Why don’t more SMEs have customer advisory panels?

I was asked to present a seminar yesterday at a local business conference, the topic was on customer research and how this can be beneficial to SMEs.  In the midst of preparing this presentation, it occurred to me that there is little research being conducted by SMEs relative to the amounts of research being conducted by larger companies.  Is this simply a function of smaller budgets or something more?  When I discussed online research and customer advisory panels in particular and polled the room as to whether any of the businesses who were in attendance had a panel, the show of hands (or lack thereof) confirmed this belief.  Also, when I showed a slide containing the types of companies for which EasyInsites has built and maintains customer advisory panels, it became very clear that there were no SMEs represented on this list.

In this presentation, I pointed to several differences in SMEs vs. large companies which begins to explain why this is the case:

• Fast moving, creative and entrepreneurial
• Not a lot of time or money
• Have to succeed relatively quickly
• Generally can’t compete with the same approach as larger companies
• Critical importance of current customers
• Limited resources in-house

And specific differences regarding market research also contributes toward an explanation:

• Typically not a lot of experience i.e., not a lot of history in conducting research
• No one on staff dedicated to this function, usually just a small part of the marketing person’s job
• Research needs to be conducted more frequently, smaller scale and very cost effective

Whilst the above differences between SMEs and large companies help explain why an SME having a customer advisory panel is a rarity, these differences are also some of the very best reasons why they should!   Whenever I talk with our prospects and clients about why they need a customer advisory panel (or a custom panel comprised of consumers, subscribers, members, employees or some other group whose feedback they are interested in collecting), I concentrate on several needs and benefits starting first and foremost with the decision to have this type of panel sends the right message to your customers and the marketplace in general — it indicates that you as a business are listening to your customers (and potential customers) and you care what they think and you are going to take into consideration their feedback.  This is why we encourage all of our clients to issue a press release letting everyone know!

Other benefits which also serve the SMEs sector well include having a point of differentiation to compete more effectively, needing speedier turnaround of research results, having to reach a lower incidence group, making more of your overall budget, and needing a more continuous flow of feedback that can be absorbed and acted on effectively by your organisation.  Although an online customer advisory panel fits with most of the needs of SMEs beautifully, it is true that the decision to invest in one also requires at least some forethought and commitment to the research process.  I am convinced that in this situation, a little bit of forethought will go a very long way.

The Critical Importance Of Having A Customised Panelist Website

Engagement on the internet is challenging, with all of the various opportunities and stimuli competing for our attention.  A wide variety of techniques and tools are being used, and those who build and maintain custom panels/research communities should take note and also apply these best practices as much as possible.

Whilst it is unrealistic (and in most cases undesirable) to think or expect that a custom panel/research community is going to be a daily priority for its members, it is important that members can recall, and are reminded that they are a part of this research community and most important that they respond to the various survey and qualitative research invites as these are received.  This means that their impressions of this membership experience should be positive, professional and in general engaging enough to maintain their interest and make them feel valued as members.

With the main communication device  for panel owners being the panelist website where members are reminded of this relationship and can obtain information and interact with its content, having a customised panelist website tailored to the particular brand or category of interest is critical.

Some of the elements that should be included in a customised panelist website are:

• Custom Look & Feel - where the logo, style, colours and branding are consistent with the brand or category of interest
• Clear Call To Action – whether it is to join the panel or to login to update one’s profile information or check on incentives earned for their participation
• Quick Poll - where a member can provide an answer to a closed end question and immediately see how this answer compares with the answers of other members who have completed it
• News - members are interested in reading news items that are relevant to the brand or category and expect this information to be easily accessible within this environment
• Results - for both BtoB and BtoC panels, the sharing of results in order to demonstrate what insights are gained by their participation should be both interesting and rewarding to its members
• FAQs - these should be specific to the types of queries likely to occur across a host of different aspects of the relationship including who owns the panel, who operates the panel, how incentives are earned and redeemed, etc.
• Contact Us - often times, members will not want to take the time to review the FAQs or these will not have specifically addressed a question or concern they might have and will then want to use this information to get a response quickly and effectively
• Custom Pages & Elements - each panel and its website are different, depending on the audience plus the type of research that will be conducted with them, so there should be custom pages and elements specific to these needs.  For example, we recently built a chef’s panel for Premier Foods and the panelist website contains a “Chef’s Kitchen” page comprised of tips and advice from a professional chef, and a “Recipes” page containing a large and searchable database of recipes that could be downloaded and utilised by members.

