Entering the brave new world of mobile for healthcare market research

Since Green Book identified research using mobile devices as the fastest growing methodology in 2011, mobile research has rapidly grown from novelty to a mainstream of market research. In the most recent GRIT report (Winter 2013), 45% of respondents said they planned to use online communities in the future, 42% to use mobile surveys and 36% to use social mobile analytics, leading the GRIT authors to conclude: “The optimism towards these techniques is officially a trend.”

In healthcare, as in every other walk of life, use of mobile devices is booming, with new data from the US reporting that 86% of physicians use a mobile device in the course of their work day, a trend replicated across Europe. Harnessing this trend towards greater mobile use, many healthcare companies are dipping a toe into water of mobile research.

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Mobile research is engaging and targeted and collects rich real-time insights, yet there are hurdles to overcome for companies looking to venture into mobile. GKA is the first medical fieldwork agency to deliver a flexible mobile research service purpose-built to meet the needs of pharmaceutical market research. GKA Mobile provides access to patients and healthcare professionals in a live, interactive setting that’s always on, delivering genuine insights into patients’ lives and capturing the real-time experience of physicians in a clinical setting.

The platform adapts to the needs of the project, engaging populations from 1 to 1,000 over any study duration using a wide range of methodologies. GKA Mobile can deliver rich qualitative insights by enabling respondents to upload mobile video diaries, photos and blog post directly from their mobile devices. Backing up this wealth of qualitative data, the platform makes mobile surveys and live polling quick and easy, providing immediate, real-time insights from patients or physicians. The power of mobile communities can also be harnessed with interactive brainstorming tasks to test new concepts or to’crowdsource’ new ideas and let other members vote on them.

While GKA Mobile communities can be run over extended periods of time, they are not fixed, and the platform can adapt to the changing needs and requirements of a brand. A vital element of the service is that clients retain full control; once GKA has recruited patients and healthcare professional to the mobile community, clients can decide what level of involvement they want, including moderating the community themselves.