Planning for success
Editor’s note: Bonnie Sherman is vice president, custom panel development, at Decipher Inc., a Fresno, Calif., research firm.
Over the past five years the market research industry has seen significant growth in the use of custom panels and online communities, and for good reason. There are many strategic benefits of online panel communities in terms of speed, cost and flexibility. Companies collect critical demographic and profiling data up front, and are able to build upon this knowledge of their customers, prospects or stakeholders with each new survey they field to the panel.
Panelists are available 24/7 and access to them is generally free of sample charges. This allows companies to deepen customer and shareholder relationships while building a better understanding of important attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Online panel communities allow for the use of such diverse methodologies as ad hoc surveys, trackers, online forum discussions, instant polls, diaries, syndicated research and focus groups. And, with today’s technology, companies are able to take advantage of mobile and Web-based tools allowing for real-time communication with their panelists using text, pictures and video.
End up frustrated
The many research and cost benefits of custom panels and online communities are clear, yet getting the very most out of these assets requires careful planning. In order to garner a high return on investment and client satisfaction, outlining expectations and needs with one’s market research vendor is vital to success. Despite the advantages of custom panel communities, companies can end up frustrated and dissatisfied if there is a lack of planning and communication with the vendor. The best way to avoid this situation is to follow a carefully thought-out plan.
Having a vendor partner that fully understands a company’s research goals will help determine custom panel recruitment methods, target groups and panel size. A good vendor will endeavor to ascertain the research objectives before providing recruitment costs and timing. Here are some common questions and issues that come up during the development process:
- If a company wants a custom panel of customers and has a high-quality list, recruiting using outside sample sources may not be required. However, if a company wants to also better understand prospective customers and competitors’ customers, a list of current customers alone won’t suffice.
- Does the company need to draw samples that are representative of its customers or representative of a geographic area? If so, it will be vital to set up quotas within the panel recruitment to ensure an adequate mix of panelists.
- If a company wants to survey particular target groups more frequently than others, it’s important to recruit greater numbers of these highly-valued panelists.
- Before building a custom panel community, determine if research needs justify the investment. If a company only needs to complete a handful of studies with a particular sample, it can be more efficient to purchase a sample when needed rather than to build a custom panel.
To the greatest extent possible, it’s important to specify ingoing assumptions regarding panel usage. The more that is known about the number of desired studies, required sample sizes and types of research to be fielded, the better job a vendor can do to ensure that their custom panel is the correct size, the correct mix of panelists and the correct mix of activities. If a company needs to field weekly surveys that require thousands of completes, a larger panel will be required than if the frequency of contact and desired completes are smaller.
Size and frequency of replenishment
Another element of planning that drives costs is panel replenishment. The composition and usage of an online panel community will determine both the size and frequency of replenishment. For example, a panel that is composed mainly of middle-aged women, who tend to be good survey responders, will generally require less purging and replenishment than a panel composed of young males or business executives, who tend to respond at lower levels and opt-out at higher levels. Similarly, if panelists are contacted two to three times a month they will tend to require less replenishment than if they are contacted more frequently or less frequently.
Engagement strategies and incentive plans also impact panel replenishment costs. To the extent that panelists are able to engage in interesting forum discussions, participate in instant polls and read brief news articles about surveys in which they may have participated, they will tend to stay on the panel longer and participate at higher rates. Likewise, panelists who can participate in regular draws, earn points or receive individual incentives for burdensome studies will tend to stay committed. Incentive costs must be weighed against replenishment costs to achieve the proper balance.
The design of the recruitment questionnaire requires a clear understanding of a company’s research objectives and targeting needs to ensure that the proper data elements are collected. Most important is that the questions on the recruitment survey reflect the variables that are most important for a company’s sampling needs. While nearly all companies will need to select samples based on gender and age, some companies will need to collect more detailed demographic and/or profiling data than others in order to draw appropriate samples. If the research objectives include comparing new customers to longer-term customers, then this data ought to be collected up front as part of the recruitment process. Additional profiling data can be collected once a panel is built, and only the most critical variables need to be included in the recruitment process.
Follow best practices
With the right plan in place, an online panel community ought to provide a very good return on investment. Once a company has worked through the planning process and specified its needs, the next step is to follow best practices for panel management to ensure a successful panel for years to come.
In terms of recruitment strategies and practices, assuming that one needs to recruit at least in part from sources other than in-house lists or databases, there are a variety of recruitment sources and suppliers available. Companies should make sure that their vendor works with reputable suppliers who have a proven ability to deliver panelists accurately and on time. Recruitment suppliers need to be able to set up quotas, meet all targeting needs and have access to sufficient numbers of potential panelists.
