With smartphone ownership at 77% of U.S. adults and rising, companies conducting online surveys face a considerable challenge in optimizing their surveys for respondents taking surveys on their smartphones. Aside from growing ownership and usage of smartphones, recent data from Inc. Magazine shows that the average smartphone owner checks that phone on average 150 times a day. And smartphone ownership now equals the ownership of desktop/laptop computers (78%) and is significantly greater than the ownership of tablet computers (51%).
This is especially relevant to surveys among wine consumers, because they skew demographically to the very highest percentage of smartphone ownership (those with some college or college graduates and those with higher than average household incomes). For this reason, we pre-test every survey in three modes – desktop/laptop computer, tablet, and smartphone.
While survey length may be an issue for those responding via smartphones, question composition and layout is an even greater challenge. So-called “matrix” questions where there are multiple column choices as well as multiple answer or statement rows are especially difficult to maneuver on a smartphone. The size and clarity of any product images included in the survey must also be taken into account.
Our surveys are optimized for both tablet and smartphone use, but we are always aware of the challenge posed by smartphone use, because today roughly one-third of online surveys are taken by smartphone users. And that is a number that will surely continue to grow.