How to Catch Shoppers in the Act

Mobile surveys connect with customers "in the moment," when they're primed to share rich, accurate insights.

“Come on. It’s time to go,” Lauren tells her daughter, signaling toward the checkout line. Determined to exit the store as quickly as possible, Lauren begins striding toward the front. That is, until a holiday display commands her attention. “I haven’t seen these since I was a little girl visiting my grandmother’s house,” she says to her daughter, with a hypnotized expression on her face. Not one to splurge, Lauren makes an exception—“just this once”—and throws the product into her shopping cart.

A store is so much more than a place for buying and selling merchandise; a store is an interactive environment full of emotions, aspirations, and goal-striving. And the more companies understand how shoppers relate to their products, the better they can serve customers and distance themselves from competitors.

Prime Time

We could simply ask the Laurens of the world to describe their shopping experiences for us. But how long until they forget some or most of the details of their shopping encounters? Time erodes and distorts customers’ memories as well as any opportunity companies have to gain trustworthy insights. Traditional surveys, focus groups, and other common research methods have struggled to overcome this obstacle, this time barrier.   

However, with the emergence of mobile technology, companies now have a reliable means of catching shoppers in the act, whether it’s the act of planning, shopping, or consuming. We call this the point-of-influence. Through mobile surveys, brands and retailers have real-time, 24/7 access to customers’ thoughts and actions—in stores or at home. This means customers don’t have to remember or recollect their experiences; they simply report their experiences as they’re living them or, alternatively, immediately after they’ve lived them. Call it a rapid response. 

Rapid response illustration

Let us illustrate. We located over 50 shoppers who in one store visit purchased more than $50 worth of merchandise. We asked, “Did you make any unplanned or unexpected purchases today?” All 56 respondents said they purchased either a brand or product they did not intend to buy. Of these, 50 (89%) said they bought a product that wasn’t originally on their shopping lists. We went a little deeper, asking what precisely they bought on impulse…and why.

We then asked customers both structured and unstructured questions about their purchases. For instance, agents were asked to identify from a list of options any factor that contributed to this impulse buy. The top four responses were:

2. Remembered/reminded while in store: 18%

3. Immediate need/desire: 16%

4. Price discount: 16%

We also asked them to describe, as free form responses, why they made these purchases. Their explanations were insightful: 

Just-in-time surveys

But were these responses collected in time? Could customers accurately recollect their in-store experiences? Yes, for the simple reason that respondents completed their mobile surveys within minutes—in some cases seconds—of the actual shopping experience. There was no lag.

How do we know? For one, we set a time limit, meaning agents were required to complete the job soon after starting it. But we can also see from timestamps on photos and question submissions just how quickly responses follow the purchases themselves.\n

In research, the question of when is as important as how. Mobile surveys use proven methodologies to gather consumer data and insights, but with at least one clear advantage over traditional methods: Mobile research captures shoppers and customers “in the moment.”

As The Handbook of Mobile Market Research explains:

There is widespread belief in marketing and market research that interviews conducted ‘in the moment’, for example, when someone is making a purchase, finishing a meal, or staying at a hotel, will reveal more than a survey conducted at a later date. Traditional research has relied on participants recalling details of interactions with products, services, and advertising, days or even weeks after the event. ‘In the moment’ approaches capture the information while it is still fresh in people’s minds. (Poynter, Williams, & York, 2014)

Mobile surveys connect with consumers at the point-of-influence, the exact moment they are interacting with a product or being influenced to buy. As Rick West, VP of the Mobile Marketing Research Association and Field Agent CEO commented:

“Whether it is during a test drive of a new vehicle or the initial moment of walking into a store at the mall, the point of influence is the best opportunity for a brand to make a positive impact on a customer.”

Never has catching shoppers in the act, of obtaining timely and accurate insights, been more convenient or affordable.

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Learn more about the point of influence here:

Engagement at the Point of Influence

Video Presentation: 

Mobile Research is All About Location, Location, Location at the Point of Influence