executives from large companies. The results highlight a strong belief among marketers that data is important to making good marketing decisions but that there’s a big gap in the use of data to drive marketing decisions:

•  91% of senior corporate marketers believe that successful brands use customer data to drive marketing decisions
• Yet, 39% say their own company’s data is collected too infrequently or not real-time enough
• 57% are not basing their marketing budgets on any ROI analysis

The biggest issue with the lack of data is that marketers are relying on historical data versus understanding performance to drive budgets.

You can read a good article about the study over at Advertising Age.

#2 The mobile research potential is NOT just online surveys on your mobile phone

Mobile is transforming how consumers communicate, shop, diet and overall–how they live. Mobile research needs to take into consideration and take advantage of the mobile experience (ie., touch screen, location, difficulty typing long responses, etc.). Facebook adopted the consumer experience for mobile, and as Andy Lees mentioned, research should do the same.

I could see how new services like the ShopKick mobile app which rewards users for engaging with brands in store could be at the forefront on innovating how research gets more mobile.

#3 Making research fun can get you better results

Betty Adamaou of Research thorough Gaming presented her Pimple Crisis research game, see a demo below:

It’s a good example of why gaming as a research tool is not just fun but can get respondents to open up at a new level. The interactive game takes respondents into a virtual world where they can make pimple fighting choices, use thought bubbles to give feedback and write words on mirrors.

#4 It’s not about the data it’s about the story

Gayle Lloyd from Hillenbrand, a top casket manufacturer, shared that only 37% of senior executives agree that their markert research groups are strategic.  She made the valid argument that research needs to drive decision making.

I loved her example of how her organization monitors auto and fashion industry trends  (i.e., fabrics, interiors, new auto shapes) to help inspire innovations for their caskets. It’s a great example of how research needs to translate into actionable business direction.

#5 Data accuracy of social media sentiments is mixed, so plan for it

There was a lot of discussion around standards for social media sentiment accuracy. It appears that given spam, grammar and other language issues it’s hard to accurately measure sentiment consistently. I like Anne Pettit’s @lovestats pragmatic approach– her reality check around the issues concerning accuracy, and recommendation to “work through it.”

Check out Annie’s recent post on Correlating Gas Prices with Social Media Sentiment.

I truly enjoyed the great presentations and the very nice crowd at the Mobile Research in the Mobile World conference. I also was impressed by the dessert tables!

What are your top takeaways?