SMS Text News Survey Results are IN!

For quite a while there’s been a wee pop-up window popping up on the browsers of many an SMS Text News reader (although only once, if the cookie was working correctly), asking you all to fill in a member survey.

Thank you to the cast of thousands who took the time to fill it in.

We’ll do some nice looking graphs for the SMS Text News media pack but meantime here are the raw headline statistics:

Where do you work?
MNO/MNVO: 12%
Service provider: 13%
Mobile Marketing: 18%
Hardware Vendor: 3%
Related mobile industry services: 10%
Analyst / Investor: 3%
Media / Journalist / Blogger: 7%
Mobile fanatic: 36%

Interesting, interesting. That’s more or less what I thought anecdotally.

What’s your income level? (dollars)
< 50k: 39% 50-100k: 28% 100k+: 33% Well I never. No wonder everyone's away buying handsets every day. I had no idea you were all so flush! What level are you working at?
Top level management: 28%
Mid level management: 36%
Making it actually work: 37%

Fascinating, fascinating. Again I reckoned that this was the case.

How did you find SMS Text News?
Internet search: 33%
Link from blog: 31%
Recommendation: 11%
Business card thrust into hand from Ewan: 2%
Stumbled over site: 17%
Other: 6%

How often do you visit?
Hourly: 19%
Daily: 53%
Weekly: 11%
Monthly: 3%
Now and again: 15%

20% visit HOURLY? I’ll need to change the publishing strategy accordingly.

Ok now this question was a curveball to test your recall rate for the SMS Text News sponsor. I gave you a list of mobile related company names and put the sponsor (Clickatell) in the list. How many got it right?

Which of these brands do you recognise as the SMS Text News sponsor:
MX Telecom: 7%
Trutap: 5%
Nokia: 13%
Clickatell: 68%
Motorola: 8%

I think a 68% brand-name only (no graphics) response rate amongst the SMS Text News audience is very, very good performance. Brilliant!

How do you consume SMS Text News?
Web: 65%
Mobile: 22%
RSS: 51%
Daily newsletter: 17%

I’ve always known that RSS was the number one way that most people consume. It stands to reason particularly when we’re all having really busy days and given the techie nature of the SMS Text News audience.

How do you rate SMS?
Excellent: 48%
Good: 36%
OK: 14%
Needs work: 3%

So 84% think we’re doing a good-to-excellent job at SMS Text News. That is excellent news, but for the 14% who think it’s OK and the 3% Needs Work percentage, we need to seriously improve.

What kind of handset do you have?
A decent phone: 82%
An old reliable handset: 17%
A piece of rubbish: 2%

Predictable, that one.

How many handsets do you own?
Just one: 33%
2-4 handsets: 50%
4-6 handsets: 11%
6-10 handsets: 3%
I’m basically a Carphone Warehouse store: 4%

Heh. Very, very interesting. I thought we were more or less a multi-handset owner site.

Now, the killer question about belt clip holsters. You KNOW this winds me up. DON’T use a holster.

Do you wear your phone on a belt clip?
Yes: 4%
No: 96%

Phew.

Do you have a mobile data card?
Yes: 26%
No: 54%
Thinking about it: 21%

I didn’t expect 26% to have a data card — I reckoned a lot more would have said no.

How many times have you churned (swapped operator) in the last five years?
Once: 51%
Twice: 20%
Three times: 23%
Change all the time: 8%

Half the audience is actually quite loyal. The other half are changing regularly. Interesting.

That’s my word of the day: Interesting. Or fascinating. Lots of food for thought.

I’ve had a lot of wicked comments (positive and negative) contributed via the survey too (There were two free text entry boxes asking for opinions). I’ll post them shortly.