mria, prairie chapter january 2006 why buy the fish when you can own the fishing rod? leveraging...
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MRIA, Prairie Chapter
January 2006
Why Buy the Fish When you Can Own the Fishing Rod?Leveraging Custom Panels
Presented by Michael RodenburghVP, Consulting Services
Why Buy the Arctic Char When you Can Drill Your Own Hole in the Ice?Leveraging Custom Panels
MRIA, Prairie Chapter
January 2006
Presented by Michael RodenburghVP, Consulting Services
Vision Critical Overview
Tech firm dedicated to the research industry since 2000
Focus on MR tools that simply, enrich and empower
■ Services limited to our core expertise - online panels
60+ custom panel installs in the past 12 months:
■ US teens, Air travelers, Radio listeners, TV viewers, Canadian women, Canadians 18+, Magazine readers, Financial Advisors, Loyalty Card holders, Runners
Partnerships with key sample providers (SSI, eRewards, etc.)
Online Research
Current value of the North American research industry: $7 billion
33% of all quantitative research is being done online currently
Value of online research market set to triple in the next three years, reaching $4 billion by 2008
In three years that number will be over 66% online
As a result, the use of Internet panels will continue to see explosive growth for the foreseeable future
“the availability and use of panels has ‘democratized’ the…research scene”
“end clients are more and more convinced of the reliability of results”
“consumers can share their opinions…in a less intrusive, more respondent-centric way”
“To put it simply, panels are hot!”
ESOMAR Conference Chair,
Worldwide Panel Conference March 2005
Budapest, Hungary
“Within 3 years, online panels will be the mechanism by which 50% of all primary research is done, across industries.”
EVP Marketing, $10 Billion B-B Technology firm
Types of Panels
Large national consumer
Large national B-B
Industry or demographic specific (public)
Multi-client/syndicated
Proprietary■ Blind
− Recruited from national panel/database− Recruited through industry sources, lists, internal sources
■ Customer panels− External and internal recruiting sources− Affinity-build− Product design help
■ Customer councils− Smaller− B-B− Brand champions
Customer Panel Landscape
VIP Communities (300)• Bulletin boards
Panel Advisors (30,000)• Panel+
Customers (3,000,000)• EFM, CRM, Email
Target Market (30m)• Monitoring, CRM, Email
• Consolidation likely LT
• Pressure from both sides
Custom Panels vs. Syndicated Panels
Today’s syndicated panel is the ‘telephone omnibus’ of tomorrow
■ “Rent” access to the panel for ad hoc surveys
Custom panels are those that are proprietary to one client■ Respondent contact information and data is typically ‘owned’ by the
end-client
While syndicated panels are useful, many are not perfect■ Rate of professional survey taking inside syndicated panels
■ Ease of joining many online panels is creating many professional survey takers
Comscore Networks reports that:■ 30% of all online surveys are taken by only 0.25% of the Internet
population
■ These heavy survey responders each took an average of 80 surveys per quarter in 2004 – that’s about 1 a day!
Drivers of Custom Panels
Why are Custom Panels becoming popular?
14% of consumers and fewer business decision makers are accessible by phone – CASRO
The average response rate of opt-in email lists for surveys is 1.5% (DMA)
The most costly components of low incidence consumer and B-B online surveys today are sample and incentives
Demand for more, faster, agile intelligence sources
SPAM and telemarketing backlash
Desire for client control
Our prediction is that growth in online panels will outstrip syndicated panel growth in 2006
■ Upcoming research conference in San Francisco will have FIVE speakers all speaking about some component of custom panels
This All May Not be Good News for the Research Industry
An ESOMAR study conducted 5 years ago regarding how the industry is perceived by senior executives suggested that the operating model for the MR industry would change very soon
Client
Research Supplier
Respondent
2009
1999
And it’s happening now…
Research is going direct to the buyer…consultants are being cut out of the equation
Look at the proliferation of ‘do it yourself’ web survey tools online:
■ Zoomerang.com
■ Surveymonkey.com
■ Websurveyor.com
■ Panel+
■ Etc.
