Creating Surveys on iPhone Apps

Dana Stanley reviews an iPhone app for creating surveys in this article. Follow the process of creating and posting a survey and learn insights into possibilities for its use in market research.

A new iPhone application for creating surveys recently appeared in the App Store. I decided to give it a try and report my experience here.

QpixL’s tagline is “questions are more fun with pictures.” From their website: “Snap a pic and ask a question. Real time answers from your social network of friends. Take a pic with your iPhone and ask a question. Question is published to your Facebook profile and displayed in your Facebook friends feed and/or sent to your Twitter followers for an answer. No registration. No Logon. Just quick answers.”

One picture, one question - open ended questions only - nothing precoded.

So what to ask? Well, I recently grew a goatee for the first time, so I decided it would be fun to ask my Twitter followers and Facebook friends their opinions on my new look.

QpixL surveys can only be launched from the iPhone, not the website. I went ahead and downloaded the app. Here it is on my phone (arrow added):

Once I launched the application, I was given the opportunity to log in using my Facebook and Twitter accounts, which I promptly did:

As you can see from the screenshot above, QpixL gives users two ways to load a picture. “Pics” allows you to select a photo already on your phone, while “Snap” gives you a chance to take a picture within the application (using iPhone’s camera).

I initially attempted to use the “Pics” option. However, there were two problems. First, I was not able to reformat the picture I selected, an option which is presented under the “Snap” option. Second, and more importantly, when I posted my first question to Facebook and Twitter, my photo suddenly flipped left 90 degrees and I was pictured sideways! I quickly deleted those links and tried again using “Snap.”

This time it worked. Here’s how my question appeared on Twitter:

Clicking the link brings you to a simple web-based interface. On the iPhone it’s Safari; on a computer it’s whatever browser you’re using. And they all pretty much look the same. The respondent is presented with an interface for providing an answer, which looks like this:

And now for the results! I’ll let the first two answers I received speak for themselves:

Obviously, QpixL is not going to be replacing fully interactive online surveys anytime soon. But researchers should think creatively about using this and other innovative technologies to help their clients collect data.

One example: I could see value in a company posting a QpixL survey to its corporate Facebook page and Twitter feed which garners quick qualitative feedback from a customer conference or a new product launch.

By recommending these types of innovative methods, “traditional” market researchers not only help clients gather useful qualitative information, but also help them increase social media interaction with key constituencies and communicate that their opinions are valued.

And by the way, for the record, Queen’s Brian May is welcome to contact me at [email protected]. I’ll be waiting.

-October 2009

This content was provided by The Operandi Group. Visit their website at www.operandigroup.com.