As I mentioned in my blog last week, panel management encompasses a number of procedures that affect the quality of survey results, including authenticating who is in a particular panel, continuing to gather information about them over time, monitoring their behavior and response rates, tracking the number of surveys they participate in, and making sure the panel is used only for research purposes.
Proper panel management enables researchers to be confident they are accessing the right people for reliable survey results.
It also offers the ability to re-contact study participants over time for repeated surveys as in longitudinal studies or product testing – something that providers who source people from random clicks on advertisements, known as river sample, or provide access to multiple sellers of sample via a portal or platform, known as aggregators, cannot replicate.
Two key aspects of a managed panel, which are critical to dependable research responses and repeated surveying, are:
Depth
Collecting and storing information about individuals – whether for B2B or B2C marketing – enables a data provider to be more precise when demonstrating who constitutes their panel; accurate when determining what types of surveys are relevant to different survey participants; and diligent when establishing the authenticity of those attributes on single individuals.
Effective targeting relies on the ability of a data provider to collect accurate user attributes. Attributes can reflect demographics, firmographics, psychographics, or other nuggets of information.
For example, panel attributes for a B2B audience in the IT area might include whether an individual has expertise in voice technology, networking, or cloud computing. Or whether a business owner offers personal services, or what military branch a government worker is in. Attributes can be collected over a variety of organizations, in legal services, real estate, transportation, healthcare, and more.
Panel attributes for a B2C audience might include home improvements, grocery purchases, household vehicles, leisure activities, or electronics owned. Being able to access the right people within a single panel source ensures uniform approaches are applied throughout, which ultimately leads to higher quality.
Breadth
A large panel without breadth of audience types is like owning a 70” Smart TV that receives only one or two channels – the value it provides is severely limited. Audience reach has a direct bearing on the ability to effectively field a research study (also known as feasibility) and on tapping into low-incidence audiences. Very specific, hard-to-find audiences – such as truckers or investors – are better represented in large panels.
- Other benefits of larger panel size include:
Consistent sampling methodology are practiced, helping to ensure consistency, particularly in sourcing methodology, from start to finish. - Control of audience types across a single panel – the ability to source different audience types across different sourcing methodologies – provides the variety and breadth needed within a first-party asset to collect accurate data, as well as offer census-balanced audiences.
Ensuring a panel source is properly managed and maintained over time enables more information to be collected about the individuals that participate as well. Because well-maintained first-party panels devote a significant time to collecting information on the people who participate, known as profiling, they can determine who is best qualified for a study without asking a single question. As a result, what might normally be a 20-minute-long survey can be whittled to 10 minutes, a much more digestible format in an era of shortened attention spans and a huge win in terms of participant experience.
Likewise, proper panel management means adherence to all national, regional, and local laws and best practices with respect to privacy and data protection, as well as compliance with all applicable industry standards set by ESOMAR, MRS (UK), AMSRS (Australia), BVM (Germany), Insights Association, MRIA (Canada), etc.
The significance of the devotion and effort it takes to properly cultivate and maintain a panel is unparalleled when it comes to conducting quality research that, in turn, leads to actionable insights that ultimately result in sound business decisions.
White Paper: A Guide to Becoming an Educated Consumer of Digital Research Data
Done well, market research provides critical information for successful decision making for both B2C and B2B companies, ultimately delivering better results and a competitive advantage. Therefore, the decision about which company you choose to source your research sample from should be made knowledgeably.
This new white paper by Research Now aims to educate buyers of digital research data by defining the different kinds of participant data available for research surveys and the key considerations to bear in mind when choosing a research sample provider. Download your copy by clicking below.
