There are quite a few questions to ask before you consider launching a continuous market research online community, but of all of them here is the one we've found is the best indicator of long-term success:

Can your company's culture support a continuous MROC? 

This really boils down to the following questions:

• Do you have a constant need for customer feedback?  Is there a consistent (i.e., weekly) stream of questions that need to be answered and issues that need to be explored on an ongoing basis?  While one could argue that having a continuous community available will help generate steady demand for insight, it certainly doesn't hurt if the demand is already there since that will form the basis of topics for the critical first 3-6 months of the community.
• Are people in your organization willing to take the voice of the customer to heart as they make decisions?  Without an environment of open listening and dialogue, it will be difficult to get the full value of an ongoing community initiative.  Again, establishing an insight community could represent a movement toward open dialogue, but changing deeply ingrained attitudes toward customer feedback can be a time consuming and difficult thing to do...

If you have questions as to whether or not you can satisfy these conditions for an ongoing community, then perhaps a pilot community or short-term MROC would be a good way to "test the waters" and start to get people excited about the prospect of having continuous customer feedback...

We just want to say thanks to Kathryn Korostoff for including our blog as a Top 10 Market Research blog in Quirks!  We're honored to be included alongside MR bloggers like Jeffrey Henning, Tom Ewing and Ray Poynter (among others), and hope we can continue to live up to the standards set in the article...

We'll keep trying to share weekly posts on best practices, trends and ideas around online communities for research and insight (and include some humor whenever we can :-)  In the meantime, if you have anything you'd like us to cover in future blog posts, feel free to leave us a note in the comments to any of our posts.

Thanks again to Kathryn and regular readers of the MROC Talk blog!

- PluggedIN

I recently read an article on CNET (Sorry, Facebook friends: Our brains can't keep up) about Dunbar's number playing out the same way online as it does offline.  I've blogged a bit about this in the context of other topics, but thought it would be worth mentioning again as it seems to come up quite a bit in the debate on proper MROC sizes. 

For those not familiar with Dunbar's number, it's basically a mental limit to the number of "relationships" that one can maintain at any given time.  The term "relationships" here is a bit fuzzy for some people, but generally means that you know everyone else in the group and have a sense of how people relate in that group.  For more, check out the Wikipedia entry on Dunbar's number.

What does this mean for MROCs?

To me, Dunbar's number provides a starting point for thinking of the size of the MROC you should build.  If you're interested in having members develop connections with each other, and in turn learning through listening carefully to those conversations, then you should consider a community that doesn't exceed 150 active participants.  

In previous blog posts, we've talked about how it is important to have a shared purpose or background for members in a research community.  The stronger that shared purpose is, the more vibrant the community will (likely) be.  For example, a research community of iPhone users is likely to be a really vibrant group...  However, even if you don't sell a "sexy" product like the iPhone that people naturally talk about, you can still build a successful online research community...  You just have to be a little "creative" in the way you define your shared background.

One relatively easy way of defining the shared background for just about any industry is to invite a targeted group of customers to a branded community and position them as trusted advisors to the company.  The shared background in this case is merely the fact that they are all customers, which is usually sufficient for establishing an ongoing research community.  While they may come from all walks of life and may represent any number of target segments, they at least know why they are there and what they share in common with other members. 

Of course, this post is for anyone looking to create an ongoing market research online community.  If you're using a MROC on a very short-term basis (e.g., a few weeks or months), then finding a shared purpose is far less critical to the success of the initiative.

I recently came across an online community for online community professionals called "Commania" and just had to share what they did for their profile pages with readers of this blog...  

When you click to sign-up for the community, the default avatar is one scary looking hybrid human-pig-mouse thing.  If you don't change it, you're stuck as the "pig guy" for the rest of your time in the community.  I think this is a brilliant little trick.  Granted, it's a little extreme, but it helps address a real challenge in online communities - getting people to take that initial step in customizing and sharing something personal.  If you can get your members to upload a custom profile picture, fill out a bio and at least introduce themselves to the community, you're going to have much better odds of keeping them around (provided, of course, you don't drop the ball as a moderator after that).   

Compare this to the current default avatar we use for the PluggedIN Platform...  Still annoying to have as a default, but downright benign compared to the "pig guy."  A better approach might be choosing to use your company's logo as the default avatar, or perhaps use a simple text message to indicate the profile picture needs to be change.  Nonetheless, I like the "creative" approach of the "pig guy" if you can get away with it :-)

-- Matt 

I've blogged a bit before about the importance of the participant experience in online communities, but what about the client experience?  A great post over at the Yellow Submarine blog on "The use of pictures in qualitative research" got me thinking again about how important the experience of the client is in qualitative research (or really any type of research).  After all, what use is research unless it causes people to think or act in some meaningful way as a result, and a great way to get them to do that is to put the data in the most compelling/accessible format possible. 

