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Advantages of Having A Research Panel

Research panels are an important aspect of market research. They give us an insight into how a wider marker would receive a product or promotion. Often, these are a good way to gauge how a change may be received without too much financial risk to the entire company. Many companies even have specific stores or areas where testing new products or promotions take place.

 

What is a Research Panel?

A research panel shows a potential market reaction to a new product or promotion. They are used for market research to understand how changes in items affect a company. During a research panel, a specific group of individuals is brought together as a group to react to a variety of topics as set forth by a company or group.

In a research panel, they may be brought together in the same room or may have surveys sent out with specific products to compare over a set period. They may be asked to take the survey in order to keep the product or send the product back depending on how the individuals react to the product.

 

Advantages of Research Panels

The list of positive points regarding research panels is extensive. Learn more about research panel here. Below we will discuss two specifically, tracking and efficiency.

Research panels that are conducted with the same group can be used to track how changes affect consumers. They can be compared to track which changes were received positively or negatively and how the company might use this information to encourage positive growth in sales and interactivity with customers.

Efficient research panels can provide information much more easily than random surveying. Panel research can be used to explore multiple topics on a subject rather than only one subject at a time as with surveying. Say you have a group of children playing with test toys. Depending on age, you could survey the children about one toy, but that would only give information on that specific toy. With a panel, you can ask questions about multiple toys in one sitting which gives you a wider variety of information in a shorter amount of time.

 

How Research Panels Help Companies

Research panels create a way for companies to interact directly with consumers. With only that, you can imagine the importance of research panels. If a company had no easy way to test consumer reaction to products or services, the only way to see a public reaction would be to begin selling the product or service. Should the public have a negative opinion, the company could find itself hit with a deep financial loss.

Coca-Cola is a good example of how research panels can help companies. If a company is out of touch with consumers, they may change a recipe or how a service works to the detriment of consumers. This leaves consumers with a bad taste in their mouths (sometimes literally) and a disinterest in the company. When a company continues to ignore the reactions of its consumers, the trust built with that company is lost.

With research panels, a potential loss is forgone in return for a much smaller market receiving a product earlier than others. This allows a company to judge reaction and find whether they should proceed with a marketing campaign or release a classic flavor of soda with a new recipe.

 

Types of Research Panels

The most important choice of research panels falls between business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C). Pollfish offers a more in-depth look at these two types of research panels, https://resources.pollfish.com/market-research/market-research-panel-definition-everything-you-need-to-know/. Along with this research panel type, they cover in-depth information on online research panels and their advantages versus a physical.

As Pollfish states, one of the key first decisions in creating a research panel is deciding between B2B and B2C. To choose this, you first need to know what you are addressing with your panel. A consumer would be better to react to a product and how it is used. Another business could be used to address industry- specific information, such as how the industry overall may react to an ad campaign.

Once you have decided who your research panel will be comprised of, you can decide the best way to conduct the panel. Research panels can be either online or in person. With the current global climate, online research panels have become much more prevalent. They are also more accessible to a wider range of people. In-person research panels let you view reactions firsthand. It helps a company feel gauge the panel’s gut reaction to a product or service rather than second-hand through an online survey or paper that was filled out and mailed in.

 

With those decisions made, the questions for the panel can be decided and information can be distributed to the participants. The best research panel is convenient for both participants and conductors and provides information on both new products and services and how the community may react to them. Good research panels are informative and can be used in many positive ways to help grow a company in the direction best suited to its target audience.