Mobile surveys are transforming how organizations understand and respond to community needs. By leveraging mobile messaging through channels like SMS, WhatsApp, and Viber, as well as voice calls, NGOs can now collect vital data from even the most remote locations, enabling faster response times and more effective program delivery.
This isn't just about replacing paper forms with digital ones. Mobile surveys enable entirely new ways of working: real-time monitoring of emerging crises, direct feedback from beneficiaries, and rapid program adjustments based on ground-level insights. Organizations can choose the channel that works best for their context - whether that's SMS for maximum reach, chat apps like WhatsApp and Viber for richer interaction, or voice calls to ensure accessibility for all participants.
The impact is clear. When Action Against Hunger (ACF) needed to monitor pastoral conditions across four West African countries, they turned to mobile surveys. Using basic SMS technology, they built an early warning system that now delivers critical data from over 100 field collectors across Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. This data directly informs government and NGO responses to potential food and nutrition crises.
Mobile surveys offer four key advantages that make them particularly valuable for humanitarian work:
- Reach: Connect with communities in remote or difficult-to-access areas
- Speed: Gather and analyze data in real-time, enabling rapid response
- Cost-effectiveness: Reduce expensive paper-based processes and travel
- Direct data: Receive unfiltered insights straight from the field
As organizations face serious funding challenges, the ability to maintain program effectiveness while optimizing resources becomes critical. Mobile surveys provide both the data needed to demonstrate impact and the efficiency to help organizations do more with constrained resources.
This guide will show you how to implement effective mobile surveys in your own programs, drawing on real-world examples and proven best practices.
The Action Against Hunger Early Warning System: A Case Study
Action Against Hunger's implementation in West Africa demonstrates the full potential of mobile surveys in humanitarian work. Their system collects weekly data about pastoral conditions - including water availability, biomass, animal health, and security context - creating an early warning system for potential crises.
The technical setup is remarkably straightforward. Field collectors use basic mobile phones to respond to SMS surveys of approximately 20 questions each week. The organization uses Android phones running the Telerivet Gateway app in each country to provide local numbers for data collection, avoiding the expense and delays of setting up SMS shortcodes.
This approach has several key advantages:
- Field collectors only need basic phones and SMS capability
- The system works even in areas with limited connectivity
- New collectors can be added with minimal additional infrastructure
- Local SMS rates keep operational costs low
The impact extends beyond just data collection. ACF publishes regular bulletins based on this data, informing governments, NGOs, and civil society about pastoral conditions. This information sharing has created a more coordinated and effective response to potential crises.
Best Practices for Mobile Survey Design
Successful mobile surveys depend on thoughtful design. Here are key principles to follow:
Question Design
- Keep questions clear and concise
- Use simple language
- Limit the number of questions to prevent survey fatigue
- Consider the limitations of your chosen channel (e.g., SMS character limits, chat app features)
Response Options
- Make response choices clear and mutually exclusive
- Use consistent formats throughout the survey
- Consider using numeric codes for easier response entry
- Test response options with actual users before full deployment
Language and Accessibility
- Use local languages when possible
- Keep technical terms to a minimum
- Provide clear instructions at the start
- Test comprehension with target users
Timing and Frequency
- Set realistic expectations for response time
- Consider local contexts (work schedules, network availability)
- Balance data needs with respondent capacity
- Maintain consistent scheduling for recurring surveys
Measuring and Reporting Impact
To maximize the value of your mobile survey program:
- Define clear metrics that align with program goals
- Set up systematic data collection and validation processes
- Document methodology for consistency and credibility
- Create clear, data-driven donor reports that demonstrate impact
- Use collected data to continuously optimize your programs
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Mobile surveys typically offer significant advantages over traditional methods:
Direct Benefits:
- Eliminate paper forms and manual data entry
- Reduce travel needs and staff time
- Minimal technology investment
- Enable faster response to emerging needs
Long-term Value:
- Low ongoing operational costs
- Easily scalable as programs grow
- Simple training requirements
- Adaptable to changing program needs
Telerivet provides the communication infrastructure that powers mobile surveys for NGOs and humanitarian organizations across 150+ countries. In response to the current USAID funding crisis (read our statement here), we're committed to helping organizations maintain their impact through efficient, cost-effective solutions. If your organization is impacted, we invite you to explore how our platform can support your mission during these challenging times. We're currently waiving
Technical Implementation Basics
Setting up effective mobile surveys with Telerivet involves:
- Channel Selection:
In order for your surveys to reach people, you’ll need to set up a two-way route:
- SMS: Best for universal reach and basic phones
- Works anywhere with cellular coverage
- No smartphone required
- Ideal for simple multiple-choice or numeric responses
- Deploy quickly with Telerivet's Android Gateway app, or connect your preferred SMS provider
- Flexibility to use local SMS gateways or carriers for optimal pricing
- Chat Apps: Great for richer interaction
- WhatsApp and Viber support for broader messaging options
- Popular in many regions
- Supports longer messages and media (images, videos, voice notes?)
