Recently, I’ve been seeing more and more research opportunities that can easily leverage the power of online, asynchronous bulletin boards. Ironically, some clients still have some resistance primarily because they believe something is “lost” when one walks away from an in-person engagement. Let’s focus on the many ways your concept development efforts might be augmented with online research.
Broader Sample of Participants – The Online Bulletin Board allows you to get a much more diverse sample than a 2 or 3 city study. Virtually, anyone can participate in the board as long as they have a computer with an Internet connection. Studies can have respondents from across the U.S. or the world (assuming a common language is available).
No Participant Time Pressure – Online Bulletin Boards are an asynchronous meaning individuals can participate at any time of the day, which is most convenient for them. It does not require someone to drive to a facility at a specific time to participate. In addition, this gives the moderator the luxury of recruiting participant across multiple time zones for the same group.
Circumvents Incidence Challenges – Online can be particularly helpful when a client needs a specific target who is difficult to find. Online opens up the possibility of a broad cross-section of people across geographic barriers thus widening the pool of respondents. In addition, if a client has a list of buyers or an 1800# that captures emails, they can recruit using this “pre-screened” list for those individuals who have had experience with the product or service.
Saves Time - The time to set up and conduct a research project is shortened by using online technology. 20/20 Research pulled some numbers together and found that on average an asynchronous bulletin board saves about 1/3 of the time compared to the traditional groups (based on 2 groups in 4 cities). This is largely driven by not needing the spend time finding facilities in multiple cities, being able to conduct the research simultaneously with several boards, and not waiting for transcriptions (because you get one instantly when the board completes).
Saves Money – While the combined cost for recruiting, incentives and moderating is fundamentally the same as a typical in-person research project; many of the incremental costs just don’t exist. In an online venue, you don’t need to pay for recordings or respondent/client food (which we all know can really add up!). In addition, the travel budget drops to zero – no planes, trains, automobiles, or hotels – for both the moderator and the clients.
So, your big takeaway should be that you should consider adding online research to your next research plan. And remember, not every project is the right fit for this methodology. Consider taking small steps, such as a hybrid study with both in-person plus online research, to see just how your business might benefit.
