MarketTools Blog

Years before I worked in market research, I was a member of an online survey panel.  I took enough surveys to get a $20 check in the mail and once got a bag of potato chips as part of an in-home usage test. Perhaps my early days as a panelist have left me particularly attentive to the panelist’s point of view. 

Panelists have a lot to tell us about online market research and they find ways to make their opinions known.  Whether it’s through our panel support team, our ZoomPanel Facebook page, or the dropout rates in a survey, panelists make themselves heard. I’d argue that our industry is better for it. 

Here are four things our panelists tell us that make us better researchers.

1.  Be Consistent
We’ve found that even small changes in the survey-taking experience provoke lots of comments from our panelists. Whether it’s an addition to our panel info webpage or a tweak in our incentives, panelists are quick to let us know what they think. This makes us thoughtful in the way we approach change and the way we communicate our practices to our panelists and clients. When we roll out a new feature in our panel program or in the survey process, we’re careful to keep as much of our old system in place as possible.  We find it is important to set clear expectations for our panelists and to meet those expectations.

This stability is good for our research too. It assures that our customers get consistent results across months and years of work with MarketTools. And the promise of reliable insight is what’s built our reputation in the research industry.

2.  Be Efficient
More than anything else, online survey takers complain about screening out. From a panelist’s point of view, a screen out is a failed survey experience.  The panelist was ready to take a survey, but three questions in they are told they didn’t fit our target. In their mind, we sent them the wrong survey! We find the same expectations from our clients.  They look to us to identify niche audiences accurately and bring them exactly the respondents they need.

As a result, we’ve deeply profiled our panel on hundreds of different traits. It’s the kind of precision that our customers have come to rely on from ZoomPanel.

3.  Create an Engaging Survey Experience
Panelists have limited patience for long, tedious and boring surveys. When a particularly lengthy and painful survey goes out the door, panelists drop out in droves. These patterns remind us that part of what surveys provide is entertainment. If we want our panelists’ help, we have to provide them with an engaging survey experience.

That basic truth has driven us to create better surveys, utilizing innovative formats like card sorts, shelf simulators, image highlighters and other visually attractive, game-like exercises. Not only does this keep our panelists happy, but it also gives our clients access to data that they never would have been able to capture before.

4.  Focus!
It’s the invisible hand of the panel that makes every researcher ask, “Do I really need that last question?”  The pressure to keep surveys short and focused makes us more thoughtful as researchers. It helps us to zero in on the essential questions of a research project before we hit launch. 

At MarketTools, we’ve taken that one step further and turned panelist feedback and signs of disengagement into TrueSample Survey Score. This tool gives researchers a means to adjust and improve survey design, and increase the likelihood that survey respondents will complete your survey.  Consider it the voice of the masses providing feedback on your questionnaire before it’s launched.  When you keep your survey focused, you’ll provide panelists with a better survey experience – and they’ll be more likely to give your questions the considered response you’re looking for.  In the end, you’ll get higher-quality survey results.