Editor’s note: Rob Dolafi is COO of Offerwise, an Ashburn, Va., research firm.
In an industry where data quality is essential to the success of any given project, we as online panel providers need to demonstrate careful rigor and complete transparency when sourcing for our panels. For it is the quality of the respondent that is the first line of defense from bad data collection in an online study. Although the term “transparency” has been a topic of discussion when measuring the quality of an online panel, its definition has lacked consistency and completeness among researchers and marketers alike.
Throughout my years as an online panel provider, I have personally experienced all of the various methods used to build online panels, from being an affiliate to managing an affiliate network or from keyword advertising on search engines and social media to television advertising. In my assessment and with significant confidence, I can say that television offers the highest level of transparency while delivering high volumes of diverse panelists in a cost-effective manner.
For starters, let’s discuss the process of recruiting panelists using television as the medium for advertisements. The first step is to create a television ad that clearly explains to potential new panelists the process and value of taking surveys. Unlike other advertising platforms, with television, we as panel-builders have 30 seconds of pure verbal and visual cues to engage and sell our prospective panelists on joining. Of course, the end of the ad creative needs to be a call to action, typically a message that tells potential panelists to go to a Web site and register for the panel.
The next step in the process is to work with your media partners and networks to arrange for dates, times and frequencies in which your ad will air. This process requires an assessment of available networks that allow you to reach as diverse an audience as possible while reaching the highest volume of viewers.
The final step is to assess the performance of your airings, by measuring the impact of each ad that viewers were exposed to. Typically, this is accomplished by doing a one-to-one comparison on sign-ups in the hour that a particular ad aired. Overall the process is clear-cut, with easy-to-measure performance and effectiveness and, most importantly, it’s repeatable.
Now let’s shift our focus with a complete definition of transparency as it relates to online panels. Transparency is the ability for an online panel provider to specifically identify the exact source used by each individual respondent within their online panel to first enter the online panel’s Web portal and what messaging the respondent received that enticed the individual to click and enter the portal. This does not mean identifying the individual affiliate marketer or affiliate network; rather it is demonstrating the exact Web site, ad location and creative content that the respondent was exposed to prior to entering the panel’s Web portal.
For example, if a panel provider uses an affiliate network to source its panel, then for each new respondent the panel provider must determine the responsible affiliate, the exact Web site the affiliate used to source the respondent, the messaging on the given site to entice users to join the panel and, most importantly, the method and messaging used to drive potential respondents to the affiliate’s site.
Given all of the moving parts in the process, combined with the fact that affiliate networks are typically comprised of hundreds or even thousands of individual affiliates, the process of controlling and capturing transparency rapidly falls apart. By contrast, television advertising offers complete control as it pertains to capturing and demonstrating transparency. With television advertising, the messaging is shown loud and clear in the actual ad and the source is clearly delineated by the network on which the ad aired. The television medium enables the panel provider to rapidly demonstrate the “from” and “how” for each individual respondent, thus instilling confidence for the researcher as it relates to data quality of the respondent.
Another challenge that television tackles head-on is the ability to deliver volume and diversity, while maintaining consistency and transparency. It is a fact that television viewership remains consistent among all persons regardless of age, gender, language, socioeconomic level, ethnicity or geographic region. It is also a fact that for each demographic segment there are corresponding television networks that have higher concentrations of the segment in demand. For example, when attempting to reach an older and more affluent demographic, one can advertise on networks such as CNN or HGTV, or when attempting to reach Spanish-speakers, one can advertise on networks such as Univision or ESPN Deportes. This makes the predictability and scalability of an online panel and its composition seamlessly achievable. Whether you are trying to reach the ever-elusive 18-to-24-year-old or the hard-to-find Spanish-speakers, television affords us as the panel providers the golden opportunity to put our products in front of millions of potential respondents.
Regardless of the medium used to source an online panel, the onus is on us as online panel providers to demonstrate complete transparency as it relates to our panel composition for the betterment of the products we deliver to the research community and beyond.