Mobile App Survey: A Complete Guide

With over 300 billion emails sent and received each day globally, how many do you think are ever opened?

Hardly any!

Collecting feedback through emails is like taking a shot in the dark, and this is why mobile surveys have seen a meteoric rise in the past few years.

No matter what industry, mobile apps are always considered the best platforms to collect feedback from your customers.

We know you’re going to have many questions related to in-app surveys, and we’re here to answer all of them for you. So, let’s dive right in and first take a look at what mobile surveys are and how you can leverage them for your business.

What Are Mobile Surveys?

Mobile surveys are customer surveys integrated into the mobile application and mobile web that pop up at a designated time while the user is interacting with the application.

Mobile surveys are an engaging way of collecting user feedback, customer validation, customer-driven support, and building a better overall product from users on mobile apps and mobile web.

For instance: when you perform a certain task on an application or book a service, quick rating feedback pops up asking for your overall satisfaction with the application. This is how in-app surveys mostly work.

You can trigger these surveys based on specific criteria to collect valuable feedback from users and increase response rates.

Mobile surveys have become an integrated part of every smartphone user across the globe. Also, people appreciate their role and participation in surveys and giving feedback to people and services they interact with.

That is the power of mobile surveys, delivered through quick and quality feedback without bothering the customers.

Benefits of Mobile Surveys

The market research space has been revolutionized through mobile survey tools, and they have scaled the opportunities for marketers and researchers in all kinds of businesses. Let’s explore some of the advantages of mobile survey apps in detail:

1. Wider Reach

According to GSMA real-time intelligence data, over 3.8 billion people in the world have access to a smartphone, which means that around 48.2% of the world’s population uses smartphones.

With numbers that high, the reach of mobile surveys is essentially immeasurable. These surveys can target people even in the remotest part of the world and gather their feedback if they have a mobile device.

2. Insights in Real-Time 

The feedback given from the users is stored in the survey tools’ cloud, simplifying data collection and helping researchers gather and analyze data in real time without any time lag. 

For example, Disney has its own app called “Genie,” for which the team uses in-app surveys to gather real-time customer feedback.

Source

3. Works Without Internet

Many applications today allow users to submit their feedback even without any internet connection. This data is stored on the application and then transmitted through online servers whenever the application gets access to the internet.

4. Cost-Effective

Mobile surveys have a negligible cost per respondent compared to other survey methods like paper surveys or email surveys. Plus, the higher number of responses and better reach makes it a much more feasible solution. 

5. Design Flexibility 

Mobile survey tools can be programmed and designed to be best suited to the surveyors. Even though the programming and designing can be a little complicated, developers can design and redesign the survey interface and its content any way they want.

6. Avoids Interview Bias 

When surveys are conducted on mobile applications and mobile web, no interviewer or surveyor is involved in the process. This eliminates the possibility of judging the respondent based on their unspoken or unconscious criteria, which can potentially compromise the data. 

7. Avoid Bots

Individual users mostly use mobile applications, so mobile app feedback is a great way to collect data from genuine users and avoid bots that are programmed to automate the process.

8. High Response Rates

Mobile surveys pop up when users are active on the mobile app and web. This increases the response rate quite significantly, and there is also no scope for filtering these surveys out or sending them to spam like the email surveys. 

Qualaroo’s in-context surveys often see higher response rates (10-30%) because they are strategically placed within the user experience for immediate feedback.

For example, Uber sends mobile surveys to its users who have just taken a ride to collect their feedback.

Read More: To learn more about collecting and benefitting from in-app feedback, give this article a look: How to Collect and Benefit From In-App Feedback

Types of Feedback You Can Collect With Mobile Surveys

Surveys for mobile can collect a wide range of data from users. The nature of the data depends entirely on the content and how the survey is structured.

Below are the types of feedback you can collect through mobile survey tools:

1. Constructive Criticism About Product Development

If your application is under development, targeted surveys will be one of the most effective ways to gather contextual insights. Developers can ask their users about the things that work perfectly and things that need further improvement.

You can target specific functions of the platforms with surveys, and developers can take up feedback about those functions to build upon them. You can circulate new surveys with the new application versions and repeat this process until the app runs perfectly.

2. Feedback About the Prospects of the Product

Now that you have used customer feedback to fine-tune your app and mobile web, it is now time to ask your users what they would like to see more on it. It is where you use surveys to scout for additional features that you can add to the application. 

