Market research has been an instrumental part of business strategy worldwide. It helps companies gain insight into consumer behavior, market trends, and industry movements. At the heart of this critical field are the often-unsung heroes, the market research panels. They bridge the gap between companies and consumers, serving as the gateway to the ‘right people’ who offer their valuable insights to guide businesses in the right direction.

What is a market research panel?

In essence, a market research panel is a group of individuals who have agreed to participate in market research studies. Market researchers use the information these people provide about their preferences, behaviors, and opinions to help them make business decisions. The guardians of high-quality data in the research sector are panel research companies, which manage market research panels.

These panels primarily consist of ‘panel members’ who are carefully selected to match the desired target market for the research. The selection process ensures the collected data is representative of the broader population, thereby providing credible insights for businesses.

The scope of a market research panel extends beyond one-time engagements. Panel members often participate in multiple research projects over time, contributing to a variety of studies that can range from product testing and online surveys to focus groups and in-depth interviews.

Data collected and analyzed via a panel is meant to provide insight into various topics. Companies may wish to measure customer sentiment towards the company’s products or services, gain feedback on product design, gather thoughts and opinions on new campaigns, and foster further innovation. The data can also provide information regarding customer preferences regarding pricing structures, packaging, advertising, etc.

One key takeaway here is the importance of panel research companies in ensuring data quality. These companies meticulously vet each panel member to ensure they match the required profiles, thus providing reliable and actionable data.

Panel members are recruited from various backgrounds and experiences to ensure a wide range of thoughts and opinions. The panel must be large enough to account for representative demographics and small enough to ensure the asset’s effective management, health, and efficacy. Members of market research panels may be required to participate in both online and in-person activities, such as surveys or focus groups.

The need for panel research is expanding rapidly as market researchers and other business professionals demand quality samples to conduct online surveys, polls, in-depth interviews, and focus groups.

Essentially, decision-makers are looking for actionable insights related to customer experience, employee feedback, product development, marketing strategy, and organizational planning from:

• Customers
• Potential Customers
• Stakeholders
• B2B Supply Chain Partners
• Constituents

Online survey panels are an effective, low-cost solution for reaching a broad range of consumer and B2B target audiences for online research projects while promising reliable data quality for ad-hoc and longitudinal research studies.

Using research panels: The how’s and why’s

So, how do businesses effectively use research panels? The answer lies in understanding the unique features and benefits these panels offer.

Research panels provide easy access to a specific group of consumers. Instead of trying to find the ‘right people’ among the vast sea of customers, companies can engage with panel research companies that already have a ready-to-go pool of respondents. This accessibility of panels has revolutionized the research industry.

But the use of research panels doesn’t stop at providing access. The real value lies in the rich data points they offer. Panel research companies can provide a wealth of information about panel members, including their demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and attitudes. This wealth of information can help businesses create a more tailored survey design, enhancing the survey experience and thereby increasing engagement and response rates.

Moreover, panel research companies often offer a wide range of panels, from internet panels to custom panels, catering to different research needs. For instance, a B2B brand may opt for a custom panel composed of industry professionals, while a content creator might prefer an internet panel of digital natives.

Survey research projects today examine a broad spectrum of subject areas of varying complexities.  Data collection for commercial research, social, and academic studies covers needs ranging from diverse B2B audiences and topics to such as:

• Study healthcare matters with Physicians, healthcare workers, and the patient voice as well.
• Improve products and services with B2B Brand Tracking and consumer audiences by understanding awareness, attitude, and usage within a target market, industry sector, or region.
• Strategize and plan public & social policy issues among constituents about events that affect them.

While a panel database is not the only method to reach a group of people for online surveys, research buyers will likely achieve significantly improved outcomes over alternative methods of sampling and recruiting for data collection via quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews.

And whether you are contemplating an in-house panel or using a research vendor with panel expertise,  a panel will ensure you are achieving speed, respondent data quality, and cost-effectiveness with your research projects for these principal reasons:

• Improved Access to Representative Sample Populations: Quality B2B and consumer surveys start with knowledge and experience.  A survey requires a research sampling resource representing an actual population and experts who know how to build and maintain this asset.
• Precise Survey Audience Targeting: Panel research companies that focus on consumer online panelists classify and segment by targeting profile attributes like demographics (age, gender), geography, product usage, behaviors, and voter constituents. B2B panels classify by job title, industry, and other firmographics.
• Convenient Access to Survey Participants: from a target population to determine the likely attitudes and behaviors of the people it represents. Using an online panel lets you sample your target audience and reach people using simple market research survey software tools.
• Flexibility of Research Design: You can perform quantitative data analysis with confidence by leveraging data collected from surveys completed by panel members. Alternatively, you may explore, via focus groups; participant attitudes and behaviors more in-depth, using qualitative data analysis.

 When reaching survey respondents or focus group participants using a market research panel, there are various alternative ways to engage or connect people to your research projects, including:

1. sending invites to lists of email addresses,
2. placing survey links on websites or social media sites,
3. and sending mobile text messages with a survey or screener link.

These can all be valid, low-cost ways to obtain responses, but they come at a cost. More Time. Less Feasibility. Accuracy.

• It is essential to follow market research methods and standards to achieve representation and reduce non-response bias ensuring everyone who qualifies also has the chance to respond to any given survey opportunity.
• It is crucial to have a holistic and inclusive master plan. For your research project to succeed, the panel must operate in a way that meets the needs of both researchers and participants.

Precise Sample Population Targeting with an online market research panel reach of over 40 million global participants across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. With all regions encompassing different audience types, all validated, profiled, checked for duplicate respondents, and verified as real individuals who are invited to join.