How community contribution can benefit your panel
2013-09-24
In recent years the power of online communities has grown exponentially. The rise of blogging and social networks sites has enabled more and more previously passive users to convert into publishers. With the audience generating content for its own consumption, we are now seeing Web sites moving away from being static pages and reforming into constantly evolving and innovating communities.
At our firm, we have looked at ways to introduce solutions that adopt this community approach to provide more value to our clients, help to better engage our panelists and improve their experience. Thus, at the start of 2013, we decided to introduce forums and quick polls as a standard part of our EasyPanel (i.e., custom panel) solution. These features add dynamic content to otherwise static Web pages, providing another channel of communication between panelists and researchers.
The most empowering feature of this system for panelists is the ability to engage with each other. This means topics posted do not simply become a dialogue between agency and panelist. With panelists being able to react to responses of others, a deeper level of insight is enabled. The use of a “star rating” system to allow panelists to rate other panelists’ contributions has helped us expand this even further. The community then begins to self-manage by promoting what it considers the most valuable contributions, adding an additional measure of value to comments for researchers.
The forum system has also been successful in driving new research. Recently, a client invited suggestions from panelists on a topic which required a fast turnaround in contributions. The most valuable comments were then collated and converted into a quick poll and panelists could vote on what they felt the best suggestion was.
In this example panelists were allowed to shape the direction of the research. Having panelists create content reduces workload and also increases their engagement with the research as they feel they are providing insight on questions that they have an interest in.
But you don’t want the process to get out of control; the growth of the community needs to be carefully managed. Often, online communities and comment boards are left littered with negative or irrelevant spam topics, the presence of which reinforces the image of the Internet as an anarchic hangout where “anything goes.” We have looked to combat this not solely with a technical solution but by additionally providing the most pertinent topics to panelists. This approach maximizes the chances that a panelist will be inspired to contribute to the ongoing dialogue. To do this, contributors are filtered by profiling data. Panelists are then presented with topics tailored to them. Researchers can then collect data from a specific snapshot of the panel, based on their research requirements.
A further measure to consider is to present the panelists with a range of media, from text to videos and images that are accessible on a range of devices, guaranteeing no one is unnecessarily excluded from the conversation and are able to contribute at any time.
Since launching V1 of our forums with EasyPanel, we have seen a solid uptake from panelists, who are obviously keen to engage with this new aspect of the panel. One panel has seen 11 percent of active survey panelists contributing to the forums in the first three months. Furthermore, of the topics discussed in this period, there was an average of 42 responses per topic posted.
As the conversations evolve, so too does the technology. We are already working on a range of enhancements (V2) to increase this participation and enhance the experience and available insight for not only our clients but also our panelists. Correctly managed, online discussions can produce some fascinating insights and we are excited to explore further the unique direction this technology provides.