Once the users have gotten accustomed to the platforms, you simply need to ask them open-ended questions about what they would like these platforms to do more. 

Once the users have given their ideas about what features they would like to see in the future, you can choose the most popular answer and go ahead with it in the future development stages.

3. Collect User Feedback and Reviews

One of the most common in-app survey questions you would have seen is “How would you like to rate this product?” followed by a rating in the app store. 

It is more commonly known as a product review. You can easily ask your users to leave a product review about their overall likingness of the application/mobile website.

You can effectively conduct this step by circulating a Star Rating or even a Net Promoter Score (NPS) Survey, asking them about their likelihood of recommending your offerings further.

4. Post-Purchase Behavior 

Post-purchase behavior effectively describes how a customer feels, thinks, and acts about a product after purchasing.

Post-purchase surveys are instrumental in assessing their buying experience and getting feedback on your mobile app/mobile web UI and the checkout process.

5. Improve Conversion

If your mobile app conversions are low, you simply do not offer what your targeted audience desires. Mobile surveys are the easiest way to understand market trends, validate ideas, and understand what the users need. 

You can ask your users about their preferences with the application/ mobile web and then refine your process and tailor your product precisely to fit their needs. It is a foolproof way to improve mobile app conversion rates in no time.

Here are some sample mobile survey questions on conversions:

• If you did not make a purchase today, can you tell us why not?
• Do you have any questions before you complete your purchase?
• What would’ve convinced you to complete the purchase of the item(s) in your cart?
• What was your biggest fear or concern about purchasing from us?
• Is there anything preventing you from completing your purchase?

Explore this survey questions library to learn more about what to ask!

Not just this, with tools that offer exit-intent popup overlays like Picreel, you can offer lucrative discounts to make them consider staying:

6. Feedback About Customer Loyalty

Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are two different sides of the same coin. When the customers are satisfied with the product offering and their experience, the chances of their returning and retaining them go extremely high.

Mobile surveys help you accurately determine what the returning customers like the best and understand new customers’ overall satisfaction level. The returning and satisfied customers will give an accurate idea of the company’s loyalty. 

How to Collect Mobile App Feedback

Mobile Survey Questions You Can Ask

Asking your audience a series of well-targeted mobile survey questions will prove to be extremely helpful as far as the time and resources that are put into the application are concerned. 

Knowing what features to improve and identifying development areas is just one of many benefits of asking the right questions. 

Here is a list of some questions that you can ask your audience at different stages:

A. UI/UX Survey Questions

1. How did you first learn about us?

This is a question that will help you evaluate your marketing channels and find out how people hear about you. Using this data, you can invest more resources in the marketing channels that are less responsive and continue engaging in your high-response marketing channels.

2. What comes to your mind when thinking about our [app/mobile website]?

This question offers a great opportunity for the developers to understand the user’s perception of the application/mobile web. 

By allowing customers to voice their opinions, you will understand what customers think about you and what you can do to change the negative responses. 

But if these are going to be free-form responses, then you’ll do better using a feedback survey tool that has intuitive AI features like Sentiment Analysis.

3. Why did you choose us over the competition?

This is another mobile survey question example that accurately highlights the features that users think you do better than the competition. 

This will prove helpful as you can work towards making those features even more functional and detailed to retain your current users and attract new users.

Must Read: 16 Best UX/UI Tools for Designers and Researchers

B. Early Stage Product Development Questions

1. How does the application/mobile website run after the updates?

Every new update brings in new changes, so it is essential to ask users about the usability of your platform at every stage of the update process. This will filter out any additional bugs or imperfections, which the development team can fix. 

2. How do you feel about the new app/mobile web design?

Asking users about the aesthetics of the applications is also necessary. Even though it is a matter of personal preference, if the majority of the users dislike the design, it is an evident sign to make changes. 

A good UI design attracts a lot more users and helps retain the current users as well.

3. How functional does the platform feel to you?

Another major question to ask the users is about the functionality of the platform. An application/mobile website should be functional enough.

C. Mobile App Features Survey Questions

1. Can you tell us about a situation where the platform was useful?

This question will paint a perfect scenario of how users interact with the application and its use in different circumstances. 

Using these questions, you can focus on communicating other application features and investing your resources in the right places. 

