Field Marketing with the NestForms survey builder

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Field marketing professionals use different methods to communicate and deliver a product or service for their target consumer group. These can include distributing, direct selling, sampling or promotional pitches in various locations such as shopping centres and shop floors, perhaps on the high street or door to door.

The field marketer may need to take basic details from a consumer or potential customer. This might involve collecting data on age groups, gender, customer habits and preferences. What might be a customer's favourite High Street store and how often would they shop there? Do they have a brand they tend to opt for each time they visit a supermarket? Why? Is it to do with quality, cost or maybe on recommendation?

Working offline
It's necessary then for the marketeer to have the tools to collect data on the ground efficiently. Pen, paper and clipboard are quickly going the way of the Dodo. You do see some people still using paper. I saw a council official the other day sitting at the front of the bus writing in journey times between route stops and numbers of passengers using the service.

In this scenario using a mobile survey app would mean that this kind of data could be shared back to administration in real time. So there's a problem here! The bus route is rural. Internet connection is poor at best. With the NestForms mobile survey app you can work on and offline. Data is shared back to base instantly once a connection has been reestablished.

For the field marketer the ability to work offline is important. A marketing campaign might involve personnel having to work in locations with poor web access. I find it difficult getting a connection in some city and town centres. Leave the paper and pen at the office, work offline using a mobile device and at the same time reduce the margin for error. NestForms provides a platform for both iOS and Android users.


One of the best features of the NestForms offline mobile survey app is the drag and drop process used when the administrator is creating a form for field marketing purposes. There are many components that can be used within the form to assist with gathering data efficiently on the ground.

NestForms survey components
A Date and time component is useful for administrative purposes.

An Edit component allows a responder to input any text information such as names, addresses or work locations.

Dropdown and Single Answer can be used where a responder must ask questions of the consumer requiring one answer from a short or longer list.

A consumer might be asked a question where a simple Yes/No response is required. In this case it's best for the administrator to use the Single Answer component when setting up their form.

The Dropdown component allows for a longer list of choices. Consider the earlier question, what is your favourite High St store? The interviewee may be required to select one store or brand from a list of twenty.

The Multiple answer component allows the interviewee to make more than one choice from a list. For example, if we alter the question slightly. Please select your top three preferred High St stores from the list provided? 

So, we are on the shop floor, at a demonstration or other location. How are the field marketers going to be interviewing the consumer group? Is it face to face, or might the responder and interviewee be sharing the screen of the device? In this scenario, where the responder has the consumer in front of the screen, an image can be added to the Single, Multiple answer and Dropdown components. This will enhance the survey experience for the target audience. It could be an image of a certain product(s) or perhaps a brand name or logo set by the administrator beside the questions on the survey form.

You can set an image to a question with two other components, Edit and Note. The Note component allows for the administrator to embed any instructions or information into the forms for both the responders and perhaps the interviewees.

How did the person find out about a product? Was it through a friend, leafleting, newspaper advert or via the internet? This might be a customer's first introduction to a new product or service, therefore any data collected should be processed quickly to assist in advertising and delivery.

The administrator can include a Number component within a form so that any numerical data can be collected efficiently on the ground. There are different formatting options. The responder can use a Slider, set with a numerical range or if you prefer, key in a number directly. The Number component is useful for collecting data for age groups, gauging customer footfall and other consumer trends requiring numerical input. There is also an option to define numbers in decimal format.

It may be on occasion that the interviewer will choose where the survey is to take place. A GPS component allows the responder to accurately state their location.

To further improve the performance of a survey an administrator can build a form that allows the responder to bypass questions or sections that are irrelevant or inapplicable. On other occasions alternative answers may be required based on an earlier question. This is called Skip Logic, also known as conditional logic/questioning or branch logic. Skip Logic can support the Dropdown, Single answer and Multiple answer components only.

An example we often use is if your question is to find out the consumers favourite Ice Cream. At this point they need to be provided with a choice, let's say Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Pistachio or a Mix. If “Mix” was chosen, this gives you the opportunity to ask a follow up question or skip other questions that may have been related to the other flavours. Alternatively, if “Pistachio” was chosen, you can ask a more specific follow up question such as “Do you like any other types of Nut other than Pistachio?”. Skip logic is a very important feature for administrators creating questionnaires for this kind of field marketing survey.

The Feature button contains a function called Clone section allowing the field marketer to repeat sections within the same form and avoid the need for inputting repetitive detail. A Finish and new checkbox gives the responder the chance to close a form and start afresh where a new set of answers can be entered.

VIP area Reports
In field marketing it is important for survey or questionnaire data to be collected, collated and disseminated to stakeholders quickly and efficiently. The VIP area allows the administrator to provide a branded area for their clients to view the results of a survey on a certain brand or product.

Exporting and customising field marketing responses to PDF formats
There are many different options when exporting your responses to PDF format for presentation to a client or other external group. There are various options for tailoring the format including showing a brand logo, questions with preferred alignment or scaling images. Other options to control the document layout include providing specific text with headers and footers. The Custom PDF builder provides many other features for generating a final PDF report.

There are many other advanced features within The NestForms mobile survey app that are of great benefit to the administrator and to the responder in the field.

If you would like a chance to try out NestForms, you can sign up for free and your first two weeks begin with a free trial of the system as a premium user.

If you would like to try out the various features that you might find helpful in Field Marketing you can find out more on the NestForms mobile survey app website.

You can also view a short video on how the app works on the homepage.

You can also learn more on how to use our formbuilder by getting a better understanding of NestForms

 
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