Branded Panels

A branded panel shows your company’s logo and has a URL related to your company, making it clear to panelists that they are talking to you. 

An example of a branded panel:www.siriussoundboard.ca  

Blind Panels

A blind panel is related to a general topic rather than a company. It’s a good set-up if you need to do a lot of competitive research.

An example of a blind panel: www.thetravelersvoice.org

Podcast: How do I choose between a Blind or Branded panel? 

How Do I Choose Between Blind and Branded Panels?

It comes down to the type of research you want to do. There are benefits to each. With a branded panel, you develop a trusting relationship with your customers and potential customers. They actively log in to your branded URL and they know they are talking to you and giving feedback about your company. This relationship continues to grow the more you use your panel and keeps panel members engaged. Lots of our customers really leverage our tool, Panel+, and send newsletters back to the panelists to tell them how the company used their answers. This goes a long way in maintaining the trusting relationship because panelists then see that their time is valued.

Often, a branded panel has higher response rates because they know who they are talking to. We see response rates around 40% on average, and as high as 80%. It’s also easier and cheaper than a blind panel to recruit, because you can rely on existing resources such as your website or CRM database.

A blind panel is ideal for competitive research. Panelists might skew their answers if they know your company is behind the competitive study. Putting together a blind panel can be a little more involved because you need to find people outside of your internal resources. And it can be harder to keep panelists engaged when they don’t know who is acting on their feedback. But with good panel management, there are still ways to keep members interested so you have a healthy panel.