{"id":4889,"date":"2011-09-28T07:31:34","date_gmt":"2011-09-28T07:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/?p=4889"},"modified":"2023-07-05T07:07:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T07:07:43","slug":"are-traditional-online-research-panels-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/are-traditional-online-research-panels-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Are traditional online research panels dead?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paying it backward<\/h2>\n

I write this, feeling like I have one foot in the past\/present and another foot squarely in the future.<\/p>\n

Let me explain.<\/p>\n

I’ve been a part of market research panels<\/a> for years now. In fact, I have to admit that because of my years of experience of actually calling respondents on the phone as well as sending mail surveys and now online surveys, I always feel obligated to take the time and effort to go through any survey that is offered me. I suppose you can call it paying it backward rather than forward.<\/p>\n

$2 bucks aren’t enough for 20 or 40 minutes of my time.<\/h2>\n

The last two-panel survey requests I’ve received offered me $2 for between 2o and 40 minutes of my time. I had prepared myself by taking the survey on a Saturday morning over coffee. And then about 2 minutes into the survey, I just bailed. \u00a0I tried not to, but I just couldn’t keep answering long matrix questions on attributes for a company I had NO experience with.<\/p>\n

I also have to admit that this is not the first-panel survey I bailed on. I’ve bailed on several over the last month or so primarily because they are too long, even online and even over lunch, I just can’t seem to dedicate 30 minutes to answering stupid questions.<\/p>\n

And the questions have terrible logic – I can absolutely understand asking me questions about a product, service, or company that I used. But if I’m not a user and have no experience – it doesn’t work to ask me 50 questions about the detailed attributes on the subject. It’s fine and fair to ask me like 5 or 10 questions, but anything more than that is just too frustrating.<\/p>\n

As a respondent, I hate having to repeat “I don’t KNOW,” and then not having an option for N\/A.<\/p>\n

Does the panel you paid for REALLY represent your target audience?<\/h2>\n

Anyone can sign up for a panel. Anyone can be any demographic in a panel. \u00a0In the survey I bailed on, they were offering $2 for 20 minutes. \u00a0After going through the first 15 questions, I could see that their target audience wasn’t going to spend the time required to give them the quality answers they wanted.<\/p>\n

So are they getting the good data that they need from their target audience? \u00a0I don’t think so. \u00a0In fact, I think they are paying $5 per respondent for garbage.<\/p>\n

Yet I have to think that there is value in these old-fashioned online panel<\/a> studies. \u00a0I’d love to hear from the online panel research<\/a> folks and have them explain the logic here.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in Customer Experience topics, we think you might enjoy reading: All about the customer journey map<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mobile market research panels are better, cheaper, funner<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Over the last several months, I’ve been playing in the mobile market research panel sandbox and I have to say the experience is EXPONENTIALLY more engaging, valid, and valuable to the company doing the research.<\/p>\n