We aim to be at the forefront, continuously pioneering emerging techniques. Beginning over 7 years ago, we pioneered online communities and blog research methodologies for our clients. We have used them to create lifestyle and ethnographic profiles for a leading healthy, active lifestyle brand in Quick Service Restaurants; with global online communities to explore trends in food with Foodies for a leading pet food brand; to co-create advertising for a top Californian wine with Mommy Bloggers; and to guide and prioritize a highly innovative new product line for pets.
Our experience has proven that communities need to be nurtured and developed over time, we believe independent communities ensure the most in-depth learnings and avoid over-solicited panels and unmotivated or uninspired respondents. Our online communities are different: they are professionally moderated, individualized conversations with a manageable group of handpicked, creative and committed participants.
What’s more, based on your specific needs, we can pick from the range of different technology platforms out there, or use our own, and we can use the right combination of writing, photos, video and creative tasks like collages, or shopping exercises.
Deeper and richer Qualitative research is hard to find. And the advantages don’t stop there. Participants love the convenience of working in their own homes on their own time. Clients save both time and money because they can observe these deep conversations from wherever they are. They can also choose whether they want participants in a community that allows them to interact with each other where organic conversation happens beyond moderation, or where they can’t see each other’s contributions.
Nothing beats the value of these extended conversations on online communities. Moving beyond the 2-hour focus group window allows for deeper engagement and iterative probing over a number of days. These online communities have produced a rich vein of consumer insights for our clients in the roles of co-creation, communications development and new product evaluation.
Because of the wealth of content produced by these online blog communities, we believe 12-20 participants per panel or segment is optimum. We carefully select the best participants, motivate them with a significant opportunity to earn, through a combination of incentives and prizes, manage them for compliance, and probe them individually to build a relationship and keep them engaged.
We also engage and collaborate closely with the client team. We draft daily highlights to assess learnings as they emerge, identify follow-ups and probes, and stay open to responsiveness as unexpected themes unfold.