Collect Feedback with a Mobile Survey Platform in 2023

March 31, 2023 (Updated) | By Sam Pelton
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Without data, any executive decision you make is just a shot in the dark - an idea thrown against the wall, with you just hoping it will “stick.”

Tired of the blind “educated guesses” and the frustration that comes with not knowing what people truly want?

Think of all the ways you could improve your business if you just had the right data!

What you need is a mobile survey platform.

Happy woman sending a mobile survey on her smartphone

What Is a Mobile Survey Platform?

A mobile survey platform allows you to create survey questions that are sent out (and responded to) via texting.

Because, let’s face it, everything is mobile these days. And everyone - I mean everyone - is texting! So you need to reach your audience where they’re actually looking.

(That way, you’re not frustrated and disappointed with time wasted on communication efforts that no one sees or pays attention to.)

You can both create and send your survey questions from your SMS survey app, and also tally and download the responses.

Here’s an example.

Say you wanted to know about your customers’ recent interactions with your business. Via your SMS survey app, you could text out a question asking how satisfied they were with their experience, and you could give them some response options:

Thank you for your purchase! Your feedback is very important to us. How satisfied were you with your purchasing experience? - Reply 1 for Satisfied, 2 for Neutral, 3 for Not Satisfied


Your customers could then easily reply back with one of the designated numbers according to which option they’d like to select.

You’ll then be able to see both the overall number of people who selected each option, as well as the specific responses each person sent in.

Thus, for example, you could gauge how your customers’ felt about their recent interaction.

(And you may also be able to do some damage control if you can follow up with those who were “dissatisfied”!)

Or, as another example, you may simply want to get your employees’ preferences on the upcoming holiday staff party. You could ask whether they prefer a weekday evening, a Saturday evening or Sunday evening:

Alright team, let’s take a vote: when should we have the holiday staff party? - Reply A for Weekday Evening, B for Saturday Evening, or C for Sunday Evening.


You can apply the concept from the examples to whatever question you’d like to ask your employees, customers, or audience.

Young woman receiving a mobile survey

Why Use a Mobile Survey Platform?

Intuitively, you already know that texting is a good idea for your business or organization.

It’s almost become a cliche that people are glued to their phones these days.

Look around the waiting room at the dentist’s office, and what do you see? People on their phones.

On the bus or subway? People are on their phones.

Even at restaurants? People are on their phones.

That all may feel true, but does the data back it up?

You betcha!

As far back as 2015, Pew Research found that:

  • 64% of all Americans already owned a smartphone.
  • 85% of all young adults in America owned a smartphone.
  • 97% of all of the smartphone users studied (and 100% of users aged 18-29) used texting at least once in a weeklong period.

That same year, RealityMine did a study concluding that, for all age groups, texting had surpassed calling as the mobile function used most often.

More recently, the CTIA determined that a total of 2.2 TRILLION text messages were sent in 2020. (That’s approximately 2,200,000,000,000!)

So in order to reach people effectively and efficiently - to connect with your audience and hear their thoughts and opinions - you need to use texting.

Mobile surveys can help alleviate frustration from both you and your audience with less time wasted on ineffective communication efforts, and more time spent actually connecting.

Male business owner working with his laptop on his couch

How Does a Mobile Survey Platform Work?

Think a mobile survey platform would be difficult to set up and use?

Think again!

There are just a few easy steps.

Step 1: Create an Account with an SMS Service

Your SMS survey app will actually be a small part of your larger mass SMS service.

So your first step would be to sign up for a free trial with an SMS service like Mobile Text Alerts so that you can test it out for yourself.

Mobile Text Alerts signup page

Get a Free 14-Day Trial with Mobile Text Alerts

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Step 2: Get Contacts Loaded In

To send out your mobile surveys, you’ll first need some contacts to send to!

Note that for SMS, you do need consent from your contacts before you send out any texts.

With that in mind, there are a few time-saving options for loading contacts in:

  • If you already have consent from your contacts, you can simply upload an existing spreadsheet file directly into the SMS platform to import them in.
  • If you don’t yet have consent from your contacts, no worries! There are some easy ways they can opt in and subscribe:

Step 3: Set Up and Send Your Survey Question

Once you have contacts loaded in, you’re ready to send out your mobile survey! First, you’ll visit the Mobile Surveys page.

From there, you’ll:

  • Select the recipients for your survey question
  • Enter the question you’d like to send out to your recipients
  • Input the response options
  • Click “Send Survey”

Step 4: View Survey Results

After you’ve sent your survey question, all that’s left to do is to view the results.

You’ll be able to view the number of people who selected each option. You’ll also be able to download a spreadsheet displaying the full responses each individual respondent sent in.

And that’s it! Not too hard!

The trickiest part will be getting your customers to subscribe to your SMS service. But the good news is that once they subscribe, you can also use your SMS service for other business texting, so their subscription can serve a two-fold purpose.

Woman participating in a mobile survey while petting her cat

What Are Some Use Cases for a Mobile Survey Platform?

You may be like a lot of people who want specific, concrete examples of something in action.

So, here we go!

Check out some different ways you could use an SMS survey app for your business or organization.

Internal Communication

Is your internal workplace (or volunteer-place) communication haphazard?

Even if it’s not, there are surely ways it can improve!

People miss phone calls, forget about emails, and ignore memos.

Mobile surveys can help ease the frustration.

