MarketTools Blog

Back when the Internet was young, finding people to take an online survey could sometimes be a struggle. Today, everyone has a long list of potential survey respondents. To recruit them, they use email newsletters, CRM systems, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, corporate blogs and QR codes inserted into all kinds of places. The problem today, if anything, is that there are too many lists of survey-takers ‒ overlapping, constantly changing lists of respondents.

So where does that leave the survey panel provider?

With so many channels that allow companies to draw in people using marketing content, why would anyone ever pay for survey respondents? The reality is that panel companies have become much more than just lists of survey-takers’ email addresses. They provide a controlled, carefully monitored environment for conducting research.  Sending out a survey on Twitter is a blind date.  Sample providers like ZoomPanel are matchmakers.

Like a matchmaker, ZoomPanel vets panelists before you meet them. We use TrueSample to eliminate frauds and duplicates.  We profile panelists and select the right ones for each panel based on the criteria researchers give us so that they get the respondents of their dreams. We also provide our respondents with a credible introduction to the researchers who want to survey them. The familiar ZoomPanel logo communicates to panelists that your survey isn’t an internet scam or marketing ploy, so they're more likely to share their honest opinions. And like a good matchmaker, we can tell you when your biggest problem in your interactions is you. We’ve got TrueSample Survey Score, which gives you a quantifiable measure of how panelists respond to your surveys and lets you know how you compare with other surveys. This kind of context and advice is something that you can’t get when your survey respondents come from a mailing list or posting a banner ad.

We believe that the result of good survey panel “matchmaking” is evident in the data. You see the effects in more completed surveys (fewer partial completes), successful recontact programs to bring good respondents back for additional surveys, and consistent results across multiple projects. We have created a reliable laboratory to do survey research.

A list of email addresses is a replaceable commodity.  But when you're looking at working with a sample provider, think about the many other benefits they can provide you in addition to a list of names.  Much like they way you'd approach a matchmaker, consider: What's their track record? What are their methods?  Do they really "get" what you're looking for?  This approach to partnering with a sample source and developing a client’s research capability is at the heart of ZoomPanel’s mission today.  And it’s what keeps us from being just another list.