Let’s start with a quick poll:

1. How often do you want to ask your customers a question?
a. Always
b. Sometimes
c. Rarely

2. How often do you actually ask your customers a question?
a. Always
b. Sometimes
c. Rarely

If you’re like most marketers, you probably answered a) Always to question 1. You could probably think of 10 different, important questions to ask your current customer base without even trying. Were you satisfied with your customer experience? Did you take advantage of our recent offer? How can we best serve you?

But if you’re also like most marketers, you probably also answered c) Rarely to question 2. You might run a focus group in support of a new product launch. Your company may even conduct an annual customer survey. But do you engage your customers on an ongoing basis with a quick question or two about your product or service? Probably not. If marketers agree that it’s important to understand customer opinions, then why doesn’t it happen more often?

How to poll or how not to poll — that is the question.

Fundamentally, asking your customers a question is much easier said than done. Surveys and focus groups are time-consuming and expensive. And let’s face it - no matter how large your customer base, it’s tough to get a statistically significant population to participate. So too often, customer feedback is relegated to an obscure “Contact Us” link on your corporate website. This requires the (often disgruntled) customer to seek out your online feedback form and send in a comment, or more likely, a complaint. Looking for positive feedback? Forget about it.

Moreover, marketing channels that allow for two-way communications remain few and far between. The most prevalent channels today - TV, radio, and print - don’t readily allow for return communication from the consumer. The Internet is two-way marketing channel, but you still need an engaged user population to answer your questions. You could also pick up the phone and put your hard-won goodwill at risk, since many consumers loathe telemarketing campaigns. It’s a deceptively simple proposition to solicit feedback from your customers, especially when you just have one or two quick questions to ask.

Mobile Posse makes it easy for you to deliver short-form surveys to your customers.

Mobile is the most important new marketing channel of this decade; the ubiquity and inherently personal nature of mobile phones make it possible for advertisers to establish a one-to-one connection with consumers. Like the Internet, mobile is an interactive advertising medium allowing for two-way communications. Unlike the Internet, however, mobile advertising inventory comes in many different flavors, each with different capabilities and strengths. The mobile idle screen, in particular, is characterized by its prime location on the mobile device - the home screen - and the proactive, time-based nature of advertising delivery. Both attributes make the idle screen ideal for supporting a survey or poll as a component of your next marketing campaign.

Beyond the obvious goal of answering a question, idle screen surveys and polls can be used to generate unique engagement, improve the targeting of your ad campaigns, develop consumer rosters, and much more. Surveys and focus groups will always have their place in the marketers’ toolkit; both provide in-depth insights that aren’t easily duplicated. But for frequent, ongoing outreach, they’re overkill. In the form of a survey or poll, the mobile idle screen allows marketers to effectively reach their target audience in new and interesting ways.

Here’s how to make the most of your first idle screen survey or poll:

Keep it short and sweet. First and foremost, on device surveys should be kept short. Keep your idle screen survey to a maximum of 3-4 questions, in total. Consumers will be happy to answer your questions provided that it just takes a few minutes to do so. Limit your survey to a couple of key, well-thought questions, and you’ll be assured of receiving a high volume of quality responses.

Develop the customer relationship. Consumers love to give their opinions! Surveys and polls often produce higher overall click-through rates and engagement than traditional advertisements. A poll is the perfect opportunity to find out more about your consumer population with a quick question – whether your aim is to gauge consumer response, determine a personal preference, or just share a fun bit of trivia. Well-designed, frequent polls allow advertisers to develop an ongoing relationship with survey respondents.

Find your target. Simple polls, such as “Are you a homeowner?” or “Looking for a new car?” may be quickly and easily deployed via the idle screen to enable additional segmentation of the consumer base. Responses to the poll can then be used to deliver advertising messages that are optimized for those consumer segments. For example, users that responded ‘yes’ to the homeownership poll might receive an ad for a discount on a homeowners’ insurance policy. Users responding ‘no’ might receive an ad promoting renters’ or car insurance instead.

Complement. Don’t hesitate to use your idle screen poll in complement to traditional campaign elements. The power of the mobile device is the fact that consumers carry their mobile phone everywhere. With time-based delivery, you can deliver your survey right when the series premiere starts, or just as the big game ends. Surveys may also be targeted by location, allowing you to reach consumers in the specific geographic area where you’re testing a hot new product or running a regional campaign.

Build your roster. Once you’ve delivered a successful poll, you’ve learned a lot of new information about your consumers that you don’t want to lose. Use those survey results to create a custom roster that can be reused for future campaigns. Keep in mind, though, that the roster will be specific to an exact period in time; in order to keep your roster growing and up-to-date, you’ll have to periodically repeat your poll.

Gauge consumer impact. Idle screen surveys can be used in follow up to a mobile or traditional advertising campaign to gauge the success of your message. As an example, a recent advertising campaign from Ace Hardware encouraged customers to visit their local store to take advantage of special sale pricing. The campaign concluded with the simple question, “Have you visited your local Ace Hardware store in the last 7-10 days?” Survey responses can then be used to calculate how well your advertising message drove the desired consumer action.

Keep it going. Don’t stop at just one consumer survey. Make it a habit to reach out to consumers with quick and timely questions on an ongoing basis. Underscore your advertising message with timely follow-up to engaged consumers. Build your relationship with fun trivia and helpful tips. Understand the impact and ROI of your advertising campaigns. Explore the multitude of opportunities that idle screen-based surveys and polls provide to really make your marketing campaigns work for you.

Mobile Posse has extensive experience developing and deploying successful active idle screen surveys and polls. For ideas on how to incorporate interactive surveys and polls into your next idle screen mobile advertising campaign, contact info@mobileposse.com.