2. What goals have you achieved with this application?

This is an important follow-up question that will accurately highlight what job the users aim to perform on the application. Every user has their preferences, and it may surprise you what your application is being used for. 

Knowing this will allow you to promote specific features to the audience and target new segments based on the usage. 

3. What more functions would you like us to add?

Your users will have a pretty good idea about what more features they could use to help them achieve their goal through your app. Enabling customers to voice their opinion will allow you to further develop the app and aim for perfection. 

4. How would you like to rate this new feature?

Once you implement new features into your app, you need to know how those features are performing. You will do this by asking your users to rate the new feature. A good rating will mean that the new feature performs as intended, and a poor rating suggests further improvements.

D. Prioritizing In-App Feature Survey Questions

1. How often do you use this feature?

This question will help you identify the most popular and the least popular features in the application. You can then further refine the popular features and make the necessary efforts to promote the other features.

2. Which feature do you use the least?

Using this, you will come across the least popular feature. By gathering the data, you will decide on removing the feature or further promoting it to the users based on the information.

3. Should this feature be listed higher up?

If the feature is popular, users may want to access it easily. One way of doing this is by listing the feature higher up in a menu to be quickly accessible to the users. 

E. Mobile App Rating Survey Questions 

1. How would you like to rate our app?

This is a survey targeted at the users who have been using your application for a while now. The answers will give you a general idea about how the targeted users like your application in the market.

2. On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this app to your family and friends?

This is a question that you can pose in the form of an NPS survey question. If the users rate it from 1-6, they would be considered detractors who would not recommend it and would end up switching. 

Users who rate it between 7-8 are considered neutral, and they are generally undecided about their stance. Users rating it 9-10 are considered promoters who would stick to the application and recommend it further to other people. 

3. Would you like to leave a review?

A positive response to the NPS question would automatically lead to the users leaving a positive review on the app store. This is a great way of building a positive reputation on the platform for other potential users to see. 

But remember, only ask this question to the promoters and neutrals for positive and realistic responses. 

4. What can we do to improve?

You should always work towards perfecting your application. This is why you should always ask your users what they think can be done to improve the application even further. Do remember to take this feedback constructively.

Related Read– If you are looking for a more detailed list of in-app survey questions, look at What Survey Questions Should I Ask?

F. Overall User Experience

1. How satisfied are you with your overall experience using our product/service?

This question provides a holistic view of user satisfaction with the entire product or service.

2. What aspects of our product/service do you find most valuable for your needs?

Identifying specific features or aspects that users find valuable helps reinforce strengths and informs marketing efforts.

3. On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to others?

This NPS question measures user loyalty and gauges the likelihood of users recommending the product or service to others.

4. How easy was it to get started with and use our product/service?

Assessing the ease of onboarding and use provides insights into the user-friendliness of your product or service.

5. Did you encounter any challenges or issues while using our product/service? If yes, please describe.

This open-ended question encourages users to share specific challenges, helping to identify areas for improvement or potential pain points.

7 Best Practices to Design Flawless Mobile Surveys

Now that you know how to create excellent mobile surveys and what questions to ask. 

So, let’s move on to the other critical parts of the discussion: How can you ensure flawless mobile surveys that collect accurate feedback?

Here are a few mobile survey best practices for you to consider:

Use Simple Language

While you may be tempted to showcase your extensive vocabulary, remember that clarity is key. Use simple and easily understandable language in your survey questions. 

Avoid jargon, technical terms, or complicated phrases that could alienate or confuse respondents. The goal is to make it accessible and easy for everyone to participate.

Prioritize Mobile-Friendly Design

Around 60% of people use mobile devices to access the web. So use a responsive design to ensure that your survey is optimized for mobile devices.

It’s important that the survey is easily navigable, with large, tappable buttons and legible text on smaller screens. By prioritizing mobile-friendly design, you’ll enhance the user experience and increase survey completion rates.

Analyze the Collected Survey Data

Simply collecting feedback via mobile surveys is not enough. For the feedback to benefit your business, you must properly analyze it to extract actionable insights.

If you have qualitative data, you can perform sentiment analysis to understand how customers feel toward your offerings. This feature lets you see the most used words in the written feedback and what emotions they indicate.

But if you have collected quantitative data using surveys like NPS, then you can use advanced reporting features from Qualaroo to make sense of the data and see the larger picture. But once you analyze the data and have the insights, incorporate those into your strategies.

