Benefits of online panel and communities in market research
Online panels and communities offer new research opportunities for market researchers . They are the most cost-effective method of gaining insight into your target audience, monitor competitors or even conduct ad hoc research. One example is a large European retailer that operates around 2,500 stores across Europe. The company wanted to measure customer satisfaction with the service at all its UK stores. Rather than using a traditional type of mystery shopping programme – where a team of assessors visits each location – they used an online panel to capture real-time data from customers as they visited one of their stores. Customers were then asked to give feedback on their experiences during the visit, from whether staff had been friendly, to how long the queue at the tills was. At the same time, another retailer wanted to gain insight into how the impact of an economic downturn was affecting their customers' shopping habits. The company used a panel survey conducted by email to