Statistica reports that as of the fourth quarter of 2020, Kenya recorded the highest share of WhatsApp users, with 97% of the country’s digital population using the mobile messaging app monthly. South Africa (96%) and Nigeria (95%) followed, highlighting the significance of WhatsApp, especially in Africa.

Why it is so Popular

• Cost – For starters, WhatsApp is free to download and use. Then, WhatsApp uses data connectivity to exchange messages and phone calls, which is considerably cheaper than regular SMS and phone calls.
• Rich messaging – Unlike SMS, WhatsApp users can send messages of whatever length without counting words and leeway to send multimedia content such as images, videos, and audio.
• Ease of use – WhatsApp is so easy to use, people with most levels of literacy can use the app comfortably. All one needs is a smartphone and a phone number.
• Device accessibility – Being platform agnostic, WhatsApp can be on almost any device. The broad availability of the software is undoubtedly a significant factor in its popularity.
• Its own popularity – The fact that so many people use WhatsApp fuels its popularity even further as users will generally use Apps that the people they interact with as using.

Using WhatsApp to Conduct Surveys

Owing to the position WhatsApp holds in many people’s day-to-day lives worldwide, it presents a realistic means to conduct survey research. There are several reasons for this:

• Multimedia Questions – Provides the flexibility for administering complex surveys in rich multimedia such as audio, video, gifs, pictures, and animations. You can send pictures or videos for respondents to answer questions on and even get photos and recordings back from respondents.
• ­Low Costs – WhatsApp utilizes less data bandwidth making it cheaper for respondents to take surveys. The researcher also doesn’t incur direct mobile charges, making WhatsApp an affordable platform even for clients.
• ­Response Rates – Given that WhatsApp is one of the most widely used apps globally, WhatsApp surveys typically have higher engagement rates and are markedly faster to run.
• ­Flexible Question Types – WhatsApp works with multiple question types, such as matrix or grid questions with skip logic and randomization. ­WhatsApp also has no restrictions on question character limits and can utilize more extended question types.

­GeoPoll WhatsApp Surveys

GeoPoll uses WhatsApp to conduct surveys in two main ways:

• Mobile-Based Market Research Online Communities (MROCs) – Using WhatsApp Groups to gather valuable qualitative data to understand target audiences better. MROCs are focus groups where GeoPoll places respondents in moderated groups to discuss the topic under research.
• WhatsApp Survey Mode – Recently, GeoPoll fully integrated WhatsApp as a survey mode. We send automatic WhatsApp message prompts that are coded to allow for two-way interaction with the respondent. This way, GeoPoll can track progress remotely in real-time, providing more operational control over projects and ensuring high-quality data. We can send the surveys to the client’s database or GeoPoll’s own WhatsApp panel.

To learn more about our WhatsApp solutions and how they can be implemented with your project, please contact us.

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Focus groups provide companies with a deeper understanding of their target audience, allowing them to develop tailored products and more effective marketing campaigns. While survey research can provide the “what” when looking at consumer drivers, such as “What category do you spend most of your money on?” or “What brand of shampoo do you prefer?”, focus groups can delve into the related “why” questions, the answers of which are more complex and can be difficult to glean from quantitative data. The semi-structured nature of focus groups allows for feedback to flow naturally and can provide more organic answers than a rigid set of survey questions.

A downside of focus groups is that they are expensive and time-consuming, requiring a company to recruit participants, bring them to a central location, and hire a moderator for an in-person discussion. They are often inconvenient for participants, which makes it difficult to recruit and means incentives often have to be high. These challenges have led to the emergence of Market Research Online Communities (MROCs), in which participants can provide feedback on products and participate in unstructured interviews in an online forum that does not require them to be present in person.

How to Conduct Market Research Online Communities (MROCs) in Africa

However, even traditional MROCs can be difficult to organize in emerging markets such as Nigeria and South Africa. Many brands in these regions have a desire for qualitative data, but unreliable internet connections and the need for moderators to speak local languages and understand relevant cultural context means that recruiting participants and keeping them active in an MROC can be difficult. In addition, the reliance on online modes can skew the participant group. If the forum through which the MROC is managed is only accessible through a desktop-browser, a large segment of the population who only access the internet through mobile browsers would be excluded.

In order to provide our clients with high-quality qualitative data, GeoPoll has recently launched mobile-based Market Research Online Communities (MROCs) in our core markets throughout Africa. These MROCs are run through the mobile phone, so that participants don’t need to have desktop computers, and are moderated by GeoPoll’s country experts, who are able to lead discussions and provide directions appropriately. Participants for GeoPoll’s MROCs are recruited through our active database in each country and are provided incentives regularly during participation via mobile money, airtime credit, or PayPal to encourage ongoing participation.

GeoPoll can create one-time MROCs to facilitate feedback on a specific product or marketing campaign or can recruit participants to take part in an ongoing MROC to gather insights on multiple topics from the same audience over time. Following the MROC discussion or as it is ongoing, GeoPoll’s research team compiles a detailed report that can include photo and video content shared by participants, discussion transcripts, and a summary of insights gathered from the MROC. To learn more about GeoPoll’s MROC capabilities in Africa and other emerging regions and how we recruit participants for and manage the MROC, please contact us here.

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