The below real-life examples demonstrate some ways you could use mobile surveys to improve communication with the employees in your business or organization.

(Note: some information has been edited for privacy and clarity purposes.)

RSVP for Events

Please join us for dinner and drinks at [event name] on [date], [time] at [location]. Employees are invited to bring a guest. Please RSVP to this text by [date]. - Reply 1 for Attending Alone, 2 for Attending with Guest, 3 for Not Attending

Employee of the Month

Who would you like to be next month’s Employee of the Month? - Reply A for Alyson, B for Terri, C for Greg, or D for Aaron

Scheduling

When works best for you to attend our Safety Team makeup activity? - Reply M for Monday, W for Wednesday, or F for Friday

Employee Interests

The CDC has approved COVID-19 vaccine boosters and our employees meet criteria for eligibility. We are currently determining interest so that we can make plans to provide booster vaccines for those interested. Please select a response: - Reply 1 for Interested, 2 for Not Interested

Staff Opinions

How do you like the new setup in the break room? - Reply 1 for Love It, 2 for It’s Good, 3 for It’s OK, 4 for for I’m Not a Fan, 5 for Hate It

Customer Interests and Preferences

If you’re a businessperson, you know how important it is to connect with your customers and give them what they actually want.

Why waste time pursuing things your customers don’t care about?

Use mobile surveys to help put uncertainties to rest as you’re making decisions about how to move forward with your business.

Here are some examples of how!

We will be adding short videos that will offer fashion tips and more! Would you be so kind as to let us know what types of videos you'd like to see? - Reply 1 for How-To’s, 2 for Future Product Sneak Peeks, 3 for Tips and Tricks


We’re going live at 8:30 PM tonight! What inventory do you want to see us present? - Reply 1 for “One and Done” Accessories, 2 for Statement Pieces


What are your preferred days and times for watching our videos on Facebook? - Reply 1 for Weekday Evenings, 2 for Weekend Afternoons, 3 for Weekend Evenings


[Company Name] is going to be giving one of these concert tickets away soon! Pick your favorite and stay tuned on how to win! - Reply A for Chris Stapleton, B for Luke Combs, C for Reba McEntire


Here's a list of growth stocks on-deck for [company name]. Which one would you like to see added? - Reply A for [stock option 1], B for [stock option 2], C for [stock option 3]

Man smiling while sending a mobile survey from his smartphone

Who Uses a Mobile Survey Platform?

You must be interested in at least the idea of an SMS survey app, or else you probably wouldn’t be reading this!

But maybe you’re just hesitant to try something new. You want to know if this is something people actually use.

(Because if people don’t actually use it, how great of a solution could it be?)

Here are some examples of the types of businesses and organizations that use an SMS survey app:

  • Athletics
  • Boating
  • Boutique
  • Church
  • Construction
  • Direct Sales
  • Education
  • Electrical
  • Emergency Response
  • Financial
  • Flea Market
  • Food Service
  • Healthcare
  • Manufacturing
  • Non-profit
  • Stock Advisement

And that’s just a sampling!

Young woman reading something on her smartphone

What Else Can You Do with a Mobile Survey Platform?

So, is it worth shelling out hard-earned money for a mobile survey platform?

That’s a great question! And here’s a simple answer: yes.

Here’s why.

As mentioned previously, an SMS survey app is actually a small part of the larger mass SMS service.

This means that there’s a lot more you can do beyond collecting your audience’s responses to questions!

There are so many aspects of your business or organization for which SMS could be a huge asset. A way to help free up your time and make things more efficient and effective.

After all, you want to rest easy knowing that you’re getting the most out of your time and effort!

Here are just a few of the ways you can take advantage of a text alert system:

  • Marketing
  • Customer care
  • Non-business alerts
  • Internal company communication
  • Dunning campaigns
  • Churn campaigns
  • Cancellation notifications
  • Event updates

The list goes on.

All of this, in addition to the mobile survey aspect, make a text alert system definitely worth it.

How Much Does a Mobile Survey Platform Cost?

Here’s the big question: How much is this kind of SMS service (including a mobile survey platform)?

Concerned that something like this is going to cost you big bucks? What does the investment look like?

You need to know how much it’s going to run you in order to make an informed decision and be confident in your choice.

So here’s the rundown.

The minimum you’ll pay is $19 per month annually (which allows up to 500 messages per month) - so $228 per year. If you prefer to do month-to-month, the minimum you’ll pay is $25 monthly.

That’s it! No hidden fees, no extra costs, no minimum commitment.

Note that each recipient for your messages will count as at least 1 credit, so if you don’t think 500 messages per month will be enough, you can use this handy slider tool to determine which plan might be best for you.

(Another important thing to be aware of is that messages longer than 160 characters, as well as picture messages, will use up more messaging credits as well - keep that in mind as you’re determining how many message credits you think you’ll need.)

Conclusion

So how are you hearing from your customer and employee base?

Emails? Web forms? Social media?

These avenues definitely have their time and place.

But let’s face it: SMS is really where it’s at.

SMS is where you’ll reach the widest diversity of people in the most effective way.

You know it. I know it. We all know it.

The question then becomes, what’s stopping you from moving forward with a mobile survey platform right now?

Ease your communication frustrations and make your decision-making easier and less uncertain. Learn what people really want!

Sign up and start using mobile surveys today.

Get a Free 14-Day Trial Account

Start sending mass text alerts to your entire list today!

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