In: Economics
Marketing research over the internet has increased significantly in the past decade. Outline the strengths and weaknesses of marketing research conducted online
Advantages are:
Feasibility of the project: Targeting resources provided by online research panels can bring down the total cost of a research project. Market research also seeks input from different types of people. A consumer would like input from different categories of job functions / titles, professions, backgrounds and preferences. Many community review panels collect information about their participants like this. Which helps them to more accurately target survey invitations. Targeting is an invitation to limit the payouts they process to survey respondents in order to encourage commitment. Don't forget! Happy survey respondents = happy analysts of the results.
Sampling ease: The willingness of market research panels to
target invitations may also promote the collection of answers.
Evaluation panels online provide tools for handling quota criteria
and rewards for production. Incentives can be difficult to
administer, but online testing panels make it simple as they manage
the whole administer. Some online panels also include gift card
points for respondents, cash per survey,
Costs: Study panels online have tools and collaborators that help
cut costs. Certain methods of getting full can be expensive if the
desired return isn't made. Online polling panels provide analysts
with a full cost analysis so they understand the cost to full each
survey.
Disadvantages are:
Population must have internet access: First, using an online
research panel to gather complete information for an online survey
means that participants have internet access and it is likely to be
readily available. This is somewhat common in the U.S., but it
still limits survey complete to people who have easy internet
access rather than everyone else. That may make sense depending on
the target audience for the survey.
Bias is bad word, particularly when it comes to market research.
Data analysts are trying to combat prejudice at all costs. It's
important to add effective screener questions when using an online
panel to help reduce bias or low-quality responses
Participating in multiple panels: If you plan to use one or more
online research panels, be sure to look for duplicate respondents.
Often, research panels online have partners with whom they work.
While most attempt to prevent duplicates, revising the data is
necessary to eliminate duplicate respondents.
Evaluating data quality: In addition to assessing bias and
eliminating redundant respondents, there are many tests of data
quality to be evaluated before the fieldwork is completed. This
involves reviewing properly worked routing, reviewing all
open-ended problems, checking speeders, checking straight lining,
and more.