Page 104 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

48 FORM A PANEL

Market research is an expensive business, and many small firms
feel it is not worth it. In many cases, of course, the firm might be
right: small firms are usually very close to their customers and can
soon pick up what people like and what they do not like.

However, in other cases feedback from customers is not so easily
obtained, and especially in cases where long-term streams of
feedback might be needed.

The idea

Insight Express is a consultancy that specializes in online market
research. The company has carved out a niche for itself in this type
of research, but in fact the basic approach is fairly simple. Insight
Express has an online panel of permanent respondents called
e-RDD. These respondents are paid for their time, and are prepared
to comment on any product or topic: all respondents are volunteers,
of course, and the system has obvious advantages over stopping
people in the street or cold-calling people at home.

Using an online panel means that responses are instantaneous,
they can be analysed by computers (being already in electronic
format), and the only real cost lies in rewarding respondents. The
idea is fairly easy to adopt for most companies—rewarding existing
customers with product is one way forward.

In practice

• Recruit a representative sample—make sure there are people in

there from all the different customer types you have.

100 GREAT MARKETING IDEAS • 95