Ensure your surveys are mobile optimized
Mobile phones accounted for 52% of all internet traffic in 2019, up from just 13% in 2013.
Our own data shows that, in October 2020, 54% of Snap Surveys users were on a PC while 46% were on mobile. It has even been reported that 84% of the UK population own a smartphone as of 2020.
This means one thing – it’s essential to consider mobile users in your digital strategy.
For surveys, this means ensuring your surveys are mobile optimized
What is a mobile optimized survey?
A mobile survey is a survey that respondents complete on a mobile device – such as a smartphone or tablet.
Before rolling out your survey, you should optimize it for mobile users to ensure a smooth user experience.
Surveys that are optimized for mobile devices will adapt to a smaller screen and be designed for touch-screen devices.
The text in mobile optimized surveys is larger for easy viewing and the action click buttons are easier to maneuver.
Why is it important to optimize a mobile survey?
It’s important to optimize a survey for mobile devices so that participants can easily read, understand, and navigate the survey.
If a survey isn’t optimized for mobile devices, people may find it difficult to use and therefore they’ll likely close the survey without responding.
This will jeopardize your response rate and negatively impact your feedback project.
What are the keys to a good mobile survey?
The key to a good mobile survey is making sure it’s easy for people to read and respond.
Short and simple questions
There is limited space on a mobile screen, so questions should be short, concise, and easy to understand.
Easy-to-read text
As well as being easy to understand, questions should be easy to read.
Touch-screen enabled
There were 3.5 billion smartphone owners worldwide in 2020, up from 2.5 billion in 2016. As smartphones come with a touch screen, your survey simply has to be touch-screen enabled if you want a good response rate.
Easy to select your answers
The touch screen should be responsive enough to scroll and select an answer with minimal effort.
No clutter on the screen such as large logos
With smaller screens comes the need for fewer distractions. A clean page will keep participants engaged and on-task
Test your survey on multiple devices before you release it
Testing will ensure the survey looks and functions appropriately on all devices, from desktop to mobile.
Limited the number of questions
If someone has received an invitation to your survey and they are on their mobile phone, it’s quite likely you have just interrupted them. In an ideal world, limit your questionnaire to between 5 – 10 questions
Reduce the number of open text response questions.
These take longer to complete. And since phone users today look for quick convenience, it’s better to limit how long the survey will take to complete.
Image sizes – both the physical size and the file size
The questionnaire will be as wide as the biggest item on the page, so if your image is wider than a portrait phone, the respondent will have to scroll left and right to complete it. If your image is too large, it may cause delays to that page loading if the respondent has a weak signal.
Don’t get carried away with page breaks
If you have 10 questions and 10 page breaks, that’s an extra 20 finger presses you are asking for. Mobile phones are designed for scrolling down.
Avoid columns in your answer list
It uses up valuable space meaning the answer text is likely to wrap multiple times. Smartphone users are comfortable with scrolling in 2021.
Avoid unnecessary drop-downs for your answers
On IOS devices, it involves the respondent pressing 3 times to give their answer, taking up valuable time.
Good luck
These are our top tips for optimizing your survey for mobile phones.
Whether you’re an existing user of Snap Surveys software or you’re looking for a survey platform with a friendly Support team – get in touch and we’ll be happy to help!
