|
Custom Panels
Custom Panels
Baxter Strategies offers this powerful service
to access your customers and
target audience quickly and effectively for your brand/market
research needs.
Many companies find that they are repeatedly
surveying the same population over
and over again and are looking for a way to improve
the efficiency of this process as well as to increase the accuracy of the data
they uncover. Typical online research can help, but often has very low response
rates which raises questions about survey accuracy.
The
solution for many of these companies is to
create a proprietary online panel, giving them access to their own pre-recruited
customers and/or target market to make their research more cost-effective,
improve response rates, project turnaround times, and even survey accuracy.
An additional benefit, surveys can be
shorter because there is less need to collect information already gathered, and
longitudinal surveying of the same panelists makes it possible to find out how
an individuals attitudes and behavior have changed over time.
You can also use proprietary panelists for
online focus groups and other qualitative efforts.
Developing Panels That Work
A custom panel can support a wide range of
strategic and tactical objectives. For example, a panel can be used to measure
and assess changes in customer needs, brand images, brand purchase motivation
and propensities.
A panel can be used to assist brand managers
test product concepts, features and packaging or to conduct preliminary tests of
new products; senior management can tap into the panel to obtain quick reliable
market insight on issues of strategic importance.
But to accomplish these varied tasks it is
essential that the pane be developed to accurately reflect your market and
industry. Baxter Strategies consultants draw upon considerable panel, market and
industry expertise and can help assure that the panel you develop will meet your
corporate and brand needs both in the short and the long term.
Effective Panel Design
In designing a panel there are many different
questions that need to be addressed. What is the optimal size of your panel, to
meet your needs without being excessively large. Should the panel represent your
customers? Or should it represent the entire market? What types of buyers should
be represented? (brand users, heavy users, etc.) What regions or geographic
areas should the panel cover? How many surveys will you be conducting each month
and each year? How will this impact panel size? Who should be recruited
and what methods should be used to recruit panel members? How frequently should
you contact each panelist? How frequently should you interview a panelist? When
should a panelist be dropped from the panel? What incentives should be offered
for panel membership, or for conducting a survey? These are just a few of the
many questions that Baxter Strategies will help answer along with many other
critical design issues to ensure that you get the most out of your panel.
Recruiting Panel Members
Recruiting is one of the most important and
difficult components of panel development and maintenance. Clearly, the accuracy
and value of panel data depends on reliable input from qualified, unbiased
panelists but, it is increasingly difficult to recruit qualified participants.
Applying our extensive experience Baxter Strategies consultants will help you
recruit the right people for the right information. But finding the right people
is only half the story, we have also learned how to maximize performance
increasing the membership rate, to assure that your panel is representative of
the marketing is seeks to represent.
Among the methodologies we use to build custom
panels are: Nth Visitor/Nth-Visitor on exit pop up selection, and click here
buttons to intercepts surfers on company Web sites. We also use customer lists,
and telephone, mail or mall recruiters to attract online survey takers. In
addition, Baxter Strategies has our own proprietary online panel;
www.mysurveycenter.com and maintains
ongoing relationships with numerous online sample providers.
Collecting Panel Data
While we are well versed in all panel data
collection methodologies, we most frequently use custom online methods most
often to collect data for the custom panels we run. Online data collection is
preferred because it is generally less expensive and enables faster access to
information than the alternatives. But we also collect address and phone numbers
from panel members to permit mail and phone surveys to be done when they are
more appropriate. Every web survey that Baxter Strategies conducts is custom
programmed to provide the most effective, engaging, comprehensive, powerful, and
panelist-friendly survey; that can answer virtually any marketing/business need
or objective including advertising evaluations and product demonstrations.
Analysis and Reporting
In addition to collecting data from the panel,
we offer a full complement of analytic methods, and unexcelled analytical
expertise to interpret and draw insights from the data. Among these
methodologies, we offer a comprehensive selection of segmentation, conjoint,
forecasting and modeling techniques. Additionally, we can prepare customized
reports and presentations that will seamlessly flow into your management
reporting requirements.
Database Management
During the panel design phase, we work with the
client to build a flexible database plan. These plans typically include the
incorporation of available customer and third party data. At the client’s
request, we continue to develop, clean, merge and manage the panel database. If
the client prefers to manage the data themselves, we are available to provide
guidance.
Panel Maintenance
The two biggest issues in panel maintence are: panel
attrition and replacement bias.
Many companies that utilize panels have found annual
attrition rates that can actually exceed 50%. Severe panel erosion can greatly
undermine the cost advantages of a using a panel, and bring its accuracy into
question if replacement panelist selection is not precisely defined and managed.
Baxter Strategies can provide the guidance that will help
you minimize attrition and bias. To accomplish this daunting task, we utilize a
wide variety of attrition reducing methods including: respectful, professionally
written communications with panel members; controlling the length and style of
survey instruments; making the surveys interesting and thought provoking to the
panel members; using creative incentives designed to maximize interest without
giving away the house.
Further, when replacing panel members, we are fastidious in our
efforts to identify the types of individuals we need to replace and work
tirelessly to create a comprehensive and accurate sampling plan that will reduce
bias and maintain panel integrity and accuracy.
| 
