SSI Debuts 'Smart Cell Sample' Database

Research data solutions and technology firm SSI has launched a service called Smart Cell Sample, centred on a cell phone database of 480 million numbers, through which researchers can target US participants by geographic and demographic variables.

The new service is based on confirmed data from wireless service providers linking phone numbers with owners' addresses. According to the firm, approximately 80% of working RDD (random digit dial) cell numbers match to low-level geographic data, while up to 60% have a full suite of demographic data appended, including age, gender, name, ethnicity, income, occupation and education.

In initial tests, SSI claims that success in targeting 500 hard-to-reach 18 to 24-year-olds increased from 17% via standard RDD cell phone to 31% using Smart Cell Sample; while using the database to reach 350 Hispanic respondents produced an uplift from 27% to 71%.

Chief Product Officer Bob Fawson (pictured) comments: 'With no publicly available cell phone directories, market researchers have been struggling for years to find a viable sample source for cell phone research. Smart Cell Sample is the largest database of cell numbers with rich geo and demographic variables, which means researchers can now be much more efficient with their data collection without sacrificing coverage and data quality'.

Web site: www.surveysampling.com .