SMS surveys are a useful method for conducting mobile research due to their ease, convenience, and wide reach – by administering surveys through SMS, people can answer questions without needing to download and install an application or pick up a phone call at a specific time. Using SMS, research is conducted remotely on an individual’s own mobile devices, with an initial opt-in message being sent first, followed by a series of questions that are answered by typing in answers and sending them back to the same number. SMS surveys are especially useful in emerging markets, where mobile penetration is continually growing, but smartphone and Internet penetration remains low, making online surveys less representative of a country’s population.

SMS surveys are also more cost-effective and faster than face-to-face or voice call interviews, though those modes can reach illiterate populations, which makes them beneficial for certain studies. While SMS surveys can be adapted for many research objectives, some basic guidelines should be followed when designing any SMS survey.

Tips for Designing SMS Surveys

Keep Questions and Answers Under 160 Characters: This rule is both the most important and most challenging to adapt to when designing SMS surveys, especially if you are used to writing questions for online or face-to-face interviews. With SMS, each question and corresponding answer choices must fit into 160 characters, the standard length of a text message. If the text is any longer, it will be split into multiple messages – while messaging services attempt to deliver these in the correct order, they can often come in incorrectly. An example of a question and answer text that fits into 160 characters is below. In order to achieve this, the question has been trimmed of unnecessary spaces, and the text kept as simple as possible while maintaining the integrity of the question:

• • In what types of stores do you shop for food and drink?
    1)Malls
    2)Retail shops
    3)Department Stores
    4)Supermarket
    5)Specialty Stores
    6)Discount Stores
    7)Other
    

To measure question length, you can use the =LEN formula in Excel – GeoPoll’s standard questionnaire template for SMS has this formula in a column to the right of every question. Using abbreviations or slang can also help remove unnecessary characters, though overuse of these terms is not recommended. Finally, if it proves impossible to fit all questions and answer options into 160 characters, you can break the message into two by placing the question in the first message and ending with a message such as “Press 1 to see answer options.” By breaking the messages within the survey design rather than risking them getting split on delivery, you can control how they appear to the survey respondent.

Design Short Questionnaires: In addition to making individual question length short, the overall questionnaire length should also be quite short. GeoPoll recommends that SMS surveys should take about 10-15 minutes to complete, which usually equates to about 30-40 questions, including any screener questions and demographic questions. By testing the survey both internally and with a pilot group of respondents, researchers can see if the drop-off rates for their survey are higher than expected and adjust before sending the survey to the full sample.

Use Clear Opt-in and Instructional Language: As with any survey, the first message should be an opt-in to that specific survey, even if the respondent has already opted-in to be part of a general pool of survey respondents. SMS surveys are no exception, and opt-in language should be clear around the survey length and provided incentive when applicable. Instructional language, such as text that says “Reply with a number” for a multiple-choice question, should also be clear and easy to understand.

Avoid Certain Types of Questions: A critical component of developing SMS questionnaires is understanding what question types they excel at versus those they do not support. Certain question types, such as matrix questions or those that include pictures or videos, are generally not supported by SMS. In addition, research has shown that select all that apply question types do not perform as well via SMS than via other modes such as web link, with respondents selecting fewer choices on average when answering via SMS. Single-choice, yes/no, and ranking questions are all excellent question types to use in an SMS survey. SMS also supports open-ended questions, though due to the character limit of a text message, responses may be shorter than seen with other modes.

Conduct SMS Surveys with GeoPoll

SMS surveys are useful in a wide variety of applications and should be considered for surveys that can be adapted to fit the above guidelines. By partnering with GeoPoll, you will get access to a team of experts in SMS survey design, along with unique platform features such as free-to-respondent messages sent through a short code, and the ability to immediately incentivize respondents upon survey completion. To talk to GeoPoll about conducting your own SMS survey, contact us today.

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With the advent of wireless communications in the 1970s, it has now been 45 years since mobile phones first came to be. As mobile technology has advanced, Africa has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of this technology, by constantly redefining its use and creating new applications with which mobile can solve everyday problems. Along with banking and communications, market research is one of the fields that has benefited from this widespread mobile connectivity, but mobile research in Africa still looks very different than it does in more advanced regions.

Tablets and smartphones are common in Europe in the US, but in Africa smartphone penetration is still low: While South Africa has 34% smartphone penetration out of all mobile subscribers, Kenya and Ghana are around 15%, and other countries are lower. That is exactly why simple short messaging service (SMS or text messaging), which can be found even in the most basic mobile phones, remains King when it comes to conducting surveys in Africa.

Below are some of the reasons why SMS surveys remain one of the most effective modes of data collection in Africa. For more information on other modes of data collection and how to identify the best research provider to you, refer to our article on the international marketing research process.

Benefits of Using SMS Surveys for Data Collection in Africa

1. Fast data turnaround

Compared to other data collection methods such as face to face, SMS collects data very quickly and can upload results in real-time, which allows for faster data analysis. Fast data collection is crucial when studying product placement or measuring an ongoing marketing campaign.

2. Ease of response

Participants to the survey can respond to questions at their convenience and on their own phones.

3. Increased access

Due to the nature of the mobile phone which respondents take wherever they are, be it in remote or urban areas, in home or out of home, respondents are reachable for a survey no matter where they are located. This is particularly important as many of these respondents are hard to reach through face to face or internet survey methods.

4. Few device barriers

The respondents do not require a smartphone or have internet (mobile data) to receive or respond to surveys.

5. High response rates

Mobile surveys have high daily response rates depending on the time of day compared to other means of data collection. This is mostly due to the proximity of the phone to the respondent and the ease in which they can take the surveys from wherever they are.

6. Error minimization

Although this might not be the standard for all mobile research agencies, the GeoPoll surveying platform can automatically verify answers are in the expected range and prompt respondents to correct invalid when responses are typed in via the phone keypad.

7. Incentive availability

Even without smartphones, SMS survey tools such as GeoPoll allow participants who take SMS surveys to receive airtime credit upon survey completion. This ensures that survey participants feel valued for their time and that clients are able to get insights faster.

8. Low or no cost to respondent

If the survey solution provider you use has partnered with a mobile network operator, there are often no charges incurred by respondents for participating in an SMS survey. GeoPoll has partnerships with over 85 mobile network operators which allow us to send free-to-the-respondent SMS messages.

GeoPoll has partnerships with over 85 mobile network operators which allow us to send free-to-the-respondent SMS messages.

GeoPoll has been conducting SMS surveys in Africa for over 5 years, and we also facilitate mobile web, mobile app, Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing, and other survey modes. We have a team of experienced researchers and analysts who are able to advise you on the best data collection method based on your research objectives. To learn more or ask questions about an upcoming research project, please contact us today using the form below.

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