Maintaining a high level of interest and engagement begins with having a well thought out customised  panelist website.  There are also other best practices worth mentioning related to the length of surveys, the way in which these questions are asked (i.e., interactivity) and the like but I will save this for another blog post.

The Case Against Ring-Fencing An Access Panel

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.

Collect Emails, Everything Else Will Follow

I have a friend who spoke with me this past weekend about a plumbing business he has just started, the starting point being a list he purchased from the owner of a previous plumbing business in the area.  After hearing about the business and the near term efforts to build a customer base, it made me think about a few relatively easy things that my friend could do to help build a successful business long term.  So, I thought I would share with everyone what I sent to my friend in a follow-up email …

Collecting email addresses is key, this should occur both when calls are made to the large prospect/customer list you purchased as well as each and every time you serve a customer.  If it is not collected by phone when the appointment is made, be sure to have your service technician ask for it.  These email addresses can be used for marketing purposes, be sure that there is an opt-out option that is clearly stated whenever you do an email marketing blast.

From a market research perspective which is my core area of expertise, you will then be able to:

– run a customer sat survey following up after each job is completed, thereby enabling you to address any issues or concerns raised promptly and to track results over time

– run surveys whenever desired to understand why you have not heard from some customers after a certain period of time has passed (lapsed customers) asking questions such as which competitors they are using and why, and what might it take to win them back

– run surveys to evaluate new product or service concepts, this can include altogether new services you might want to consider offering at some point and/or promotional offers or pricing changes you might be considering to grow your business further.  It can also include testing different ad copy.

EasyInsites can of course help you with developing and running these types of customer and product research when the time comes.  Beyond using your customer email database for research, EasyInsites can also access other consumers in the area for research purposes to help you understand the broader market opportunity.

Hope this brief outline is helpful to you, and good luck with launching the new business!

Community ‘Control’ More Sensible with Marketing than Market Research

Our ESOMAR paper has been featured in the Research Conference Report December 2010-January 2011 issue.

Main point: Online communities, particularly brand communities, are best led ‘by customers for customers’ and self-perpetuate most strongly when left alone. We almost dupe consumers if we interfere in these arenas with researchers’ formal, corporate or professional questions and comments. It’s not what consumers sing up to communities for.

RCR impressions of content:

Freshness: A
Relevance: A
Practicality: A-

For more information and to read the full article where our paper is featured on the front page of this report, contact Bob at www.rflonline.com

Charles Pearson 2011 Prediction – as originally published in Research Business Reports, December 2011 Issue

End clients in much greater numbers will realize the benefits of having their own online panels and communities.  There will be a clearer recognition that having a continuous dialogue with their customers (and potential customers) has greater value than the occasional ad-hoc survey.  In some cases, end clients are literally sitting on databases containing their customers’ email addresses and doing nothing with them.  Large companies will start to see the opportunity to engage their employees on key brand and business issues.  All employees do not work on the same brands or even the same categories, so they are not much different from the average consumer.  In many ways, they are even more interested and engaged in the research process; they know the value of research and are interested in helping it succeed because it ultimately benefits them.  End clients will continue to procure from full service MR agencies, but will become more experienced with the process and the cost elements from participating in more DIY activities and interacting with smaller agencies.  Technology will put more DIY tools at their disposal, but cause end clients to expect their agencies to provide even greater transparency and value.

To gain access to the entire set of 2011 predictions (16 pages covering the opinions of close to 100 leading market researchers across the world), contact the publisher Bob Lederer at www.rflonline.com

Why Are We Trying To Create New Communities For Market Research Purposes?

I presented a paper earlier this week at the ESOMAR Online Conference in Berlin.  Below is a brief extract from it.   For more information and to purchase a copy of the complete paper, please contact ESOMAR.

