Community research is becoming increasingly popular for carrying out market research, especially since companies have discovered how to use the collected data in the world of marketing. Online community research is a relatively new research technique. In this article, we will introduce you to online community research techniques, as well as all details about creative implementation into practice.<\/p>\n
We believe that this short read will help you understand the essence of online community research and allow you to have a better understanding of the possibilities you can get from it.<\/a><\/p>\n Online community research is a community deployed online to carry out <\/span>research<\/span><\/a> using various <\/span>market research methods<\/span><\/a>. Online community research is a \u201cbuzz\u201d that has changed the face of research to a larger extent. <\/span><\/p>\n The GreenBook Research Industry Trends report has shown that online research communities have been the most successful and most widely adopted new research methodology for the last few years. This speaks volumes about their importance in the research space and the vast insights that researchers get from them. We are now in a situation where most of the top companies in each industry, from banking to CPG, use and get valuable data from online research communities.<\/span><\/p>\n Don’t miss out on the only market research tool you’ll need and request a free demo:<\/span> Online Community Software<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n As you can see, these types of communities are taking over the world. But why? Let\u2019s take a closer look at the 3 main reasons that have led to the widespread adoption of online community research.<\/span><\/p>\n Online research communities give a company long-term access to its customers’ thoughts, insights, and feelings. In addition, companies can get more profiling information about their customers than they could in any CRM system. The customers are giving this additional information because they are a part of this community. In addition, these companies have instant access to their customers, and they can conduct research very quickly and get their results in less time as well. Furthermore, the additional tools available, like Ideation or Discussions, allow for even more insights and ideas from customers.<\/span><\/p>\n With the additional tools available, like the Discussion or Idea Board module, the community sees higher engagement levels and collaboration between the community members. This helps to tease out even more insights as you now have members collaborating and offering their opinions and feelings, so you get really good organic conversation and discovery as well. This allows the community manager to assess better the popularity or viability<\/a> of the idea or opinion when you have their more qualitative tools available. A side benefit is those insights are gained from questions or ideas that companies never thought to ask their customers in many cases.<\/span><\/p>\n The rise and widespread adoption of social media networks have likely been the most significant reason online research communities dominate. Essentially, social media networks like Facebook and Twitter are a community where people can come together to connect and share their feelings and opinions. Their voice can be heard on these platforms. Perhaps more importantly, they can connect with like-minded people and those that share similar interests. This undoubtedly has helped online research communities in that people are familiar with and like the concept of being in a community. They are used to participating in <\/span>polls<\/span><\/a>, posting topics, and commenting on other posts. It\u2019s a positive experience and one that has a high level of intrinsic value.<\/span><\/p>\n Over the past few years, QuestionPro has worked closely with organizations such as Zynga<\/a>, Potbelly, McGraw Hill, and Gannett to create and grow successful customer insight communities. A customer insight community web portal is a stratified sampling<\/a> panel of customers with the objective of gaining input from community research members to aid in both strategy and future decision-making.<\/span><\/p>\n Stratified: <\/b>All organizations have some sort of segmentation\/stratification – high-value customers versus low-value customers. Understanding the perceptions of your high-value clients versus your low-value clients is paramount for effective decision-making.<\/span><\/p>\n Ease of Access and Delivery: <\/b>The ability to access community members rapidly and seamlessly. The community is ready to go anytime, and members have digital access (online member portal, email, SMS, etc.). As community members, they have consented to receive surveys and notifications and agree to participate in digital <\/span>focus groups <\/span><\/a>and usability testing scenarios.<\/span><\/p>\n Self-Service and Digital: <\/b>Customer communities run predominantly on a digital platform. Members have a member portal where they can log in, take surveys and quick online<\/a><\/span> polls<\/span>, and participate in ad-hoc real-time focus groups. In addition, there are more advanced <\/span>qualitative tools <\/span><\/a>like IdeaBoard. Members can post ideas and vote on each other\u2019s ideas without the involvement of the organization representative, which gives the system scalability.<\/span><\/p>\n Mobile Focused: <\/b>Members have real-time and mobile-optimized access to the <\/span>research<\/span> platform. In addition, there is a mobile app that members can download and participate in research<\/a>. The app has all the tools – surveys, polls, online discussions, IdeaBoard, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n Internal Team Access:<\/b> Multiple people within the organization should have direct access to the platform for conducting research. This should be self-service or a controlled service where community managers are enabling researchers to run ad-hoc surveys within hours, not days. This is an extremely important characteristic; without democratizing access, organizations will not be able to gain the efficiency they want. Think of a customer insight community as a productive tool – insights and access to data are no different than productivity tools such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019ve witnessed tremendous advantage and success with companies with an integrated system\/platform for their research and panel\/community needs. It is imperative for <\/span>survey research <\/span><\/a>platforms to be able to \u201ccommunicate\u201d with the community platform seamlessly and share information back and forth. Having an integrated Community and Survey Research platform reduces risks and also allows for smooth transfer of data, and enables more scenarios to be executed.<\/span><\/p>\n Learn more: Community survey software platform<\/a><\/p>\n One of the many advantages of having a community platform for insights is the ability to capture insights from panelists on an ad hoc basis with low operational overhead. Quick Polls, or single <\/span>question polls<\/span><\/a>, are a great way to keep the community engaged while at the same time providing valuable insights and benefits to the decision-making processes of an organization.<\/span><\/p>\n You might be interested in QuestionPro’s Online Communities Software: Q&A’s<\/a>.<\/p>\n More than just software, Online Community Software is a powerful platform that enables you to analyze market performance through accurate data collection and customer interaction. Turn data into valuable insights and make better business decisions!<\/p>\nWhat is Online Community Research?<\/b><\/h2>\n
Three Reasons Why Online Research Communities Are Dominating the Research World<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Online Research Community gives Access to Customers.<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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Engagement Through Collaboration<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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Adoption of Social Media Networks<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Benefits and types of an Online Community Research<\/b><\/h2>\n
Online Community Research Methods <\/b><\/h2>\n
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5 Practical Steps to Democratizing Decision Making with Online Community Research<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Advantages of Online Community Research<\/b><\/h3>\n
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