Why, you ask.....?
Custom Panel Benefits
■ Cost Savings− Information is becoming a commodity, and panels are more cost
effective
■ Fast Turnaround− Usable results can be gathered in a matter of days
■ Sampling flexibility− Strategic segments in the panel can be isolated for specific studies
among low incidence groups
■ Longitudinal analysis− Unlike ad hoc studies, panels allow for tracking behavior over time
■ Ownership of panelists− Clients like the idea of control - nobody else burning out their
respondents, and it utilizes their in-house databases for on-going research
■ Visual stimuli− Ability to assess still images and/or video formats
■ Shorter interviews− Eliminating common questions from each survey shortens average
survey length, keeping response rates high
Other Panel Benefits
Provides better information vis-à-vis cause and effect relationships
More easily managed on an on-going basis (no more fighting fires!)
Reinforces market focus throughout the organization
Allows you to conduct research when you would otherwise not conduct it
Is a Panel Right for My Organization? Yes, if…
Sample is difficult to find, low incidence, stringent screeners
There is a need for ongoing, continuous feedback; ■ 6 or more surveys of the group will be done within a year
Cost of tapping third party list brokers or competitive customer databases are significant-need to cut long term costs
Desire to build an own your own corporate market intelligence asset
Turnaround is needed quickly
Behavioral or attitudinal data should be tracked across time
Would like to understand the “why” of CRM/transactional data
You have an easy, low cost means of recruiting panelists■ Web site links
■ Accurate in-house email lists
■ Large phone survey that can be piggybacked on to recruit panelists
Separating Research from Panel Mgmt
“online panels require input from many disciplines outside normal market research practice…”
ESOMAR Conference Presenter
Worldwide Panel Conference 2005
The panel manager needs to be:■ Part researcher
■ Part advertiser
■ Part respondent advocate
The Need for Technology
A panel is more than an email list and a web survey
You need to consider all of the components required to make the panel work:
■ Panelist portal
■ Survey authoring & hosting
■ Sampling management
■ Email deployment
■ Online qualitative (online focus groups)
■ Real-time reporting
■ Panel management
So, you want to build a panel?
OngoingPanel
Maintenance
Develop Panel Plan & Recruiting Plan
Customize Panel+(Incl. branding and skins, etc.)
Recruit
Profiling Survey
Ongoing Research
Quarterly Panel Health Assessments
Panel Plan
Successful custom panels have a plan that outlines:
■ What the optimal panel size is, based on:− # of studies− Sample sizes required for each study− Response rates expected− Incidence of segments− Expected churn rate− Panel usage (new product only vs. ad testing vs. customer sat)
Next , the plan determines the criteria for representation
■ Specific segments required
■ Required quotas or subgroups
■ Age/language/Region, any others?
Panel Plan
The panel plan also lays out criteria for:
■ Anticipated research program
■ Frequency of Contact
■ Response rates
■ Purge Rules
■ Incentives
■ Newsletters
Finally, the plan provides estimates for recruiting timelines & costs (if appropriate)
Should the Panel be Branded or Blind?
Branded advantages:
■ Clear and real connection to the panelist
■ Able to dig down into the relationship between yourself and your customer
■ Much less expensive to recruit
Blind advantages
■ Able to research competitive space without concern for bias
Panels can be both blind and branded at the same time!
■ Blended strategy combats source bias and decreases recruit costs
Panel Recruitment Best Practices
It should be treated it like an advertising campaign – with a theme and creative direction
Think about engaging your marketing department, including a creative director and copywriter
Recruitment method depends on nature of panel, but can include one or more of these sources:
Direct mail invitations to customers (branded) Telephone recruitment for high value - hard to recruit target
segments (branded) Purchased double opt-in email lists (blind) Viral marketing and member-get-a-member (blind) Media purchase on appropriate business websites (blind) Banner/pop-up recruitment from client website (branded or blind) Magazine advertising (branded or blind)
Multiple sources is usually highly recommended to obviate any bias
Panel Composition
Bigger isn’t necessarily better
Size of panel is dictated by minimum sample sizes, anticipated usage, response rates to each study
Panel doesn’t need to be representative, in fact it may NOT be representative on purpose
■ You only need to have the capability of drawing rep samples from the panel
Optimal Usage
Panel usage should emphasize frequent, short surveys
Past experience has suggested optimal number of survey invitations is between 12 and 24 per year
How big does it need to be?
