Web-savvy companies are increasingly reaching out to customers through their mobile devices using a consumer research application pioneered by Columbus-based iPinion.
iPinion licenses a mobile survey platform to corporate clients and businesses. The app allows iPinion clients to integrate consumer research from smartphone users into their consumer data collection streams.
iPinion CEO Pala Kuppusamy formed the company in Columbus in 2010. The tech start-up has four employees, including Kuppusamy, all of whom were hired within the last year. Kuppusamy and co-founders Anitha Manoharan and Steve von Bevern put up the initial $100,000 investment to get the company moving. The trio's friends and family acted as angel funders, investing a total $200,000 in the venture.
Best Buy recently signed on with iPinion, using the company's patent-pending mobile survey platform to conduct a series of brief exit interviews aimed at gaining insight into the purchasing patterns of non-buyers. The iPinion team worked with members of Best Buy's competitive market research team to develop the most technologically efficient, user-friendly survey solution.
"They devised a research technique to do in-store intercept surveys on non-purchasers to understand what products they were looking for, why they did not purchase, what they intend to do next, and where they intend to purchase in the future," says Kuppusamy.
For clients like Best Buy, iPinion executes the technical maneuvers required to reach potential consumers on their wireless devices. "Responses are captured in real-time and sent to (our) server where raw data reports and data exports are viewed by the client," says Kuppusamy. "Offline data capture is supported by iPinion, (allowing clients) to conduct surveys in areas where Internet connection is not stable or available."
Source: Pala Kuppusamy, iPinionsurvey.com
Writer: Kitty McConnell