The question, of course, is how exactly do you go about making that experience compelling?  How do you engage your direct clients (and their stakeholders) around your research?  Here are a few ideas (among many) to consider:

• "Bite Size" Findings - Most people just don't have the time to read through exhaustive research reports.  They need the here and now, as quickly as possible.  With the popularity of Twitter, why not think about the "140 character insight."  Challenge yourself to distill the finding or recommendation into 140 characters or less... 
• Reconsider the Delivery Mechanism - Speaking of Twitter, why not consider ways to continually deliver these insights through a "Twitter-like" mechanism.  We use a really useful application called "Co-op" here at PluggedIN to stay connected with each other.  Why not try something like that for findings?  
• Building Community Around Community - OK, so I'll admit that most people are already too busy to participate in a separate community, but to what extent can you get them to engage around the community by using many of the same strategies used to build a vibrant customer community?  Why not try games, friendly competitive activities, sweepstakes, awards, individual recognition, etc... to engage stakeholders and encourage them to interact with research findings in a meaningful way?

These are just a few strategies, but there are obviously many more...  Feel free to share any ways that have worked for you in the comments to this post.

-- Matt 

At some point during a pitch there is always the inevitable question - how much does it cost?  When designing an approach to a market research online community (MROC), a few key variables play the greatest role in deciding the ultimate price of the initiative, including:

• Community Size - As you can imagine, the more members in your community, the higher the price, as the costs for incentives, recruiting and overall community management scale with the number of members.  Building smaller research communities can help keep your costs down, while offering a number of advantages over larger communities.
  
• Length of Time - Running a MROC over many months (or years) is going to be more expensive, although the average monthly cost tends to decrease over time due to certain economies that result as the community progresses.
• Activity Level - Some research communities are highly active (e.g., daily research-related activities), while others tend to be moderately active (e.g., weekly or bi-weekly research activities).  As you can imagine, the costs for incentives, community management, moderation and reporting will scale accordingly.
• Sample Source - Recruiting from client-provided sample will result in significant savings over purchased sample, as will using an online recruiting method over phone-based recruiting. 
  
• Frequency and Type of Reporting - Last, but definitely not least, are the reporting requirements for a MROC.  Weekly memo community reports can be less expensive than a comprehensive summary report, although they may lack some detail. 
  

As you can imagine, the actual amounts for each of these categories will vary by the vendor, objectives of the community, etc...  However, I hope this provides you with a starting point for the variables to consider when outlining a MROC approach for your organization.

--Matt

I've blogged a bit before about the difference between a market research online community and an online research panel, but a recent discussion around the office sparked some more thoughts on the debate.  First, let me explain a bit of the background for this post...

Most of the community requests we get tend to be on the "smaller" side (i.e., sub 300 members).  These requests are generally from companies looking to supplement (or sometimes replace) their existing online and offline qualitative research through a MROC.  However, from time-to-time we get requests for very large (over 1,000 member) communities.  Upon receiving a recent request for a very large community, I started to wonder at what point a community starts to become a panel.  Allow me to explain...

What a MROC means to me...

I see the beauty of communities being the connections between members, and the resulting insights that occur through those connections.  I also see the benefit being a deep understanding of the individual and their needs, which is the goal of most qualitative research initiatives to begin with...  

However, when communities have many hundreds or thousands of members, those connections run the risk of breaking down.  Can you imagine the experience of a research participant who is asked to read through a discussion with 500 responses?  What is the likelihood of getting that valuable "across the table" discussion.  I know I wouldn't wade through more than 100 responses to a discussion if I was a research participant, even if I was very interested in the topic and shared a lot in common with other participants.  I just don't have the time...

In my experience, when a community exceeds about 300 members it starts to become a panel.  Connections between members don't happen as frequently, it becomes slightly less "personal," and it can become almost a Q&A session.  I don't mean to use the term "panel" in a derogatory manner, as there is always value in collecting feedback from a targeted group on a continuous basis - no matter the method.  However, I feel a true "community" should act and feel differently than a panel.

Comparing this experience to a focus group...

For anyone who has yet to experience or moderate a MROC, the only experience I can liken this to is if you were moderating a focus group and for each question in your guide you simply went around the table asking for answers in order.  Very large "communities" run the risk of feeling like a "serial interview," and less like a natural conversation.

This, of course, is just my two cents on the topic...  I can also see why some organizations want or need a larger research community; namely, that you can take the data from the qualitative discussions and validate it through surveys - all in the same venue.  The resulting cost and time efficiencies can be very enticing.  Plus, you can always take a very large community and sub-divide it into smaller groups of targeted people (given the right platform).  However, for my money I'd take a small group of committed participants any day :-)

What do you think?  When does a community become a panel?  What are the tradeoffs between a small and large community?  Comments are open (and welcome)!  

