Nobody seems to like focus groups. And yet, this research method is still one of the most popular approaches for many companies. So, why is it that there is a familiar groan of “We just don’t get any real insights from focus groups”? 

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. 

Last week I was talking to one of my old colleagues who has started a panel company. The topic drifted to a current problem he is facing – despite his sincere efforts he is not getting enough panel business, where as some of his competitors seems to be having a flourishing business. After a due diligence I realized he was overlooking some important aspect of panel business. The following article illustrates top 5 reasons why your panel company isn’t getting enough business.

Regardless of the size of your market research company, blogging could become especially beneficial for your business. A blog can provide insight into the products and services you’re gathering data for, using language and examples that you may not have room for on your company website. You can also boost the reputation of your business by blogging regularly. Here are a few ways to make sure your business blog works for you. 

We’ve all done it, seen it or heard it: researchers criticizing a respondent behind double-sided glass, while listening to a one-on-one interview or when watching an ethnographic DVD. It’s easy to dismiss a respondent as unknowledgeable, uninformed or even as flat-out wrong. 

You are as good as your panel’s response rate. The very backbone of an online panel company is their respondents base – Don’t IGNORE THEM!! Having built access panels for a few companies I am quite surprised by the sheer lack of enthusiasm amongst panel companies’ vis-à-vis maintaining a healthy panel base. Most of the time a panel base is recklessly considered just a golden goose for harvesting cash. In the long run this attitude is quite detrimental to the business viability.

I vividly remember those hectic days when clients were on my head to get the surveys completed – especially the last few completes were always troublesome. So many a times we had to increase the incentive amount to get those last few completes.

Recently, we’ve been getting a lot of feedback from clients about how their research partners are not doing a good job of “telling a story” in the reports they produce – which ultimately creates more work for them as in-house researchers and lessens the impact of the research itself. Based on discussions with them, I think the challenge is broader than that, as the complaints typically fall into one of the following categories (see if some of these are familiar to you):