Why survey panels are your secret weapon for success

What do McDonald’s, Pepsi and Clorox all have in common? They use online market research to iterate and make more strategic decisions. Survey panels are one of those powerful market research tools that help brands hone what’s working and toss what’s not. 

Dumping millions into an idea without ongoing customer feedback is so 2013. 

One quick and powerful customer feedback tool is the online survey. Statista reports that 85% of respondents use online surveys as one of their most common market research tools. Yet, every smart marketing professional (that’s you!) knows your feedback is only as good as your questions and process.

Fortunately, you can borrow from their experience and use online survey panels to engage consumers to get their take on product innovations, future campaigns, pricing or anything else. 

Let’s find out how to best use research panels as well as build a research panel that delivers the data you need.

Survey panels offer powerful market research because you get direct customer feedback prior to an expensive launch. No one wants to release something the market doesn’t want, Keurig Kold, anyone?

Panelists are a group of people who agree to participate in your market research. Brands who use market research panelists early and often with the right tools have a market advantage. You gain customer insights along the way, so you make faster strategic decisions. 

A well-run survey panel serves as a compass for your brand. Imagine building or using a survey panel around a specific audience segment for feedback on product innovations. Get buy-in up front whether your customers prefer grape or orange, fizzy or flat. Those insights can save millions and the embarrassment of launching something that falls flat. 

Survey panels can guide your direction and keep you abreast of changing consumer tastes. 

However, there are some limitations. Here are some considerations. 

Survey panels are excellent market research tools for your toolkit. Of course, nothing is perfect. Here are some limitations to consider. 

Some survey panel limitations and challenges include: 

1. Participant quality 

Participant screening can help match the right types of participants with your survey. If you’re targeting Gen Z, a panel of Boomers won’t be much help. Screening can attract participants who care about your brand instead of rushing through your survey or only completing it for incentives. 

2. Self-selection  

The nature of a survey panel is you’re most likely to attract brand enthusiasts. That’s good! You want engaged panelists. However, they don’t accurately represent your broader audience, so make sure that if you're the one building the panel that you have a varied participant base. You don’t want to risk catering only to a small sliver of your audience and forgetting the rest. 

3. Panel fatigue 

Like the first blush of a new relationship, your research panelists can start eager to share their opinions and try new things. But when the novelty wears off, how will you keep them engaged? Some ideas are to keep surveys short and focused. Additionally, you can use personalization and tailor the questions to previous responses. 

4. Fraud 

Survey fraud is a growing problem in the market research industry. If you’re sending online surveys by targeting a specific audience online beyond your panelists, you might have people submitting multiple surveys or bots filling up a gazillion forms. These and other problems can skew the quality of your data and impact your shopper insights. 

When planning online surveys, check how your survey partner guards against fraud.

5. Measurement errors 

One drawback to online survey panels is they lack control over how panelists respond to questions. A good market research provider can help maintain a high data quality. 

Despite the limitations of online survey panels, gathering intel from your customer base is always valuable for growing your brand. Here are three use cases for survey panels. 

1. Concept testing 

Brands are constantly innovating to create new products. Survey panels help brands include consumer feedback at each ideation stage to make faster, data-backed decisions. One example is McDonald’s concept testing process.

2. Message testing 

Online surveys make it easy to test messages. Get your potential customers' feedback on names, headlines, taglines, and campaigns before investing millions in graphics and other launch materials. 

Cleaning solution Fabuloso leaned on their long-time Latin American audience to create a tele-novela-inspired campaign. It scored in the top 1% of short-term sales and in the top 20% to drive brand equity.

3. Pricing

How much will consumers pay for those snazzy new sneakers? You could price it and hope or test different price points and promotional offers to see what connects with your customers. 

Market research tools can create a constant feedback loop so you know where your product stands with your customers. 

With so many potential use cases for using research panels in your marketing. Now that your mind is bubbling with possibilities, if you’re the one building out your survey panels, here’s how to build a survey panel to get great customer feedback and make you look like a genius to your boss. 

First, remember the first rule of effective research. You need guidelines and a process to follow. 

