Research via the Internet

The Internet has become a major force for carrying out market research with customers via on-line surveys and on-line groups, but also for intelligence gathering on competitor and market developments.

Our specialist on-line survey site is at SurveyGarden for a demonstration or for more information contact us via the email address below (also see our Hints and Tips).

Quantitative survey design and implementation

Used to get a quantitative picture of the market, on-line surveys can take a number of formats - Web-based questionnaires, pop-up Web surveys or email surveys depending on the task. However, with increasing numbers of people across the world using the internet on a regular basis, the internet is opening up a range of new interview and research techniques beyond those available on paper or the phone.

The main elements needed for research are firstly an electronic questionnaire - these are now almost all web-based allowing for routing and verification to be checked as the survey is completed; and secondly a means of accessing the right audience. Often it is this second part that is the most difficult.

In the beginning, on-line research was largely a mirror of the types of survey that are found conducted using pen and paper, or via the telephone. However, as a computer is used to mediate the questionnaire, there are a wide range of additional options that become available, that would not be suited to traditional approaches. These include a swathe of trade-off research techniques and interesting alternative techniques such as non-linear questionnaires where the respondent chooses what to answer - the choice being part of the data to be collected, and examples such as delphi-style surveys where respondents complete their own data, but are then shown the results of other people and given the chance to change their mind.

The main concern for on-line surveys remains the sample. The potential sources for sample include your own lists, but also external sources. With concern about spam and a requirement for opt-in to receive emails, the safest source of information is often panels. Some are now very large and have been shown to be as reliable as telephone and face-to-face techniques. In business environments where surveys are being conducted among named existing customers and contacts, on-line surveys provide a serious alternative to postal and telephone research. However, there are also increasing concerns about professional interviewees and dropping response rates as the novelty has started to wear off. Certainly, we recommend piloting, but also ensuring that the survey itself looks good and meets the design standards of the host company's own website.

Where a broader market is being considered and email information is less widely available, some care is needed to ensure that an on-line survey will represent the wider market. However, for "finger in the air" style research, on-line research can be a very effective way of testing the water.

We can host your own on-line surveys, or you can take advantage of our design skills at our specialist on-line survey site, SurveyGarden where you can find demonstrations including on-line conjoint research.

Qualitative discussion groups online

Like conventional qualitative research, discussion groups are used to explore issues and ideas with customers to gain insight into what they want and how they think.

There are two main on-line techniques, chat based discussion groups (held in "real-time") and e-mail discussion groups where a conversation takes place over a period of days between group members via email.

Both techniques are led by a moderator. Typically chat dicussions are quicker to carry out, but can be relatively shallow compared to other qualitative methods. Email groups on the other hand allow for considered opinions of your product or service. It is also possible to set up unmoderated discussion boards (or via e-lists) to allow natural discussions to arise.

The advent of broadband connections also makes it possible to carry out combined internet and telephone discussions where the moderator controls stimulus sent to respondents over the internet.

Market Intelligence

An alternative to pure market research is to use market intelligence approaches to finding good background information.

Across the world, people are holding discussions on every subject under the sun in public forums. We can provide weekly or even daily monitoring of newsgroups to tell you if you are being talked about, and what people are saying. We can also seed discussions to help you understand your markets better.

Similarly competitors and journals are continually producing information about products and services that you need to know about. Currently it can take hours to monitor all the key sites for information. We can do the monitoring for you and provide headlines and links to the top stories in the format you want see our specialist site Notanant for a live example of an on-line Market Intelligence System

For help and advice on carrying out on-line research contact info@dobney.com