Blog >> Why Open My Panel To Other Researchers?
I am often asked the question by clients, “Why would I want to open my research panel to other researchers?” This is a good question, especially when a client’s panel is typically comprised of their direct customers or consumers of their brand, viewers of their programme or subscribers of their product or service. After all, companies are very protective of this relationship because they have invested in recruiting customers to their panel and want the attention of these customers to be focused on their own specific research.
Even when I tell clients about the two major benefits of opening their panel – 1) to keep panelists active and reminded of their panel membership, especially during those times when they are less often used by you as the panel owner; and 2) to provide a revenue share to you, as the panel owner, this helps to offset some of the costs associated with maintaining your panel for your own research purposes – they still express some concerns.
The first one is that they do not want for their panelists to be participating in surveys on the same category or topic as their own. They also do not want for specific competitors to make use of their panel, after all they do not want to help them compete more effectively or to risk the potential for these competitors being in contact with their panelists. Clients also indicate that they do not want for their panelists to be bombarded with survey invitations, as well they are concerned that these panelists will not be treated appropriately from an incentive standpoint.
These are all very valid points; however, there are some misnomers regarding what happens when you opt to open your panel to other researchers. I must note here that the following is associated with EasyInsites use of the Cint Panel Exchange (CPX) marketplace platform, so it does not necessarily apply to all other potential ways in which a panel might be opened elsewhere across the industry (although to my knowledge, it is the only one that is exists of this scale today).
So, what actually happens when you opt to open your panel? First, a panel can be opened on the Exchange whilst still enforcing any restrictions which are desired. For example, if your panel is a BtoB panel comprised of say beverage buyers in various business settings, then you may not want for any other beverage research topics to be run on your panel. You may also have specific competitors who you do not want to have access to your panel, this restriction can be easily enforced by both Cint and EasyInsites who would oversee potential third party usage of your panel.
Second, a quarantine period can be set specific to each panel meaning that if you want to ensure that your panelists only are invited to any survey opportunity once per week then this can be set for your panel as a whole. Further, your individual panelists can also select how often they are willing to be contacted.
Third, no personally identifiable information is ever changing hands. When your panel is opened on CPX, this only means that your panelists could be invited to a survey opportunity based on their profile data. When this occurs, after the necessary checks and approvals are made, the system sends the html branded invite that we have set up consistent with your panel’s branding so that this invitation comes from you as the panel owner, there is then a link in the survey invite that enables your panelist to click onto and participate if they would like. They then return to CPX if they complete the survey, so that they can be credited with their incentive.
Finally, direct incentives are always provided for each and every third party survey, as well these incentives are paid by the sample buyer and not by you as the panel owner. The incentive amounts are determined by the length of the interview so the longer the survey, the more your panelist will be paid for their participation.
To close, one added benefit that you as the panel owner are providing when you open your panel is the opportunity for your panelists to voice their opinion across a range of categories and issues and to earn incentives for doing so. We know that those who join panels are motivated to take surveys, so why not make sure that they have ample opportunities to do so through the trusted brand and company who has made that possible for them – that is, you as the panel owner.
Posted by: Charles Pearson
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