Here’s a related read: Text & Sentiment Analysis: Key Differences & Real-World Examples

Design and Sequence Questions Thoughtfully

The order of your mobile survey questions can impact how respondents perceive and answer them. Customers may abandon the survey midway if the survey questions don’t make sense. 

You can start with easy and non-sensitive questions to ease participants into the survey. Then, gradually progress to more in-depth or personal inquiries for collecting qualitative feedback.

The sequence of the questions also depends on your survey objective. For example, if you want to know whether your customers are loyal, you should first ask the NPS question and then follow it up with other open-ended questions to collect contextual insights.

Target Surveys The Right Way

The success of the survey responses mostly depends on how you target them. A right set of mobile survey questions targeted to the right people will generate valuable responses with actionable insights that you can act upon. 

Based on Timing

• Don’t survey the new users right away. Let them take their time to get used to your platform, products, and services.
• Never ask your customers to fill out a survey while they are in the middle of a task.
• Try not to push the survey when there’s a possibility of the user having a negative experience.
• Don’t be too adamant about getting a response; instead, choose a designated time. You can either use popup surveys or sidebar forms for this. 

*Note: Qualaroo offers both popup surveys and sidebar form website widgets.

Based on Segmentation

• Make sure your mobile survey questions are always relevant to the users. If you want feedback about the booking procedure, only ask users who have booked something. 
• Create a segmentation of your customers based on the NPS survey that everyone receives.
• Catch detractors and the negative responses beforehand using your NPS segmentation. 

Based on Length

• Always keep your surveys short and do not consume more than a minute of your user’s time.
• Try not to include lengthier and multiple-choice questions in the feedback.
• Multiple, focused surveys that are distributed over time will generate much better responses.

Related Read: To get a more in-depth view of the surveying, here is The Marketer’s Guide to Surveying Users.

Provide Clear Instructions

Ambiguous or confusing instructions often lead to inaccurate responses or survey abandonment. So, provide clear and concise instructions at the beginning of the survey to guide respondents on how to proceed.

Follow up and Show Appreciation

Once the survey is complete, don’t forget to follow up with your respondents. Let them know that their feedback matters and how their input will be used to improve the app, mobile website, products, and services. 

Additionally, consider offering a token of appreciation, such as a discount code or a chance to win a prize. Such loyalty programs encourage participation in future surveys and foster loyalty among your user base.

When it comes to mobile and in-app feedback surveys, there are few survey tools that have the right mix of useful features. Let’s have a look at how Qualaroo ticks the right boxes and can help your business by letting you deploy mobile surveys the right way to get actionable insights.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating A Mobile Survey

Here are a few simple steps you can take to create flawless mobile surveys with Qualaroo:

Step 1: Click the “Create New” option in the top right corner of your dashboard interface.

Step 2: Here, you can choose a Nudge type depending on where you want to launch it. You can either choose “Mobile Web Nudge” or “iOS or Android apps.” In our example, we’ll go with the latter. Click “Choose Template.”

Step 3: Pick any template and click “Use This Template.” You can choose any one mobile survey template from the library or create one from scratch. We’ll go with a template.

Step 4: Customize your surveys by adding questions and relevant answer types such as multiple-choice, open-text, radio button, Likert Scale, etc.

You can also implement branching logic to ask follow-up survey questions and gather insights from participants.

Step 5: Choose the “Targeting” option.

Qualaroo also offers advanced targeting to help you zero in on your audience and get accurate and reliable customer feedback. You can decide how many times you want to show your survey, to whom, etc.

Step 6: Click the ‘Design’ option to personalize your survey for mobile to match your branding.

Click ‘Save’ once you’re done. You can preview your popup survey to ensure everything is as it is supposed to be and activate it.

Improve Your Mobile Experience With the Right Feedback

Mobile surveys are part of the new wave in the domain of customer feedback and user research. They are the single most effective and sophisticated way of improving user experience and product development, along with innumerable benefits. 

Now that you know everything about surveys for mobile, from what they are and how to deploy them, you will need a tool capable of doing so.

Qualaroo offers a sophisticated mobile survey solution optimized to give you the best survey experience on mobile devices. With features like unobtrusive survey Nudges™ and support for both Android and iOS devices, Qualaroo is a one-stop solution for all your mobile survey needs.

Frequently Asked Questions