- Requires smartphone and data connection
- Voice Calls: Optimal for low-literacy contexts
- Supports interactive voice response (IVR)
- Can collect audio responses
- Works with any phone type
- Consider using multiple channels for maximum reach.
Reach out to our team to help you choose the right channels for your program.
2. Survey Design and Deployment:
Telerivet makes it easy to create and conduct automated polls/surveys via text messages or voice calls. See our detailed guide here.
Each poll can contain one or more multiple-choice or open-ended questions.
To create an automated text or voice poll, go to your Services page on Telerivet, click Add New Service. Then select the "Polls and Feedback" Category tab, then click Poll or Voice Poll.
The following sections provide more details to help you get started with conducting polls on Telerivet:
Guide: Creating Text Polls and Creating Voice Polls
Question Design and Flow
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- Create multiple-choice or open-ended questions based on your needs
- Assign unique identifiers to each question for easy data analysis
- Design clear, logical question flows with skip patterns
- Set up question branching based on previous responses
- Enable custom follow-up questions for specific answer choices
Response Handling
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- Define multiple acceptable response formats (e.g., "yes", "y" , “1” for affirmative)
- Configure how responses are matched (exact match, contains, starts with)
- Set up appropriate response codes for consistent data categorization
- Create clear error messages for invalid responses
- Enable automatic retry for unclear responses
- Configure automatic follow-up with non-respondents
Language and Accessibility
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- Support multiple languages in a single survey
- Configure automatic language selection based on participant preference
- Enable alternative languages when needed
Guide: Testing Your Poll
After defining the questions and settings for your poll, you can test it by simulating messages or calls to make sure it works as you expect before sending it out to real users.
Guide: Distributing Text Polls
Telerivet makes it easy to distribute text polls in three ways:
- Sending the first question of the poll to a list of respondent phone numbers via text message (either SMS or a chat app like WhatsApp)
- Publishing the first poll question via any method, such as television, radio, or print, and allowing contacts to send the response to that question directly
- Publishing a text keyword via any method, such as television, radio, or print; when someone sends the keyword, Telerivet will respond with the first question of the poll.
Guide: Offer airtime or mobile rewards to encourage participation
Use of airtime and mobile rewards can dramatically increase participation in your mobile surveys.
Guide: Viewing and Exporting Poll Responses
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- Monitor response rates in real-time
- Track completion rates by question
- Identify common response errors
- Export results for more advanced analysis
As people respond to your poll, the results will automatically update on your Services page, and any multiple-choice questions will be displayed as a bar graph.
When viewing your poll statistics, you can view the raw data for any statistic (such as the total number of responses) just by clicking on it.
If you want to save your poll results or perform additional analysis, Telerivet makes it easy to export your results.
Guide: Tracking and Reminding Non-Respondents
After you send out a poll, you might find that not everyone responds. For some people, it might take a little extra nudge in order for them to reply. Because of this, Telerivet makes it easy to remind people who haven’t responded to your poll yet.
For more implementation details, check out our full guide on Polling & Data Collection.
Conclusion
Mobile surveys represent a powerful tool for NGOs to improve their data collection, program monitoring, and impact measurement. As demonstrated by Action Against Hunger's success, even simple SMS-based systems can create sophisticated early warning networks that directly improve humanitarian response.
To get started with mobile surveys in your organization:
- Identify a specific program need for better data
- Start small with a pilot project
- Focus on user-friendly design
- Consider using airtime transfers or mobile rewards to incentivize responses
- Build on successful elements
- Scale thoughtfully based on results
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