MRCOs – market research online community: a case study

The problem companies have to deal with each day is to constantly monitor the opinions of their potential customers, in order to bring marketing strategies closer to the language, needs and choices of consumers. This is why companies turn to market research institutes that propose for each case the most suitable survey strategy.

A modern, dynamic and engaging method

You should definitely identify a number of young people who routinely use this type of footwear, you should submit to them some ideas you are developing and ask which models they would most likely buy. You should also make potential buyers compare your sports shoe concept with models produced by your main competitors to identify strengths and weaknesses of the product you are creating.

Well: a very good method to quickly get all the information that interests you can be to create an online community: it is a predominantly qualitative research method, which can provide the client with a large amount of information in a quite limited time, involving participants from a large geographical area.

We start with the classic recruitment – the selection of the sample – that is a certain number of people (15-20) with the characteristics that interest you. The selected persons must be available for a variable time, for example two weeks, to connect for about an hour a day to a link, to answer the questions they will find on the platform and perform the “tasks” that from time to time are assigned. Each participant can access the platform comfortably when they prefer through the credentials that will be provided.

Participation is interactive in the sense that participants can contribute with multimedia content such as videos and photos.

With this method, in the case of sports shoes, it is possible to present from time to time different variants of models and colors and ask the respondents which they would most likely buy and what price they would pay for that item; you can ask to draw up a list of the different models proposed, or to compare the new models with those of the major competitor brands.

Who does formulate the questions and propose the tasks to be performed day by day? All the work is coordinated by a moderator who animates the discussion, reads the answers of each participant and, if necessary, can ask for clarifications and details.

The participants communicate only with the Moderator and have no way of confronting each other as the work is strictly individual.

At the end of the work, the platform allows the Moderator to transcribe and print all the answers, so that they can be analyzed to draw up a final report for the client company.

What can you test with online communities?

They are widely used precisely because they allow immediate feedback: they are, for example, an ideal method for testing new apps, such as tourism booking apps. Bear in mind that this is a mainly qualitative method of survey.

Why choose this method?

Compared to other market research techniques, online communities offer some important advantages:

• allow you to reach specific targets that are difficult to reach with other research techniques

• allow you to get a lot of detailed information that it would be difficult to get with the classic individual “face to face” interviews.

• allow you to work on a wider geographical area and also get material such as photos and videos

The online community is a fast, fun, stimulating and never boring job, thanks to the high degree of involvement of the participants that this method of research can guarantee. Precisely for this reason, those who participate in an online community, in the end, are satisfied and happy they have made this experience.