Mobile polling services have become a very popular marketing tool and customer service feature for businesses. As mobile device users become more savvy and as mobile devices become more sophisticated, it's increasingly easy to conduct surveys or polls online. Online polling services allow customers to quickly answer poll questions online using their mobile devices. Customer answers are then relayed back to the host company for analysis.

Data gathered from online polls allow businesses to more effectively market their products, and research proves that polls are very popular with customers. Companies can provide targeted polls that customers can respond to just for fun, or can use polls to survey customers about new products and customer satisfaction. If you want to find mobile polling services for your business, consider:

1. Creating an SMS mobile poll for fast answers on a small budget.

2. Seeking a full-service mobile polling services provider to transform your idea into a viable poll.

3. Looking for a feature that lets you create targeted interactive voice polls for mobile devices.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Set up SMS mobile polling services to inexpensively send polls

If you mostly are interested in getting information fast, you may not need complicated polls. If many of your poll questions are short, you may wish to set up your polls using SMS polling services. These services are often inexpensive and many mobile users are familiar with this form of survey.

I recommend: EZSurvey SMS is an economical and simple way to send surveys. Simply create your poll in Internet Explorer and send in your contact list for an instant poll. Zoomerang has a number of poll services, including poll preparation, translation and deployment. The company specializes in SMS surveys and polls.

Hire full-service mobile polling services to save time

If you don't have the time or inclination to design and send your own mobile polls, hire services that can transform your poll ideas into results. In most cases, all you need to get started is a list of questions to ask. Your polling company will oversee the survey design and deployment, and may even provide your business with a completed report of the mobile polling services information results.

I recommend: Query Group offers in-house and outsourced coaching services for survey development and deployment. The company will handle your entire polling project for you or will guide you through every stage of the process. Apian is a full-service custom web survey hosting service. You can submit your poll to them in Word format and the company will send it to your contacts' mobile devices.

Look for interactive voice mobile polling services to attract more responses

Many companies equate mobile polling services with text-based surveys and polls, but this does not have to be the case. Some services let you create interactive voice surveys that can be sent to cell phones and mobile devices. Voice polls can be sent to cell phones as well as more sophisticated devices and these polls also tend to stand out in a sea of text-based surveys, which can mean a better response rate.

I recommend: ListenUp Survey, an online survey tool, allows you to create voice surveys and polls on your website or on a mobile device. VoiceShot Outbound lets your company create interactive voice phone call polls that go right to contacts' mobile devices.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The value of mobile polls extends beyond gathering information about customer satisfaction. As you glance through a mobile polling service's list of options, keep in mind that mobile polls are a great way to create press releases for your business. Simply poll your customers about business-related topics and use the data as a lead for a newsy press release.