Sizing can be based upon anticipated usage of the panel
Easy way to estimate required panel size:
■ Lower limit: ((number of surveys * sample size per survey)/12/average response rate)
■ Upper limit: ((number of surveys * sample size per survey)/24/average response rate)
Therefore, if we planned to have 20 studies at 1,000 completes each, and ran an average response rate of 35%...
■ Lower limit: 2,381
■ Upper limit: 4,762
■ These calculations assume equal distribution of surveys across all demos, etc.
Panel Sizing – Another Approach
Minimum sample size for each study in specific segments
Example:
1. A company has 8 target segments
2. 400 is considered an acceptable sample for analysis within any group
3. Panel should be able to hold a 35% response rate without aggressive purging (conservative estimate)
We can therefore calculate 8 segments*400/0.35 = 9,142 rough panel size
Panel Profiling & Composition
After recruit plan complete, recruiting and panelist profiling commences
Profiling survey becomes the criteria against which respondents are qualified
■ Demographics
■ Firmographics
■ Category participation
■ Lifestyle and values
■ Profiling survey can automatically de-duplicate respondents based on email address
■ Profiling survey must include a double opt-in!
Incentives
People join panels for 3 reasons:
1. Connectors: they want to be part of the decision making process
2. Pay to Play: they want to be rewarded for their time
3. Mavens: they want access to the information collected
Incentive programs, especially B2B, must consider all 3 motivations and plan accordingly
Incentives
We recommend a 3 pronged incentive plan:
1. Affinity: Emphasize the elite nature of the panel Identify client action items from information collected
2. Rewards: Rewards don’t have to be complicated to be effective
free conferences, magazine subscriptions, free LD, Amazon.com, gift certificates, charity donations or IT gadgets, prize draws, etc.
3. Information: A quarterly newsletter (or a report for B2B panels) written
specifically for panelists using information gathered during the research reinforces interest in participating
The Case Study - WomensVoiceOnline
WomensVoiceOnline
WomensVoiceOnline:
■ TV viewers (obviously women!) 18 to 54 yrs
■ N=2000 (approx) across the country
Panel used to assess:
■ Viewing behaviours
■ Movie reviews
■ Advertiser studies – shopping behaviours, etc.
Recruited from a combination of online advertising, mainstream media (TV ads), and double opt-in email lists
The Case Study – WomensVoiceOnline
Respondent Log-in
Panelist “Lobby”
The Results
They averaged roughly 1 survey per month
Key is ability to get results quickly – 48 hour turnaround is not unusual
Very high response rates – usually 40% or higher, sometimes as high as 65%
Low proportion of non-responsive panelists
Allowed the network to address sales opportunities that would not have been otherwise addressable due to turnaround time
Provided important insight into the correlation between viewing patterns and product usage – allowing them to alter programming accordingly
Only 10% of the panel have never responded to a
survey.
Only 182 have opted out of the
panel since inception last year.
What’s Ahead for the Future?
“Respondent for life”
Sample fodder evolves to respected advisor – the general public are not ‘lab-rats’
Panels and councils become function and industry specific, customized by size, sponsor affinity, and level of interaction (feedback, profiles collected, transaction, promotions)
Integration with CRM, blogs – research turns into Feedback Marketing
Democratizing Customer FeedbackCan Research Harness this Power of Online Customers?
Internet democratizes the consumer environment
Can a panel harness the power of the internet to be both marketing and research?
37,000 downloads:
■ Tiny Machine
2.2 million downloads:
■ iPod’s Secret
Thank You!
For More Information:
Michael Rodenburgh, VP Consulting Services
(604) 647-3563