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The Value of Panels and Communities in a Market Downturn

Custom panels and private communities provide a number of advantages you can leverage during these tough economic times. The big ones are saving money, retaining customers and generating revenue.  We’ve assembled a list from our experience to highlight some of the key benefits.

Save Money
Clients have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. A national ISP saved between $200k and $300k by conducting research with their online panel.  In the first six months a National Grocery Chain was able to field roughly $200K worth of customer research at a cost savings of $115K.

Retain Customers
In a downturn, companies will focus more on their customers than on their prospects for the simple reason that it's easier to make money from existing customers than to spend money acquiring new ones. What better than to use your panel or community to find out what they want.

Generate Revenue
One of our clients, a large bookstore experienced a 400% sales lift by changing from employee to panel/reader recommended titles.  The company also experienced an average promotional lift between 8% and 26% through one quarter. Key findings from a fast food restaurant’s panel show that new menu designs with more photos would increase sales by two to three percent.

Gain Efficiencies
Many companies begin looking at cutting expenses and becoming more cautious. Your panel or community can help with evaluating options to decisions that need to be made right.  Gut-check your ideas before making the investment to go to market.

Future Proofing
Invest today and, even if we are doing the survey programming for you, know that if your budget is reduced, you can take it on yourself to and save some money.

Flexibility
Panels and community provide the vehicle to generate both qualitative and quantitative research.  They provide the platform to conduct an incredible amount of research during like attitudes and usage, ideation, ad testing, customer satisfaction, and share of wallet studies.

If you’d like to speak with one of our industry experts on how a custom panel or private community can help during a downturn, contact Caroline Hickton.

Posted on October 10, 2008
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