Panel Planning

After doing hundreds of panels, we’ve learned the importance of creating a panel plan - and describe it as your roadmap to success. Who are you going to recruit? How are you going to recruit them? How often do you sending a survey? And how are you going to keep them in the panel?

Podcast: I like the idea of a panel, but where do I start? 

A panel is like a party, you'll need:

A Guest List

The success of your party starts with the guest list: you need to figure out who you’re going to invite. You also want to make sure you don’t exceed the capacity of your venue. Too many people will be hard to keep people happy. Depending on the type of research you want to do, you want to look closely at who you welcome to your panel.

Variety

You want to make sure there is a good mix of people at your party. You know to have your single male friends show up, you need to invite all the single females you know.  With a panel, we call this the optimal panel distribution. We like to make sure there aren’t too many people from the East or too many mothers with children under 5 years. Depending on who you want to talk to for your research, we make sure your sample is well balanced to accurately reflect the population you want represented in your panel.

Invitations

Now you know who you want to invite to your party, how are you going to get them there? We have a list of ways to invite people into a panel. We like to find a good mix of methods to reach all segments of your guest list. If you’re reaching 18 to 24 year old males, you’d have a different approach than inviting women who love cooking.

Keep the party going…

As the host of the party you want to make sure people have a good time. You need to mingle and introduce your friends to each other. It’s the same idea with a panel, you want to make sure people keep talking and enjoy their experience. Something we’ve seen to be successful is sending out a newsletter. Let your panelists know how they compare to others in the panel, and let them know what you’re doing with the feedback they’ve given you.