How to Develop and Manage a Social Research Panel.
The social online research panel is emerging as an effective platform to engage your customers in feedback through survey responses and other methods. Traditional panels that reward members with prizes and points for taking surveys have been experiencing higher panelist attrition rates and growing costs per interview, and they face a general deterioration in data quality.
Immense competition is rampant within the market research industry to recruit and keep panelists, resulting in many instances where the same consumers belong to multiple panels. Or consumers go “panel hopping” and join one panel and then quickly leave in search of the most appealing incentives. Further exacerbating the problem is increasing panelist fatigue, which has led to higher attrition rates. And the one-way communication between the traditional panel provider and their panelists has led to disengaged and disinterested respondents.
Building social panels can alleviate many of these panel development and management challenges. Social panels are designed to enhance two-way communication among the panelists, resulting in more highly engaged respondents who provide better insights and become much more loyal members.
In this era of social media, social panel development is necessary and even cost efficient.
