Are you conducting data-driven research?
Custom online research panels continue to be one of the most effective tools to reliably reach your customers for surveys, focus groups, and online communities.
Designed and used correctly, an online panel allows you to tap your customers for quick and accurate answers to your most pressing research questions. This includes concept tests, customer satisfaction and engagement, product and package design, and more.
In addition, with the advent of customer and consumer data appends, custom online research panels are transforming the way companies mine insights from their available data.
As you begin to consider if a custom online research panel is right for you, consider these five advantages vs. sourcing a general online panel.
1 - Better Sample & Sampling
With your own panel, you know your respondents really are your customers because they come from your own list. In addition, if you append customer transactional/purchase/behavior data and consumer data you are able to sample based on these criteria. For example, you can more easily select your desired sample frame because you have access to transactional data and other historical information about your customers rather than having to ask a lot of screening questions.
"You can more easily select your desired sample frame because you have access to transactional data and other historical information about your customers rather than having to ask a lot of screening questions."
2 - Higher Response Rates
Even as response rates among general consumer panels continue to dwindle, response rates among customer panels remain high, in part because they tend not to be as oversampled, but also because the relationship they share with you functions as a motivator for continued participation.
3 - More Cost Savings
Data collection with an online panel is frequently less expensive than using a general population panel, especially if your target market is a lower incidence category. You are not paying for your own customers. So, you can increase the size of your panel without significantly increasing your costs.
"Data collection with an online panel is frequently less expensive than using a general population panel."
4 - Better Tracking Studies
A custom online research panel allows you to easily conduct tracking studies with the same groups of people. These customers can be recruited into quantitative or qualitative longitudinal studies.
5 - More Data & More Insights
As with the sampling advantage discussed in #1 above, the integration of customer and consumer data unlocks more insights on every study. At Data Decisions Group, we append hundreds of additional consumer data elements from our DecisionPointsTM file to every panel solution we deliver. This rich consumer data, combined with customer transactional data, provides many more insights. As you would expect, it's impossible to use a questionnaire to collect hundreds of additional data points.
"At Data Decisions Group, we append hundreds of additional consumer data elements from our DecisionPointsTM file to every panel solution we deliver."
The last advantage (#5) definitely deserves a little more attention, as it’s a relatively new trend in the research world. Historically, survey data has lived in its own silo, separate from any other data such as transactional or behavioral data that might be available for that same group of people in other divisions of your company, or through available databases. But sometimes looking at just one piece of data is like the old story about the blind men touching the elephant; no one gets the big picture because their perspective is so limited.
We live in a data-driven age – why not take advantage of all the tools that are available to you to make your market research the best it can be?
Want to learn more?
Request a complimentary consultation with Heather Primm, an industry expert in the design and use of custom online research panels.
Click below to request a call with Heather.
