An introduction to online market research

The first step on the journey to our calling in life is to listen to our internal voices and respond to the knocking universe at the door. As we do, any market research questions that have haunted us will fade into the background, replaced by opportunities, both big and small, to open the door to what we truly wish to find out.

We all know by now, or should do at least, that market research is one of a whole range of vital tools used by companies to assess the potential success of any planned or proposed commercial activity. What isn't as well know is that online market research offers companies the opportunity to perform most types of market research in a fast and cost effective manner. Breathe in. It’s worth pausing for a moment to allow the thought of those three words; fast, cost and effective used in conjunction, to properly sink in... and breathe out.

Online market research is fast because most online market research companies have already amassed a large group of online panelists. One company, Zussi Research, have access to over 4 million people who can be canvassed for their opinion on anything from the economy to the sound of one hand decorously clapping. Online market research panelists are recruited online via permission based (opt-in) e-mail recruitment, affiliate networks and web site advertising. These methods avoid any potential bias associated with panel recruitment from a single source or single methodology. Panelists are usually profiled by the information they provide when registering to become a panelist.

Because all the activity occurs online costs are much lower than normal market research projects. How it works in principle is this. Once you have selected your target group for the research project they are emailed an invitation to assist by filling in an online survey. All questions in the project are hosted online and once completed the results are immediately available to the research company and immediately is pretty fast. How effective the research is down to the research company, how detailed the brief was, sample sizes etc.

So to conclude - the advantages of online market research are:

• Large numbers of respondents can be research at any one time
• It can be cost effective – large numbers of responses can be gathered for very little cost
• Online research companies have their own pre-screened panels
• Rapid turnaround of results

For any business wanting to gain a general view from a large cross section of the online population and in a short time – online market research offers a viable solution.