What is the objective of a market research online community?

In the age of constant market disruption, business leaders have found that their greatest competitive strategy is to have a direct relationship with their most valuable asset, their customers. A market research online community serves to gather a group of trusted customers who have willingly opted in to engage in research activities including quantitative and qualitative studies on an ongoing basis.

A market research online community leverages various research tools and methodologies while enabling a seamless experience for participants. Respondents can access research activities while they are on the go through a mobile device, an app, or in the comfort of their homes. While a crop of agile solutions has allowed for a surge of quantitative studies, market research online community platforms merge together the best quantitative and qualitative solutions so that businesses can aggregate the most complete picture of the customer.

Advantages of Online Communities

The advantages of leveraging an online community platform are mutually beneficial for both the business and the consumer.

AN MROC Allows For Businesses To:

Conduct fast and efficient research
Gather holistic and in-depth responses
Connect all your customer data on one platform
Launch and receive same day survey results
Interact with participants on an intimate level
Collect both quantitative and qualitative data
Gather long-term data on the same participants
Access to all audience types for easy segmentation
Benchmark customer and non-customer data
Doing research with retained audiences

And Customers to:

Participate in the most relevant research projects
Outlet for the customer to provide feedback
Interface with likeminded brand advocates
Have a hub to learn and discover more about the brand
See their feedback implemented into products
Receive participation incentives and discounts

The Online Community Approach in Market Research

Diary Studies

Photo and Video Uploads

Member Forums

Crowdsource Ideas

Live Chats

Realtime chat-based discussions

Quick Polls

Surveys

Survey Agnostic

Disucssions

Discussions

The Fuel Cycle Community Unique Features

Panels

Mobile Responsive

Mobile App

FC Live

One-on-One Interviews
Focus Groups
Moderated usability testing
Screenshare

Simple Communication Tools

Built in email creation
Push notifications (mobile)

Qual Reporting

Automated coding
Sentiment analysis
Image intelligence

FCX Marketplace

Research Automation
Video Research
System 1
Prediction Markets
Geolocation
Large-scale Qual

FCX Analytics

The Types of Online Communities

Pop-up or short-term communities:

These communities are inherently meant to be short-term and designed to be quick, agile, and cost-efficient. Projects can run anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months and anywhere from 50-250 people can be on call if needed.

Continuous online communities

This type of community is meant for ongoing and longitudinal studies with a core group of brand consumers. These types of communities can retain anywhere from hundreds of customers to thousands and typically run on an annual contract.

What’s the Best MROC for You?

Not every market research online community is built the same. Here are a few things to consider when choosing the correct research solution for your business needs.

Delivers a Seamless and Engaging Respondent Experience
Focuses on a Mobile-first Approach
Offers a Mix of Qual and Quant Research Capabilities
Supports the best Tools & API Integrations
Streamlined Back-end Reporting
Robust Member Management Services and Functionality

Flexible Service Model Options
Automated and Diverse Incentive Programs
Transparent Cost Structure
Easily scalable to fit every audience need and type
Highly Customizable to Brand Guidelines
24/7 Support
Merges and consolidates multiple customer data sources

Enterprise-Grade Privacy and Security
- GDPR
- California Consumer Privacy Act Ready
- Robust PII Management
- EU-US Privacy Shield Certified
- Swiss-US Privacy Shield Certified
Reliable and convenient access to desired respondents
- Easy Segmentation

Not every market research online community is built the same.

Here are a few things to consider when deciding to onboard a MROC vendor:

Having a quota and sticking by it
Ensuring onboarding goes smoothly
Encouraging participation and boosting engagement
Choosing the right software
Increasing engagement