1. The Future of Online Panels
Annamaria Perchiazzi

2. The Future of Online Panels
Contents
∗Current Context
∗Online Research
∗Next Generation
∗The Empowered Consumer
∗Improvement Through Gamification 1, 2 & 3
∗Social Media
∗Traditional Online Panels
∗Conclusion

3. Online Panels Current Context
∗ Astonishing growth
∗ Reduced data collection costs
∗ 2.5 billion people use the internet
∗ Research industry keen to explore new ways to interact with users
∗ High uptake of online platforms
∗ New ways of accessing and profiling respondents

4. Online Research
∗ Blogs
∗ Social Media
∗ Listening Platforms
∗ Online Panels
∗ Communities
∗ Online Surveys

5. Online Panels Next Generation
The 65th ESOMAR Congress
∗Mobile Technology Suppliers
∗Mobile Research
∗Gamification
∗Greater engagement through Empowerment
∗Google and Facebook

6. The Empowered Consumer
•Consumer and brand are increasingly symbiotic
•Consumer no longer passively digests information
•Takes an active role in continually evolving web
•Requires user generated, shared and compared information
•Expects tools to generate and publish their opinions

7. Improvement Through Gamification 1
A year long study 5,000 respondents six major organizations
Gaming techniques can be used to improve the quality of feedback from
online research
1. Respondents were allocated to different groups, each answering
questions, identical in topic, but differently phrased
2. Respondents were asked “Where would you like to go on holiday? “
3. Others were invited to imagine that they had to publish a magazine
offering holiday recommendations
4. There was three times as much feedback to the more engaging or
emotional questions

8. Improvement Through Gamification 2
Rules can transform a mundane task into a game
1.A standard question such as “describe yourself” had on average 2.4
comments and 85% of respondents answered
2.When asked "describe yourself in exactly seven words" the feedback
increased to 4.5 and the response rate rose to 98%

9. Improvement Through Gamification?
3
Improved Quality of Results
1.Respondents generate higher response rates
2.Respondents generate higher enjoyment scores for Non-Standard
questions
3.Respondents spend more time answering Non-Standard questions
4.Respondents provide a greater quantity of responses to N.S. questions
5.Respondents provide greater quality of insight to N.S. questions.
6.Online studies will be improved to allow for more emotional, ‘game-like’
questions to obtain a higher engagement and greater response rate

10. Social Media & Online Panels
∗ Facebook and Linkedin’s user bases provide massive reach
∗ Make sample recruitment both feasible and cost-effective
∗ Users can be targeted on their profile and behavioural data
∗ Users can be reached on multiple devices through a single platform
∗ Facebook sample is recruited from a single source
∗ Panel companies have more control over who they invite
∗ Provides an opportunity to engage users in a comfortable environment
∗ Profile data use to target survey invites could be extremely insightful

11. Traditional Online Panels
∗Online panels are a broadly sourced collection of engaged survey-
takers
∗Online panelists are motivated and willing to participate
∗Online panelists are vetted, profiled and screened for attitudes and
behaviours
∗Online panels provide niche populations that are in demand but
available in a limited supply

12. Conclusion
∗Panelist’s online activity must be entertaining & engaging
∗Online panels should enable individuals to voice their opinions and compare
others
∗Social Media will define a future generation of research panels
∗New approaches should be considered as complimentary methods and
applied where appropriate
∗In the same way that telephone research is still widely used one could argue
that online panels will continue to be essential

13. Thanks for listening
Any Questions?