This survey was conducted to determine market appeal of a proposed accessory that would allow the use of a standard music headset or earphones with an mp3-enabled phone, while also functioning as a portable hands-free device for voice calls.

service: Quantitative
completion date: April 2007

the approach: A company-branded e-mail invitation was sent to customers currently on the sponsoring company’s customer advisory panel who also owned mp3-capable mobile phones. The online survey was completed over five days with the participation of 856 consumers.
the results: This study was designed to assess the potential demand for a headset that would allow users to listen to music as well as answer calls seamlessly, using the same device. Upon analyzing the large number of responses from participants who listen to music using both mp3 headsets and headsets packaged with their phones, it became clear that the vast majority has a strong interest in owning its own mp3 headset, and a full 72% indicates an interest in using the type of accessory tested in the study. The study pinpoints the primary and secondary drivers for this interest, which proved to be uniform across parameters of age, gender, ethnicity and phone model. Another critical detail ─ the reason for lack of interest ─ was also revealed through the participants’ responses. In addition, the study included data vital to understanding consumer music behaviors, such as frequency of use, number of songs stored on phone, phone types, and ethnicity of casual users, as well as a segmented profile of music phone users by age, gender, ethnicity and employment status.