There is currently considerable discussion and debate at market research conferences and online on market research forums, blogs, Twitter and the like regarding custom panels and communities.  Several themes and strongly held opinions emerge when examining this dialogue, including:

• Market researchers should be taking the lead in creating online communities to help brands get closer to their consumers and gain insights to better manage and grow these brands. The loudest voice here argues that market researchers are best suited to take the initiative because of their experience with insights and awareness of how best to listen to and interpret what consumers are saying, as well noting these communities touch all parts of the business so someone in the organisation needs to take the lead so why not the market research department. A minority voice argues that market researchers are not necessarily best positioned for this and that the appropriate place out of which the initiative should be driven is the Marketing Department.
• Online communities which are designed for market research only should be created to enable the opportunity to view and interpret the uninterrupted voice and exchange of ideas amongst consumers. The argument here is that these communities need to be constructed by the company in order for these dialogues to occur and be heard. The counter argument points to the vast array of online communities that already exist across various social media platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, and many others and asks why the company would need to construct (and fund) another community when there are already so many in existence from which to listen and learn.
• There are major differences between an online community and an online custom panel. Some argue that online custom panels are commonplace and something of the past, and do not enable theopportunity for uninterrupted conversations between and amongst consumers. This perspective suggests that online custom panels are somehow less useful than an online community. Another perspective is that online custom panels are not yet widely adopted and do not naturally occur and that these panels deliver substantial and clearly identifiable benefits to the companies who have them. Still others argue that both have their place, and they serve different purposes.

This paper seeks to explore these varying points of view and to shed light on the topic both through a detailed assessment of the research that has been published to date as well as a detailed examination of one company’s experience.

Why Build A Panel (vs. Using A Database)

I was recently asked the following question by a client for whom we had conducted a screener survey on an email list of theirs: why should I take the time and resource to invest in a custom panel when I can just send surveys to this email list whenever a project comes up that would be suitable?  We spent an hour together in person discussing the reasons, the very abbreviated summary version follows.  Maybe you too are facing a similar situation and this will be helpful to you.

There are many reasons why building a panel over using a database is a sensible decision. The key reasons include:

Cost – although there are set-up costs with a panel, these are one-time costs. The panel website, database structure, and registration/profiling survey will not need to be replaced each year and small changes can be made without a lot, if any, cost. There are also cost savings with a panel vs. using a list – with a list, at some point you are likely to need to find more sample to complete a project because the list is not producing enough completed interviews for you to complete the analysis. It is also more expensive per project to use a list vs. a panel because the latter has more that can be automated, such as incentive payment/fulfillment.

Higher response rates – with a panel, you can expect 60%+ response rates. In contrast, a list will typically produce response rates in the single digits. Even if these begin high with the first survey, they are likely to decline fairly quickly and consistently over time as consumers forget about the relationship and become distracted and engaged with other things especially if long gaps exist between communications.

Reliability – with a panel, we will be able to predict how many completed interviews can be obtained within specific timeframes. This is important as the business relies on you to deliver each study by a certain time and within budget.

Depth of insight – with a panel, you will not have to re-ask questions and will be able to easily combine profile information (that had been collected when members joined the panel) with the specific data from the survey, thereby enabling you to produce even deeper insights on each study.

Level of engagement – with a panel, when managed properly, your members will feel a part of something you might call a community of sorts. This results in their willingness to participate often and to provide you with even more feedback than you would otherwise be able to obtain.

Ability to recruit on-going – with a panel, we would be able to easily direct traffic to join the panel through your promotions or other methods. This will help to keep it growing and fresh. In contrast, with a list, there is really nowhere for consumers to go who are interested in participating.

Top 10 Reasons To Consider Using EasyVideo For Your Next Qualitative Research Project

(Sourced from a Top 10 list published by our partner QualVu)

Why EasyVideo?

EasyVideo connects our clients with their truth through an innovative video-based platform that enables our clients to connect with their customers, gather rich insights, and make better business decisions.  EasyVideo (powered by a proprietary platform from our partner QualVu) uses a streamlined proprietary process that delivers qualitative intelligence faster and more cost effectively, while driving new levels of insight from consumers globally at home, work, or on the go.

1.    Connecting Clients With Their Truth
By truth we mean to understand your customers completely and have their honest input about your company, products, ideas or brands. EasyVideo will completely change how you get close to your customer to really know them – not just to collect data, but to improve how you do business.