--Matt

One of the most common questions we are asked about market research online communities (MROCs) is what the recruiting process is like and how it differs from other (online and offline) research methods.  In short, the process is actually very similar to other research methods.  However, there are a few nuances that make recruiting for a MROC a bit different.  Below is an outline of the typical steps in recruiting participants for a MROC, with some tips for success based on our experience here at PluggedIN...

1. Determine your recruiting specifications and estimated incidence - As in any research study, the first step in recruiting for a MROC is to determine the specifications that the target audience needs to meet.  This step isn't much different than any other research method, so I won't elaborate too much here...  However, for a bit of advice on this step check out our earlier post on combining segments in a single research community.
2. Find your sample source - Client/company sample from a source that has opted in to be contacted is generally the best way to go (if you have that luxury available).  Otherwise, you may want to check out various sample providers that typically provide sample for surveys and focus group studies.  One relatively new alternative is to conduct your recruit through public social networks and existing communities.  Peanut Labs is making some interesting inroads in the latter category, and may be worth checking out...    
3. Develop your screener - The actual screener for a MROC is similar to a screener for a focus group or online bulletin board.  We recommend adding a few questions around the use of communities and social networks, including which other communities/social networks people are members of and the nature of their participation in these communities.  I would also add an articulation question just to see if it's the type of person who is likely to write a decent, well thought-out response to your discussion topics.  If you're using the PluggedIN Platform for your MROC, you will want to keep an eye on how your questions are structured, as this will form the basis for how you target and segment participants and activities once the community is launched.  
4. Determine how you will deliver your screener - Typically we will use online screening surveys for MROCs.  However, we've also used telephone recruiting (similar to a traditional focus group recruit) for smaller communities.  Telephone recruiting can be cost prohibitive for larger studies, but can be well worth the added expense if you need to ensure a higher response rate, and want someone to follow-up with participants for you after the community has launched.    
5. Download the results and filter - As the responses roll in, you'll want to keep a close eye on your quotas (if you have any), as well as potential recruits that may not be a good fit for your MROC.  It's here that we'll typically spend a lot of time looking through the spreadsheets for potential client competitors and professional respondents.  
6. Send out custom invites - Once you have your initial list of members who have qualified, it's time to send out custom invites.  We like to be as transparent as possible about the purpose of the community and the benefits to members in the initial email invite.  We also try to match the actual design of the invite with the community, so the transition to the community site appears to be seamless.  It's key to send out your invites as quickly as you can, as the longer you wait the lower your response rate will be.  A general rule of thumb is to try to turn around invites within 24 hours after the respondent has taken the survey.  Also consider using an email delivery service that provides analytics around click-through rates so you can see what is working well (or not working).  We use and recommend Campaign Monitor for this step.  
7. Monitor progress of recruiting against invites until quotas are met - The last step is basically a repeat of Step 6 until you have met your quotas.  We recommend a "rolling" recruit, whereby you launch the community early and send out small batches of invites.  That will help you control the number of members you have actually sign up.  It will also make for a better member experience upon signing in for the first time.  Keep in mind that not everyone you invite will actually sign-up for the community.  A "rolling" recruit will help you determine the percentage of members who are likely to sign-up, and adjust your sample numbers accordingly. 

Of course there are nuances to the process that may impact how these steps progress.  The way you recruit for a MROC can be influenced by the audience, focus of the community, community size, community length and the incentive strategy (among other variables). 

I hope this post helps provide a decent overview of what the typical process is like and helps to dispel some of the questions around recruiting for a MROC.  PluggedIN offers MROC recruiting services as part of our service offerings, and can help you with any (or all) of the above steps.  Feel free to contact us directly, or leave a comment with any questions!

Happy recruiting!

Matt
@mattpluggedin

I realize this one is a bit of a stretch, but with all this talk of energy conservation and being more responsible global citizens... Pound for pound, MROCs are the greenest methodology out there.

Let's say that 1 moderator and 2 clients depart on a domestic focus group project in 3 cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles). They conduct 3 groups in each city with an average of 10 people per group who drive about 22 miles roundtrip to get to the group... here is how the carbon footprint breaks down:

Flights (JFK - ORD - LAX) = 8,859 lbs of CO2

Driving to focus groups (mid size sedan) = 1,779 lbs of CO2

TOTAL = 10,638 lbs of CO2

You could run the same study in a market research online community with virtually no negative environmental impact. You could also invite many more people/clients into your study if you wanted to.  Now, I'm not sure that "impact on the environment" should be the key criteria in deciding what research methodology to pursue, but you can't argue that it is more environmentally responsible! Feel free to use this argument in your next proposal.

- Ben