The value of data from the mobile channel in marketing is appreciated by more and more entrepreneurs. The activities implemented on the basis of marketer's intuition are already a thing of the past and are replaced by the data-driven practice, that allows to reach the right group of recipients. However, marketing is not the only industry that benefits from the dissemination and development of mobile technology. Data from smartphones and tablets allow an accurate study and analysis of large groups of users.
The number of user interactions with mobile devices and the frequency of their use have a huge impact on the quantity and quality of data available for analysis. They are collected in a passive way, without the need to engage the user. The user installing the free application on the smartphone or tablet is asked to accept consents to collect and process specific information. Thanks to this, the functionality of the application can be fully used.
Collection and analysis of large data sets are dealt with by specialized companies, such as Selectivv, that is able to extract 362 facts about one user. These are, for example, demographic data which will make it possible to determine the age and sex of the user or detailed information about the device. The applications installed on the device and the content being browsed enable the selection of valuable data about the interests or purchase intentions of the users. Precise geolocation coordinates allow to determine what, when and where mobile users were doing.
The use of a huge amount of statistical data and the analysis of large groups of users are the greatest advantages of research based on information obtained from the mobile channel. Data collected through mobile devices reflects the real behavior of users. For example, in cooperation with the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wroclaw, Selectivv collects information on the movement of residents within this city. Data collected from November 2017 to March 2018 should help scientists to develop a model that demonstrates how the citizens of Wroclaw are moved at certain hours and what is the traffic intensity in certain locations. This will be used in the future by the local heat distributor, who will optimize the supply of hot water for specific areas of the city at specific times of the day based on the measurements carried out and the analysis made.
Collecting all this information in the Data Management Platform warehouse allows for their comparison with similar data in the database. So, we get complete behavioral profiles of users. This allows you to identify a businesswoman or driver of a car as parents of small children or a student and a small town resident as people shopping online.
The combination of this information with the data from the location allows to check what percentage of persons belonging to a given profile is staying in a given location and with what frequency there appears. This provides an additional basis for analysis. Thanks to mobile devices, we get valuable statistical data about the inhabitants of a given city or people staying in a given area.
The mobile channel allows to conduct a questionnaire as an alternative to traditional CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviews) research, and the computer is replaced here by a mobile device. The survey is sent to a large number of smartphone and tablet users who answer on-line questions anytime and anywhere when they have time for it.
This method allows wide reach of users. Due to the fact that respondents answer questions anonymously, this ensures a high response rate and reliability of the survey. In this situation, the willingness to present themselves better in front of the interviewer is eliminated because the respondents give honest answers to the questions contained in the survey.
Depending on the needs, a survey may be conducted among the inhabitants of a given country, province or city. They can be directed to a specific target group chosen in terms of age, gender, interests or wealth. The researcher saves time and money. The advantage is a significant reduction of the measurement time compared to traditional research and obtaining an incomparably greater range. In addition, the obtained results can be enriched and compared with information from the DMP data warehouse.
Data collection about the users of smartphones and tablets raises many doubts in connection considering GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The data administrator will have to prove that processes data in accordance with the law. At the end of last year, Selectivv decided to audit an independent advisory institution. Deloitte specialists showed that the method of operating the system and using data by Selectivv was verified unreservedly as of 6 December 2017.
As highlighted by Selectivv co-CEO Dominik Karbowski : We collect and analyze huge amount of information about users, but we do it in an anonymous way. We do not analyze any personal information and do not identify users by name and surname. We use individual advertising numbers provided by Google or Apple. For the needs of our business and for our clients from the business point of view, large data sets are interesting, separated on the basis of selected criteria, not individual units.