2.    Streamlined & Global

Because of our asynchronous methodology, we have a national or global reach instantly. We can connect with hard-to-reach segments in the business, medical, and scientific communities who are hard to get into a live focus group since they are so busy.

3.    Respondents Speak for Themselves
It’s not just accurate, it’s their personal truth. It’s their voice, their environment, their sights and sounds. The richness of this webcam feedback stems from the fact that the participants are truly on their own turf when they respond.

4.    Convenience and Comfort Level
Respondents can be in their home, in their favorite chair, even wearing pajamas if they want, and can respond to the research questions at a time that is convenient for them.
The ability to do this creates for them the ultimate comfort zone and it gives you a chance to witness their reality, to truly understand your customer. We utilize web cams and can also equip them with a mobile flip cam to take on shop-alongs, into the kitchen, bathroom, backseat and other “real world” locations.

5.    Insightful

The typical focus group response can vary from a few sentences to a monolog that dominates the conversation. EasyVideo respondents are not influenced or distracted by “alpha–dogs”. The average video response on an EasyVideo project can be between four to seven minutes. Because the respondent is in a familiar and low pressure environment, they are often willing to share more intimate and insightful information.

6.    Better Information Creates Better Business Decisions
EasyVideo is much more than a focus group, a triad, or IDI.  EasyVideo gives you a new weapon in delivering substantive insights to your brand team, to set your brand apart. True engagement with customer helps you better leverage the value of qualitative insights in your journey to get to your brand’s truth.

7.    A Unique and Flexible Approach
Our iterative approach to research is to move in distinct phases, based on the needs of each individual client.  We can be a full-service, turnkey operation, if you so choose. From start to finish, we can do the recruit, data collection, organization, and final reporting and analysis.

8.    Build a Panel for Longer Term Relationships and Insight
Our online framework allows us, and you, to maintain people for continuous access over time. So you can build on the insight you gained from them in the first place.

9.    Economical
Never before has innovation combined with optimal cost-efficiency been more important to today’s researcher. EasyVideo can deliver significant savings on costs and time vs. traditional methods of research.

10.    Proven Track Record
Many of the world’s leading brands use EasyVideo to outflank their competitors by gaining on-demand access to their target consumers. Users of this platform source from numerous Fortune 100 companies, including those in the food and beverage, packaged goods, telecommunications, financial services, travel, health care/pharmaceutical and technology industries.


Going beyond the “buzz” to qualify and quantify online opinion

In partnership with Crimson Hexagon, EasyInsites has launched EasyOpinion.  This product will utilise the VoxTrot Opinion Monitor platform to not only listen to the opinions being expressed on the internet but also to systematically and intelligently categorise and quantify these opinions to determine the direction of the sentiment, the specific features or elements being discussed, and the likes or dislikes.

The technology to be used will allow EasyInsites to analyse the vast social internet (blog posts, forum messages, Tweets, etc.) by identifying statistical patterns in the words used to express opinions on different topics.  It then uses these patterns to calculate the percentage of all opinion for each opinion category, as defined by EasyInsites in consultation with our clients.  The underlying technology to be used has been developed by Dr. Gary King at Harvard University where he is the David Florence Professor of Government and the director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science.

Competitive technologies, by contrast, simply count the number of mentions of different keywords or infer generic positive or negative sentiment.  Importantly, the margin of error with EasyOpinion is considerably smaller than these alternative approaches.

Marketing applications for EasyOpinion include:

• the ability to assess and adjust marketing for better resonance
• understand product performance to drive sales further
• influence new product development direction
• gain competitive insights
• determine where and how to start or respond to conversations

We believe strongly that our role at EasyInsites is not to create communities where opinions are expressed and monitored, but instead to allow for communities and opinion to form and occur naturally all over the internet.  Our approach in partnering with Crimson Hexagon is completely consistent with this belief and provides us with a systematic, quantifiable and highly accurate way to measure these opinions and deliver actionable information to our clients.  This approach is a perfect complement to our other services including custom panels.

For more information, please contact us at info@easyinsites.com.  Also, please let us know what you think of this new product introduction by commenting here on our blog.