Mobile Surveys Making Waves

Mobile survey specialist OnePoint Surveys has revealed that it is working with two companies in the travel and tourism industry to drive innovation through mobile research. 
FootFall Services, who recently signed up as a OnePoint Surveys Authorised Reseller, helps organisations to increase their visitor numbers and improve visitor marketing.  The company has extensive experience in the tourism and heritage sectors, and is using mobile surveys for visitor feedback, market research and marketing campaigns. Within two weeks of becoming a reseller the company had secured a contract with Aorta Events to use OnePoint mobile surveys to develop the company’s new treasure hunts for the public in the UK and Europe.
“The instant feedback that can be gained from visitors via their mobile phones is invaluable,” says Footfall Services Managing Director, Peter McConnell. “It is also clear that people are more willing to respond to mobile surveys than paper and online surveys. We are delighted to have formed a relationship with OnePoint Surveys, as their mobile survey solution is the most sophisticated in the market place yet simple to use and extremely cost effective. Another key benefit is that there is no cost to the respondent as OnePoint survey messages are free to receive and respond.”
Radar, which offers research and consultancy services to the travel industry, is using OnePoint Surveys to power its mobile phone research into respondents’ reactions to media communications, as well as for diary exercises.
According to OnePoint, the Radar team views the OnePoint Surveys solution as a powerful addition to its research toolkit. Angus Webb, Technical Director of Radar parent company, Dipsticks Research, is impressed with the simplicity of the OnePoint business model. He says:
“It is a straightforward offering that is extremely effective, and the results speak for themselves. With one recent mobile survey, we achieved an 81% response rate within five minutes, and a total response rate of 95% within three hours. There is no other research tool that can offer such timely and high response rates. The OnePoint system is simple, powerful and delivers incredible response rates.”

OnePoint Delivers Insight at the Insight Show

OnePoint Surveys has revealed that its patent-pending OnePoint mobile survey tool has been selected by the Insight Show to provide instant visitor feedback at the event, which takes place at Earls Court, London from 20 - 21 November. Insight is one of Europe's largest events for buyers and users of market research.
Insight is keen to continually improve its show, and to assess the impact of different factors on the market research industry. This year, visitors are being asked to text a keyword to a designated number, before and during the event, in order to participate in a short survey. All responses to the survey are free, using one point’s free text solution, providing the organisers with instant feedback on the event and certain aspects of market research. 
The texting of a keyword by a visitor will trigger a short set of questions, sent to their mobile phone, with each new question dependent upon the answer to the previous one.
The event organisers hope the use of the tool will lead to more accurate and honest feedback. Gartner Research* recently looked at the importance of timing in feedback and customer research. Their study showed that feedback collected immediately after an event is 40% more accurate than feedback collected 24 hours after the event. The study also found that response rates increase by 10 - 12% simply by requesting feedback as soon as the event is completed.
“The OnePoint mobile survey enables us to offer a free and convenient feedback mechanism to our visitors, and is an opportunity for us, as a research show, to trial a cutting-edge research technology for ourselves,” says Ron Cordeiro, Event Director at Centaur Exhibitions, which organises the Insight Show. “We will gain fast and accurate data, potentially allowing us to take action during the event, to ensure that our visitors get the most out of the show. Our decision to work with OnePoint was based on the robustness of their tool and the ability for us to receive the survey results in real-time.”
The organisers plan to feedback the results of the survey after the show.

* Implement Customer Satisfaction Management Processes to Improve Revenue. Pub March 2006.

Hands-On Goes to the Bowls

Hands-On Mobile, which develops connected games and applications, has announced the launch of ‘Pro Bowling 2’, the sequel to its best-selling title, ‘Pro Bowling’. Pro Bowling 2, which has received a string of excellent reviews and accolades, features a raft of new improvements including more gameplay modes, improved graphics and physics and a host of new and updated features.
The game allows players to choose from and customise 18 diverse characters as they compete in tournaments of various difficulties and 12 special missions. The game is intended to cater for every level of experience by offering intuitive controls, an unrivalled tutorial mode, play guide and help options. Novice and experienced players alike also have the ability to create unique characters by allocating points to key abilities such as ‘spin’ and ‘power’, choosing which ball they use and even setting the conditions of the lane they bowl on. More experienced players can raise their game through a deep tournament system, increasingly challenging opponents and the new ability to practice customised play scenarios through multiple training modes.
“Bowling games are one of few games in the crowded sports genre that are regularly played by casual gamers, and in Pro Bowling 2 we are launching what is probably the best bowling game available,” says Eric Hobson, President and General Manager EMEA for Hands-On Mobile. “There are a number of other bowling games out there, but none of them offer the richness of options that ours does so there will be great demand for a fresh game, particularly one as feature-rich and playable as Pro Bowling 2.”

OnePoint Reports SMS Survey Success

Research company OnePoint has revealed that its SMS survey tool has completed its first high-speed national general public opinion poll using the Ipsos Mobile general public panel. OnePoint chose a topical issue, running the poll for the Sunday Mirror in August, soon after the shocking news of the fatal shooting of Rhys Jones, aged 11, in Liverpool.
On 24 August, 2,500 people drawn from an Ipsos-MORI panel were sent a series of SMS questions. Within just a few hours, The Sunday Mirror was given validated and statistically robust results indicating that a quarter of Britons have been victims of crime in the past year, and that a third of the population are afraid to go out. The numbers gave the newspaper an exclusive insight into the mood of the country. Sunday Mirror Editor Tina Weaver says:
“With fast moving stories in today's 24-hour news environment, it's crucial to get instant reaction to the day’s major news events. OnePoint have developed a new text survey system we found to be flexible, efficient and very fast.”
Gareth Deere, Research Director at Ipsos-MORI, says the company was keen to adopt SMS technology for national opinion polls. He says:
“SMS allows us to create snap polls from our panel of 10,000 demographically profiled people who have opted in for text based research, giving us a huge advantage in the market. It’s a great addition to our research tool kit, alongside other data collection methods”
Deere says that with SMS surveys, the company expects two thirds of respondents to reply within an hour.
“Many organisations just want a couple of key measures, and with OnePoint we can do this very quickly,” he concludes. 
The Ipsos-MORI/Sunday Mirror poll received a 30% response rate within the first few hours, an impressive result given the poll happened on a Friday evening between 8pm and 10pm. The poll was then closed so that data could be ratified and sent onto The Sunday Mirror to meet its deadline.