On the second day of this year’s Merlien’s InsightsValley conference in Amsterdam, after a morning of stimulating and insightful speakers, we were lucky enough to get an hour with an inspiring mix of participants and put them to work in a hands-on brainstorming workshop. We discussed how to engage participants in mobile research and split attendees into 6 working teams. We then asked each team to brainstorm about the most important element in any research project - The participant.
They were asked to think about:
• How to create a stable base through communication
• How to motivate participants to engage with the project
• And how to inspire them to become advocates for the research
What were the tasks?
“The great thing about running a workshop is that you let the others do the work”, Dotti always says. All jokes aside, when creating an engaging interaction with workshop participants or with research participants during a mobile research project, the most important part is that the participants have fun, are fully engaged and come away with some interesting sparks for thoughts. We tried to keep it fun – by using 6 iPads, preloaded with three different case studies, which introduced three key user groups to mobile research. The task for the participants was then to brainstorm ideas and solutions for the challenges of their specific case study and to select one representative from their group to present the outcomes of their discussion.
We identified 3 key challenges for better consumer engagement
Communicate: How can we best explain the task at hand to our research participants in order to clearly communicate what we want them to do and what we are hoping to achieve?
Motivate: How do we motivate participants to contribute in a continuous and inspiring way? How can we enable our participants to bring their ideas to life and provide us with rich, meaningful data?
Advocate: How can we inspire our participants to spread the word about mobile research and encourage friends and family to take part in it too?
What did we learn?
A few themes kept coming up within different teams and it became clear that many of the basic needs of each target group were similar. The teams agreed that the mobile participant tasks needed to maintain a sense of playfulness while being simple to use. Reward systems and the idea of gamification were mentioned by all the teams and seemed to apply to all target groups. Another important consideration for researchers to achieve high participant engagement is clear communication about the purpose and goal of the research project. While each group found similar threads, the characteristics played out slightly differently in each of the three cases.
Case 1: Commuters
Results: The first case study dealt with commuters who are eager to spend their daily travel time more productively by accessing different information via their smart phone. The teams here suggested creating tools, which would allow participants immediate, in-the-moment recordings. With this target group, it seemed particularly important to keep the tasks as brief as possible so they can be completed in short time slots available on their commuter journeys. Interestingly both our workgroup teams stressed that providing the commuter target group with a sense that their time is being spent productively is crucial to keep them motivated. On their journey to-from work they may be in their work-mindset already so they are likely to relate to our research in a similar way.
Case 2: Techy Kids
Results: The second case study introduced a group called the “techy kids” who love their devices and are always connected. In the video introducing the case, the teams were promptly challenged to “wow me!” by the hip 20-something-year-old on the screen. And wow us, the teams did. Team One created a concept they called ‘the Green Truck’, which again introduced the aspect of gamification. This concept moved us into more of an 
experience space, where an actual green truck would drive around and offer young participants the chance to have a real-life experience as well as through the mobile platform. The second team focused their efforts on communication. The emphasis was to ensure that researchers give the participants a clear briefing and divide the tasks into small, easily digestible parts. Additionally, participants would earn rewards for uploading information. In order to encourage rich media input, more rewards would be given for uploading a video or photo as opposed to a text feedback. This is perfect for the target group. After all, the “techy-kids” expect cutting-edge technology and sophisticated tools, as long as it has the ‘it-factor’ and scores high on the cool scale.
Case 3: Low-Tech People
Results: The last two teams focused on the third case study, which introduced the “low-tech people.” Both teams clearly emphasized the need for straightforward communication. Because the medium is the most foreign to this group of people, the aspect of communication is especially crucial in the context of mobile research, when there is no direct human-to-human interaction. The first team suggested the use of visuals such as videos and images to show how valuable the research will be and to help break down the barriers of technology. They also proposed offline rewards, which may help humanize the process of mobile feedback. The second team suggested a focus on convincing the participants why mobile is a relevant medium that could help them in their personal and professional lives. Once participants are on board, the goal is to make the fieldwork stage as easy and as human as possible (which may also be achieved by sending a recruiter in person to the participant’s home at the beginning of the project). Both teams focused on bridging the gap between the medium and human interaction needs in their brainstorming session.
What did we take away from this?
Achieving high participant engagement can be challenging, especially in mobile research, but we believe that the future of research cannot ignore this device that people use in their day-to-day lives, even if in different contexts, with different levels of intensity and for different purposes. These are valid questions to pose ourselves as researchers.
Would some of these ideas encourage YOU to engage with a mobile research project? If not, what would it take to get ‘you hooked on mobile’? Send us your comments below!
Dotti Töllner and is co-founder and managing director of Point-Blank International. In nearly 2 decades as a qualitative researcher she has founded 2 companies, travelled the world on the behalf of brands from FMCG to pharmaceuticals and added value to countless businesses. She is known for her lateral thinking. Conjuring up cutting edge research designs and market access strategies for ‘her’ consumer brands are her recipe for inspiration and a passionate working life. You can email her by clicking here.
Lena Blackstock was born and raised in Germany, and immigrated to the USA at age 19. While living in the US, she studied communications and worked in design, branding, and strategy. She has recently studied in India and Great Britain as well and holds a Master of Design Ethnography degree from the University of Dundee in Scotland. She enjoys using her curiosity about human behavior and her storytelling ability to aid companies and brands better understand their consumer’s needs.
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