Making steady progress

Editor’s note: Gerry Philpott is president/CEO of E-Poll Market Research, Encino, Calif.

There was a time, early in its development, when all forms of research conducted over the Internet were simply labeled “online research.” The press often lumped together research that encompassed a well-developed methodology targeting a select sample in an online panel together with the self-select “quickie poll” found on many Web sites. As a result, critics, sometimes fairly, pointed to the lack of credibility of this very powerful form of research.

To the industry’s credit, the research community has studied the various approaches to Internet research and has adopted numerous methodologies to both complement existing methods and to expand into other areas that were previously unavailable before the Internet. Marketers can now clearly see the benefits and unlimited opportunities of online research.

With over three-quarters of Americans using the Internet, and the reduced cost of database applications, online research continues to evolve in the exciting direction of panel-based research. An intelligently-recruited panel with an engaged respondent base can generate a vast amount of demographic and consumer data. Put simply, highly targeted samples yield reliable, valid and actionable data.

Unlike many CATI/CAPI-based systems where the data is collected once for a specific purpose, research conducted across a managed panel allows all of the respondents’ data to be used for future purposes. If the focus of one project is to identify owners of a specific automobile, the owners of other makes can be stored for future use in follow-up research or competitive positioning. Many panel-based research suppliers take that one step further by developing a detailed and exhaustive profiling system to help identify a number of targeted sub-sets that are most often requested by their clients. Imagine the possibility of having 100 percent incidence among difficult-to-reach consumers.

Identify and reach

The majority of costs in the initial screening/profiling phase are carried by the supplier in its efforts to develop the database to adequately support its clients’ needs. This in-depth profiling enables clients to identify and reach targeted groups easily and cost-effectively while maintaining the integrity of the research. The marketers begin to see tremendous cost savings for each project undertaken with the targeted groups they need to reach. The benefit to the supplier is dependable and more frequent project flow from the client base.

An example of how this comes into play is a recent television program tracking project undertaken to establish a baseline of television viewership. After 17 waves of monthly television program viewership tracking, over 51,000 interviews were conducted on over 270 broadcast and cable prime-time programs. Data on awareness, viewership and overall perceptions of each program were collected. The tracking of these multiple waves accurately identified trends in each program’s overall on-air performance, including under-performing programs and those that successfully built viewership. The data were replicable and consistent across all waves.

The initial primary goal was to track awareness, rating and future intent to view for networks and producers. However, as the depth and breadth of the data for each respondent surfaced, the value to advertisers, publishers and brand managers became apparent. There are very few resources to quickly access highly targeted viewers’ attitudes and tastes over time. In addition, clients are now able to re-contact viewers of lower rated programs that have a niche audience base to gauge products or services they think this group would find interesting.

Once identified, the cost to access these low-incidence groups becomes much more affordable with managed online panels. The applications are limitless as marketers are increasingly fighting for a smaller share of the market and need to identify and accurately measure consumers’ appetites. The same example above has been applied to pharmaceutical, automotive, CPG, physician and other types of highly specialized research.

As mentioned in the prior example, a key benefit derived from panel-based research, in addition to data capture and storage, is the ability to re-contact a portion of those same respondents. This can be integrated into the original project scope, or in some cases, new issues may arise from results of the initial study that warrant further investigation. Rather than having to sample an entirely new group, with no prior data, clients can build upon the data already collected. With this information, they can shape a subsequent study based on the insights from the initial study and continue the dialogue with their target audience.

In another example, a concept test for a new video game, a unique sub-group was identified showing strong interest. The anticipated target was teen males but the study revealed interest in the game concept among males in their 20s. A follow-up study was conducted to further clarify the demographics of the sub-group, delve deeper into open-end responses from the quantitative study, and gather additional insights on appeal and purchase intent.

As described in the TV viewing example, clients can contact respondents based on results from syndicated tracking data. They can also take advantage of data collected from their own studies as seen in the video game example or they can leverage the in-depth profile information gathered on each panel member. The key is that with panel-based research, new data points are collected with every survey.

As panel-based research services continue to evolve, there are a number opportunities of even greater value to marketers. A growing number of research suppliers can import legacy data from marketers to more easily coordinate the projects of the last five to 10 years with the upcoming development cycles that are tested using online methodologies. One of the primary reasons for the slow adoption to Internet research was the inability of many businesses to compare legacy data in a reliable and timely way to the current data. Again, the technology and software costs to administrate these functions are going down each year.

Important questions

Understanding how a managed panel is established and maintained will better help marketers in their pursuit of both their targeted demographic and reliable research. The most important questions to ask any managed, panel-based research supplier are: Who is invited to participate? How are they sampled? Are they invited or do they self-select? And how often are they sampled?

For example, individuals who go to an online research Web site daily, or even multiple times during the day, may not be as representative as someone who rarely visits the site to see what types of surveys are available. Conversely, at companies who employ a managed panel where only those in the desired demographic are e-mailed an invitation, the ability to control the frequency of participation is greatly enhanced. This also reduces the frustration for those individuals who attempt to take surveys and are often terminated in the first two or three questions because they don’t fit the sample requirements.

The frequency with which the respondent is invited should be determined by both the supplier and the marketer, not the respondent. In the case of self-select surveys, many of these disclose the survey topic in the invitation. Respondents interested in a particular topic are generally more likely to cooperate with a survey request when that topic is mentioned in the invitation. However, the impact of respondent interest in the topic has implications for key statistics. The survey results may be biased by the overrepresentation of those with high interest.

Lastly, marketers have a variety of exciting and innovative options to reach their desired target. Internet-based panel research offers that flexibility within a very affordable and dynamic context. Whether they build their own panel with existing marketing lists or engage a research supplier, the ability to locate and create a three-dimensional view of their targeted consumer becomes as easy as clicking a button.