online market research

Online Market Research Presented by:

Kevin A. Barnes Research Lead

Creatonomy Marketing Communications

March 29, 2007

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©2007 Creatonomy Marketing Communications. All Rights Reserved.

How are Market Researchers Researching?

Source: 2006 ESOMAR Industry Study

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Growth in Online Quantitative Research

Source: Inside Research, 2005

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Advantages of Online Research

! Can gather results for low-incidence populations

! Can reach participants virtually anywhere ! Reduces/Eliminates travel costs ! Fast turnaround

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For Example, Online Research is Ideal for… ! Testing advertising media:

" Images " Messages " Music " Branding " more

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Example: Online Focus Group

Source: Knowledge Networks

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Example: Online Survey

Source: Creatonomy

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Example: Online Survey Results

Source: Creatonomy

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The “Art” of Online Research

! Tip One: The business issue dictates the approach to the research. " Do you need a precise or directional answer? " Is the timeline urgent or not? " Are there any biases that would affect the

research study?

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! Tip Two: Recruit respondents; don’t allow people to join voluntarily. " Retain control of your research sample " Avoid self-selection bias " Avoid professional respondents

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Impact of Self-Selection

Source: Knowledge Networks

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The Problem of “Professional Respondents” ! The average Online Panel volunteer

belongs to 8 other online panels. ! 30% of all online surveys are completed

by just 0.25% of the population ! In 2004, a typical Professional

Respondent took an average 80 online surveys during a period of just 90 days

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! Tip Three: Purely online research cannot be considered representative of the general public. " There remains a significant portion (30-35%) of

the overall population that lacks email or Internet access.

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! Tip Four: Just because research is being conducted online, that doesn’t mean you can forget everything else you know and have learned about conducting research. " The requirements for successful research are

independent of the research environment.

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Questions?

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Contact Information

To request an electronic copy of this presentation, contact:

Kevin A. Barnes [email protected] Creatonomy Marketing Communications

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Appendix

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Elements Impacting Online Quantitative Research Accuracy !  Coverage Bias: If those without Internet access cannot participate, data will be

skewed; all online opt-in panels exclude the non-Internet population. !  Self-Selection Bias: When respondents choose themselves (i.e., opt in or volunteer)

— rather than being chosen as part of a random sample — then it becomes impossible to project research findings to larger or other populations.

!  Non-Response Bias: Frequently in online opt-in research, a small fraction of those invited actually participate, and little effort is made to convert nonresponders.

!  Respondent Maintenance: Nonparticipating respondents need to be identified and removed from the results analysis; but some types of online research — such as online opt-in panels — often allow nonparticipating members to be considered members, even after they have not participated or answered anything in a significant length of time.

!  Respondent Engagement: A strong effort must be made to keep respondents attentive and involved in the online environment, and help them troubleshoot in real time during survey taking.

!  Replicability of Results: As with quantitative scientific research, results cannot be considered valid if repeating the research process produces completely different results.

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Online Survey Tools & Software

!  Formsite (www.formsite.com): Subscription !  Pendragon (www.pendragonsoftware.com): Subscription !  Perseus (www.perseus.com): Subscription !  Quia (www.quia.com): Subscription !  SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com): Free Basic level;

Subscription Professional level !  SurveyShare.com (www.surveyshare.com): Subscription !  SurveySuite (intercom.virginia.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/intercom/

SurveySuite/ss_index.pl): 14 days free !  SurveyTracker (www.surveytracker.com): Subscription !  Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com): Free Basic level; Subscription

Advanced levels

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Other Resources

! ResearchInfo.com has a number of resources for conducting online market research, including: " Directory of Online Research Vendors " Evaluations and demo versions of numerous

online research software packages " Tutorial for creating online survey content " Market research calculators (for determining

incidence, confidence level, etc.)

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General Market Research Resources

!  American Marketing Association: www.marketingpower.com !  The Advertising Research Foundation: www.thearf.org !  The Council of American Survey Research Organization:

www.casro.org !  ESOMAR (World Association of Research Professionals):

www.esomar.nl !  VALS Psychographic Segmentation Service: www.sric-bi.com/vals !  An Online Survey Research website: www.insightexpress.com !  Product Development innovation and collaboration:

www.knowledge-roundtable.com !  Database of 30,000 Market Research Reports (for purchase):

www.marketresearch.com !  The Market Research Association: www.mra-net.org

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Contact Information

To request an electronic copy of this presentation, contact:

Kevin A. Barnes [email protected] Creatonomy Marketing Communications