The Cord-Cutter Effect In Research

The growing number of cord-cutters in Europe and the US means that traditional landline phone surveys reach less of the population. While Europe still has a higher rate of cord-cutting, US consumers' willingness to give up their landlines is growing steadily and is now in the double digits. But cord-cutters represent consumers who are not just hard to find on the phone: They are likely to be young, a member of an ethnic minority, and have a low income — all of which are consumer categories hard to find in online surveys as well. Consumer market researchers should follow the cord-cutter trend and be on the lookout for experiments with mobile phone interviewing, new best practices in multimodal studies, and interesting mobile survey applications.