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A recent article published by Survey Monkey reveals a wide range of habits among survey respondents in terms of the days of the week and times of the day they are most likely to take a survey. At Wine Opinions, our 12 years of survey experience also shows some interesting behaviors by trade and consumer respondents.

The Survey Monkey data shows that most weekday survey responses begin at 7 AM and peak around 10 AM, then decline through lunch hours and reach a daily peak around 2 PM. Weekend days tell a different story. On Saturday, the morning responses are nearly the same as on weekdays, but afternoon responses are low. Sunday survey takers start later and reach a peak of responding at 9 PM.

There are very few notable differences between genders or age groups in terms of the time of their responses, though younger respondents generally start answering surveys a bit later in the morning than others.

Those taking surveys on their mobile devices follow a somewhat different pattern. They tend to take surveys later in the day, into the early evening.

At Wine Opinions, we have found that our consumer surveys get the best overall response if they are launched on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning and when a survey reminder is sent on Saturday. For surveys of the wine trade, Mondays and Fridays can be less productive than the middle of the week and the weekend.

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With smartphone ownership at 77% of U.S. adults and rising, companies conducting online surveys face a considerable challenge in optimizing their surveys for respondents taking surveys on their smartphones. Aside from growing ownership and usage of smartphones, recent data from Inc. Magazine shows that the average smartphone owner checks that phone on average 150 times a day. And smartphone ownership now equals the ownership of desktop/laptop computers (78%) and is significantly greater than the ownership of tablet computers (51%).

This is especially relevant to surveys among wine consumers, because they skew demographically to the very highest percentage of smartphone ownership (those with some college or college graduates and those with higher than average household incomes). For this reason, we pre-test every survey in three modes – desktop/laptop computer, tablet, and smartphone.

While survey length may be an issue for those responding via smartphones, question composition and layout is an even greater challenge. So-called “matrix” questions where there are multiple column choices as well as multiple answer or statement rows are especially difficult to maneuver on a smartphone. The size and clarity of any product images included in the survey must also be taken into account.

Our surveys are optimized for both tablet and smartphone use, but we are always aware of the challenge posed by smartphone use, because today roughly one-third of online surveys are taken by smartphone users. And that is a number that will surely continue to grow.

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The wine industry is no stranger to the use of data in making vineyard and cellar decisions, and market research data is critical for brand positioning and sales/marketing planning.  Research companies like Wine Opinions provide data and analysis gathered from quantitative surveys of U.S. wine consumers or the wine trade for wine marketing companies, wine trade associations, and wineries large and small.  Wine Opinions has performed this service for our clients over the past 11 years.

Recently, we have added capabilities to our research services, allowing Wine Opinions clients to source consumer survey respondents from the Wine.com customer database (selecting respondents with specific brand purchase history) and trade survey respondents from the database of SevenFifty.com.

We have also been pleased to see new data sources appearing which are of great interest to both wine market researchers and brand owners.  These are streams of “big data” based on consumer behaviors measured mainly by the usage of apps downloaded to mobile devices.

Two examples getting attention recently are well worth noting by anyone interested in learning more about U.S. wine consumer behavior.  The first of these is from Enolytics, an Atlanta-based firm dedicated to “bringing the power of big data to the wine industry.”  While they are a new firm, they are off to a very good start.  Enolytics partnered with Hello Vino, a leading app for wine shoppers, on a project that focused on consumer search and shopping activities, including a number of factors such as day of the week, time of day, season of the year, and major U.S. markets.  The result is a report entitled “When is Wine O’Clock?” which is certainly of interest to wine marketers.

Another report was recently released by Vivino, a wine shopping and information app of some importance.  In May, 2016, Vivino published a report based on a survey of their users’ wine drinking habits, with a focus on when and where they are most likely to be enjoying wine.  As with the Enolytics and Hello Vino report, the findings are certainly of interest.

In a recent survey of 1,072 high frequency wine drinkers, Wine Opinions asked respondents to indicate (from a list) which wine apps they used on a weekly or more often basis.  Among the wine shopping apps, Vivino was the top choice (9.6% of respondents citing weekly or more often usage).  And while this is not an overwhelming number, it is nonetheless significant, and the popularity and usage of wine shopping, information, delivery service, and other such apps continues to grow at an impressive rate.  “Big data” offers wine marketers a new and vast opportunity to target wine drinkers and fine-tune marketing initiatives.  It is certainly a welcome addition as a source of information and knowledge.