1. Define the goals 

What do you want to accomplish with your survey panel? Do you want to track brand awareness, understand consumer preferences about a potential new tagline, or something else? Write down your goals and what you’re looking to discover from the start.

2. Define your target audience

Your intended goals dictate the type of consumer you want input from. If you’re looking to test a new product to attract Gen Z, you’ll want Gen Z’ers on your survey panel. 

3. Choose your recruitment methods

Where will you find your survey participants? Brands often find their panelists through social media, email outreach, or partnering with influencers or relevant organizations. If your brand hosts in-person events, that can be a good option, too. 

4. Identify your incentive 

Will you offer rewards, gift cards, cash, or exclusive access? What will motivate your panelists? 

5. Plan a simple onboarding process 

Make it easy for your panelists to say “yes.” Outline what’s expected of them and how they’ll receive compensation so they know what to expect. 

6. Create community 

People love to feel like they belong, and a community forum can give them a chance to meet other panelists and share their love for your brand. You could name your panel and create a sense of VIP status around it. Lego has its Ideas Community, Starbucks has the Rewards Panel, and Spotify has the Soundboard Community. Each offers special access to early releases and special events in exchange for feedback. 

7. Monitor 

As goals evolve, so should your survey panel. Assess the makeup every few months to make sure it’s still the best composition for what you’re trying to achieve. 

Many brands use survey panels to help them shape advertising campaigns. It makes sense to test the market early and often before you roll out a big launch. Many household name brands build market research into their ongoing marketing plans. Here are some examples. 

1. PepsiCo tests Super Bowl ads  

Super Bowl spots are some of the most watched in the world. With air time costs up to seven million for a 30-second spot, brands pour tons of creative energy into these ads. PepsiCo uses survey panel tools to test ad concepts ahead of the big game so they can land the most effective ads possible. 

2. Clorox 

Survey panels helped the cleaning brand test storylines and ad concepts to create an iterative feedback loop to make more powerful television commercials even when they’re not for the Big Game.  

3. Nike 

There are a lot of sneaker companies, but only one Nike. They use brand awareness surveys to track consumer perceptions of the athletic shoe brand and gauge the effectiveness of their brand messaging and campaigns. 

As you may guess, plenty of companies offer market research expertise, including running survey panels, so you don’t have to. Here are a few of them:

1. Zappi

Whether you’re looking to test your ad messaging with consumers, a new product concept or gauge your brand health, Zappi’s platform has a customizable survey tool that makes it easy for brands to run surveys on brand perception, market trends and gather other valuable feedback.

Zappi’s consumer insights platform automates market research and simplifies actionable insights by gathering quality data at scale. Its live testing capabilities use AI, which creates a constant feedback loop. The more you use it, the wiser you get. 

🔍 Request pricing on Zappi solutions

2. Survey Monkey

This easy-to-use survey builder has a user-friendly interface. It’s quick to set up and distribute the survey and gather responses. There are benchmarking and audience targeting tools, but it lacks deep analytics.

3. Cint 

This global technology company connects businesses with research panel participants worldwide. Geared toward professional market researchers, it’s a helpful tool for broad insight and diverse opinions.  

4. Qualtrics

This enterprise-level provider handles large-scale market research, customer experience, and employee engagement. Users can gather complex research data across their offerings. 

5. Innovate MR 

This research tool targets both B2C and B2B survey panels. Users can choose from a DIY option or a fully managed service based on their needs. 

7. User Interviews 

Recruits market research participants so you can put together a research panel quickly. With over 2.4 million potential participants, you can filter and select the most promising matches for your research panel. 

8. Audience Align

In keeping with the name, this company survey panels focus on aligning the brand message with the customer’s behavior. It allows brands to adjust their message dynamically in response to audience behavior. 

The biggest brands in the world use survey panels to test and iterate concepts in real-time. These market research tools can use AI to create dynamic results, giving you up-to-the-second feedback to guide “what’s next.” 

Get essential feedback from your target audience to ensure you create products and ad campaigns that match their interests. 

Using survey panels enables you to drive brand awareness and sales simultaneously. When you want to engage your audience and reward them for helpful feedback, try Zappi’s platform for modern business.