The goal of panel recruitment is a specific call to action - join my panel - and not a general advertising or marketing campaign. This needs to be kept in mind in developing e-mail invitations or online advertisements for custom panel recruitment purposes. Effective, concise communication regarding the benefits of joining the panel will help drive panel join rates, and thus lower recruitment costs. Perhaps the most important factor influencing join rates is survey length. Remember that only the most critical variables need to be collected during the recruitment process; strive to keep recruitment surveys around five minutes. Lengthy recruitment surveys lead to lower survey completion rates as well as a lower propensity to complete the double opt-in process, increasing costs and timing.
In general, offering some sort of incentive for joining the panel will pay for itself in increased join rates. Appropriate incentives include draws for cash or prizes, or points that can be applied toward earning rewards. While incentives are important, communicating to potential panelists about less-material reasons for joining a custom panel is critical, whether they be an opportunity to influence public policy, affect what new products are developed or join a community that is meaningful to respondents. Panelists who join because they want to participate and be heard will be better responders than those who join solely for material reasons.
Over time, a company will want to ensure that recruitment data is refreshed and that panelist information is current. Many custom panel Web sites let panelists update their contact and demographic/profiling data on an as-needed basis from the member site. Panelists log on to the site and can update their contact information, such as a new e-mail address, as well as critical demographic and profiling data, such as their marital status. Additionally, recruitment surveys should be re-fielded to the entire panel regularly to ensure that all panelists have up-to-date data.
Ensure a cooperative panel
In today’s digital environment, opportunities for effective engagement with a custom online panel community are plentiful. Taking advantage of new technologies and environments will help to ensure a cooperative panel with relatively lower replenishment needs. Surveys, by necessity, constrain panelists’ ability to say things in the way that they wish. Real-time, multi-thread forum discussions allow panelists to communicate about topics that interest them in their own words, and to hear back from others with similar interests.
An online panel community may include a variety of discussion topics available at any one time. Companies can present pictures or online video to panelists within a forum and request feedback, or ask panelists to take pictures or submit videos that enrich companies’ understanding of panelists’ values, thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. Instant polls may also be part of a forum environment, allowing panelists to compare their answers with others immediately using charts and graphs.
Within a member site, panelists also enjoy reading about the findings from surveys they may have participated in and how these findings will be applied to real-world decisions. Reading about recent sweepstakes winners may also keep panelists motivated. Before programming begins on a panel site, the company and its vendor need to determine the different areas of the Web site, such as: FAQs; privacy policy; about the panel; and recent news. They should then create copy and determine a basic look and feel, colors and a logo, if desired.
Incentives play an important role in panel management and cooperation levels. While there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, incentive programs should generally be designed to motivate panelists over time while also rewarding them more immediately for long and burdensome studies. Some ideas include:
- Quarterly draws for cash or prizes to keep panelists engaged, particularly when they are able to view pictures and read brief information about previous winners.
- Allowing panelists to earn points for study participation, which can later be redeemed for gifts, money or charitable donations.
- Immediate, individual rewards for panelists who complete a study that is lengthy and cumbersome, such as an online gift card that can be redeemed instantly.
Best practices for sampling are important for achieving maximum return on investment for an online custom panel or community. In general, panels respond best when they are contacted on a regular basis but not overcontacted. When panelists are contacted once a month or less, they tend to become disengaged or even forget that they joined a panel. On the other hand, if panelists are contacted more than four or five times per month, they may become burned out on the process and stop participating. Contacts for engaging activities, such as invitations to join forums or providing links to new member site postings, tend to elicit positive feelings about panel membership, whereas frequent contact for long, difficult or repetitive surveys tend to elicit a more negative response.
Awareness and tracking of usage
While following the best practices laid out above will help ensure success for custom panels, active panel management is also critical. Active panel management involves awareness and tracking of panel usage and participation levels. A quality vendor will be able to provide companies with tools and reports that are available 24/7 and allow tracking of usage and participation levels for the panel overall, as well as by specific demographic and profiling variables. In other words, with the click of a button a company can quickly understand panel performance over time and work with its vendor to determine timing for purging and replenishment of panel members.
Vendors should track the success of various recruitment methods and partners to maximize replenishment dollars and ensure that replenishment efforts result in a desirable panel composition. Active panel membership tends to work best when it is a partnership between a company and the vendor, with both parties monitoring panel performance. One’s custom panel can act as a living laboratory in which new methods are tried and tested while tracking the results of these methods in terms of panel recruitment effectiveness, participation and longevity.
A company’s custom panel or online community vendor should be able to provide quick, easy training on all panel tools and ought to support ongoing questions and requirements. As well, a qualified vendor will be available to discuss panel strategy, management and planning in an effective manner without charging additional fees for the consultation. This type of conversation is vital for the success of a custom panel community.
Maximum research value
By following the above best practices and by taking the time to plan and consider all aspects of community building and maintenance, you and your vendor will ensure that the community yields maximum research value and return on investment and - most importantly - meets the needs of community members.