Pondering Panda, a consumer insights company, has set a new South African record in terms of completed interviews in less than a year, having successfully completed more than one million interviews with South Africans using cell phone technology in just over six months. The interviews have covered a range of topics, from politics to consumer goods and services.
“In all my years in marketing research I would not have dreamed it possible to conduct so many interviews in such a short space of time. I think that this is due to the eagerness of South Africans of all ages, but particularly young South Africans, to voice their opinions,” says Butch Rice, co-founder of Pondering Panda.
All interviews were conducted on the Mxit platform, which is the biggest social network in Africa, with more than six million active users in any month. Pondering Panda is part of the World of Avatar group, which also owns Mxit.
“The speed with which we get responses beats anything we have seen in marketing research before. We can guarantee answers to key marketing and political issues within 24 hours.
“This enables marketers to find out exactly how their consumers react to new ideas within days, rather than weeks or months. The days of sending out interviewers to knock on doors seems positively archaic,” says Rice.
The company’s success is also attributed to the fact that most people have their cell phones with them at all times, and they are always switched on, thus ensuring a very rapid awareness of surveys, and a swift feedback.
The company is hoping to have successfully conducted two million interviews by year end.
