I recently met with a Research Director at a major global pharmaceutical company in New York who told me that he had been approached by several access panel companies who were offering to profile their panels specifically for his needs. In so doing, these access panel companies would be able to more easily and presumably more cost effectively target research to those consumers who would have pre-identified as qualifying for this client’s research. This Research Director asked my opinion of this approach and how it differed from what we were discussing, that is for EasyInsites to build a custom panel/research community specifically created for and owned by this client. In thinking back to this conversation and my answer to his question, I thought this might be a question that other clients have asked themselves. The following is a recap of my response.
Profiling an access panel, or what is sometimes referred to as “ring-fencing”, simply means that additional information has been collected on those panelists that enable the access panel company to more easily and more cost effectively find those consumers who a client needs for their research. This makes a project that would otherwise be very expensive and maybe impossible due to a very low incidence become affordable and feasible. However, the benefits stop there.
In contrast, having a custom panel built specifically for this client’s needs means:
- Having complete control over how many panelists have been recruited and profiled and how often they are participating in research. With an access panel, a client’s ring-fenced panelists are still being used for other research projects.
- The registration/profiling survey in a custom panel is specifically designed to meet the client’s needs, with each and every question asked in the way the client desires. With an access panel, the client at best is able to specify a few questions and often times even those are not structured in exactly the way the client desires.
- The custom panel has its own custom panel website with engagement features and benefits specifically designed for this particular client’s needs with an understanding and sensitivity to what works best with this particular target audience. With an access panel, these panelists continue to be members of the access panel and receive whatever website information and incentive programme offered to this very general and large audience.
- With a custom panel owned by the client, there is no CPI (cost per interview) charge whatsoever when the client wants to interact with their panelists. The only charge is for incentives which need to be paid to the panelist, the amount depending on the length of the interview or the task. With access panels, there will always be a charge.
- When EasyInsites builds a custom panel for a client, we provide the option for that panel to be opened on the Cint Panel Exchange. In so doing, our client can realise a revenue share when researchers purchase access to their panelists with whatever restrictions on usage our client requires. With access panels, they would not provide a revenue share because the client does not own those panelists even if some profiling has been done on their behalf.
- One of the great benefits of a client having their own custom panel is to build a proprietary research asset which can provide a competitive advantage, as well as provide an opportunity to broadcast this to the marketplace and benefit from the PR attention this can garner. With a ring-fenced panel within an access panel, it simply does not provide enough of a unique proposition to realise these benefits.
- The cost savings when having your own custom panel are substantial. With access panels, a client pays each and every time they want to conduct research with the panelists and this is on-going and serves as a disincentive for conducting more research.
I look forward to any thoughts you might have on this topic, please post them here.
Hi Charles,
I think both options have their place. Certainly having your own custom panel affords the benefits you mention above: lower cost to re-contact, burden control, tailored purpose and engagement messaging – which can also help to recruit the right people.
However there are a few circumstances where targetted profiling or ring-fencing on a National Panel is a more appropriate option: 1) where the client is not likely to send enough surveys to keep a custom panel engaged, 2) where the target audience needed is not consistent enough from survey to survey, 3) where it is vital that the panel remains ‘blind’ (often, clients do not design every survey with the complete brand neutrality to keep a custom panel blind), 4) where the target is a very low incidence group that more cost effectively be researched via a large existing panel, than recruited specifically at a considerable cost per acquisition.
It is good to be able both solutions, depending on what’s appropriate for a particular client.
Cheers,
Laura
In response to your suggestions regarding when ring fencing an access panel would be more appropriate, there are several things you might not have considered. First, the issue of not having enough research to send to your panelists can easily be addressed by utilizing a platform to build and maintain a client’s custom panel where the panel can be opened to other researchers during those quiet periods. This opening, with all restrictions the client as panel owner requires, also provides a revenue share to the client as panel owner which can help offset panel maintenance costs. Second, custom panels can be large enough to cover most if not all research needs. Having a large custom panel is particularly easy when the client has their own source(s) for recruitment, such as a customer or subscriber or employee database. Third, custom panels are not always branded and are just as easily built without branding. They need a name and identity to help with engagement but this is quite often associated with the category or sector but not the specific brand offered by that company. Finally, the ability to make it possible to research low incidence groups in a more cost effective manner is one of the key reasons clients decide to invest in a custom panel.
Great post
Your first point about the advantages of having a custom panel for controlling what research respondents receive is a positive one, but not entirely correct. This is because it is often likely that a person will be receiving survey material through another panel/ custom panel/ etc… Does the notion of a custom panel provide a false sense of security in relation to this factor?
Agreed, there is no way to completely control your panel members from also being members of other panels. However, in general with custom panels, there is typically a much closer relationship between the panel owner and its members so the ability to ask about and address participation issues is more likely than with an access panel. Also, the more personalised treatment that is more typical of a well managed custom panel means that members are more likely to enjoy and appreciate the experience relative to other survey taking opportunities, thereby resulting in greater time and attention being spent with their custom panel relationship vs. an access panel one. These differences prove out time and time again when comparing key metrics such as response rates and levels of attrition, both of which are far better with custom vs access panels.