Online market research communities are rising in popularity, with options becoming cheaper and more accessible by the day.
While you may first think of online platforms being used for large-scale quantitative research, there has been a boom of qualitative research taking place with the help of online platforms as well.
But what if your company has concerns about respondent quality or has research needs that require a more specialized target audience?
No worries! Many online research communities out there have what you are looking for. But what are they and what differentiates them from standard online panels? Keep reading to find out.
What Are Online Market Research Communities?
Online market research communities are digital platforms where both businesses and market researchers can engage with a group of pre-qualified respondents to gather insights and feedback about products, services, or any other research needs you may have.
These market research communities take inspiration from social media websites and message boards in an attempt to encourage discussion based on a series of topics relating to the research taking place.
These communities are designed to facilitate an ongoing dialogue between the organization and its target audience.
Researchers acting as moderators can also step in as ‘subject experts’ to lead discussions or answer any questions that participants may have.
Types of Online Market Research Communities
There’s plenty of online market research communities that exist in the digital space. But while they all share the same premise, the type of platform as well as the people involved can vary.
Below are a few examples of the different types of communities that exist within the research space.
Branded Online Communities
Some companies have become so deeply invested into the research space that they have created their own online communities.
This method usually focuses on gathering feedback on products or services from respondents that businesses have confidence in both the respondent quality and the respondents’ interest in their organization and its services.
Social Media-Based Communities
Businesses can leverage an already existing social media following to gather feedback from users.
These communities may include brand pages, websites, or other social media groups to encourage users to share their feedback and experiences. A benefit with this method is that feedback may be easier to gather since users are already familiar with said brand’s offerings.
Focus Group Communities
These communities are specifically designed to have participants engage in online focus groups.
Respondents in these groups are usually heavily vetted to confirm their qualifications. Activities in these groups include live video conferences with other participants and live chats led by a moderator.
Features of Online Market Research Communities
There are plenty of unique benefits that online market research communities provide when compared to both traditional qualitative research methods.
Participant Engagement
Participants are incentivized to provide their honest feedback. In doing this, participants will communicate more openly and get a good dialogue going.
This leads to higher engagement numbers and respondent rates for niche target audiences.
Real-Time Discussion
Some community platforms have the capability to integrate live discussions with respondents.
This allows both researchers and businesses to gain immediate feedback and engage in a real-time conversation about the research and topics being addressed. A key benefit here is that smaller details are likely to come up naturally in the conversation.
Flexible Research Options
Online market research communities offer many different types of research options that can be curated to best fit your organization’s needs.
Traditional surveys can be utilized as well as research formatted through online forums and message boards. This type of flexible research is important, as it provides more options to businesses across industries.
Segmentation
If you are looking for feedback from specific demographic groups, online communities have the capability to target based on your research needs.
Using segmentation, these communities can provide accurate information on various groups of people to help businesses target specific audiences. By using this information, brands can tailor their products/services to their customers.
Benefits of Online Market Research Communities
Online research communities offer a whole range of benefits for those who take advantage of them. Below, you’ll find a few of the top benefits.
Shortened Research Times
Online market research communities are able to provide your business with pre-existing respondent bases.
With a community of respondents already available to fulfill your research, the process of spending days or even weeks looking for those qualified to respond to your research needs is completely eliminated.
The only timing that is left up to you is how quickly you want to get your research prepared and sent out into the field.
Reduced Cost of Research
Having an already prepared online research community eliminates the need for qualitative research measures like in-person focus groups.
In-person qualitative research can increase research budgets, so reducing the need for them can help your organization shift the budget into other marketing strategies or even additional research.
Expanding Your Reach
Bringing your research to online communities allows you to reach a worldwide audience at a fraction of the cost.
You will no longer face the limitations of transportation and travel that in-person research can provide. Online communities even the playing field in terms of respondent accessibility into some previously challenging research methods.
Challenges of Online Market Research Communities
While there are plenty of benefits to online research communities, there are a few drawbacks.
Recruitment and Retention
Like any other research method, the initial recruitment of participants can turn into a challenge, especially when targeting a niche audience.
Audiences can also have varying preferences to the types of research they are interested in participating in, so personal preferences may reduce response rates or eliminate members from community participation altogether.
The Possibility of Bias
Online market research communities can be curated by either a moderator from the business conducting research or a researcher who is partnered with that business.
The responsibility of selecting participants has the possibility of being biased by those making the selection. Extra care must be taken in order to limit the amount of bias in the selection process.
Data Privacy
In some instances with these online communities, personal identifying information (PII) can be used to validate the quality of respondents.
As is the case with any other type of data collection, the privacy of your users should be paramount during the entire process.
Will an Online Market Research Community Fit My Research Needs?
If you are any business that provides consumers with a product or services, then yes - online market research communities are perfect for your research needs!
Online market research communities are a universal, versatile tool that provide a benefit to any type of business interested in gathering ongoing, interactive feedback from a targeted audience.
Being able to directly engage with their market audience allows you to better understand customer needs which can provide you with the best data to make the best business decisions for your organization.Additionally, you can easily gauge customer satisfaction while simultaneously testing new products and even marketing campaigns.
Furthermore, other organizations types like those in the technology or healthcare sectors may find a massive benefit to the niche targeting that can take place on these online communities.
With few people in the overall audience being qualified or even interested in your research, online communities make it easy to dig through all the noise and find exactly who you are looking for and provide them with research that interests them.
Contact Our Full-Service Market Research Firm
No matter the industry, businesses have much to gain from using online market research communities. Using our vast amount of research experience, we will ensure you receive the specific research insights for your brand.
Want to learn more about our market research services? Contact us today.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Mason Banaszek
As a Research Analyst, Mason is involved in the entire project lifecycle. With five years of professional experience in both market research and political polling, he has the know-how of working with a plethora of research methodologies.
Learn more about Mason,here.
