5 ways Market Research Online Communities will save you time, costs and resources

Market research is one of the cornerstones of brand success.

Simply put, without knowing consumer behaviour (what they like and don’t like and how likely they would be to purchase a service or product), your business can’t develop.

Unfortunately, it’s not unheard of for businesses to struggle to achieve the level of insights they need due to expense and a limited amount of time and resources.

This is where Market Research Online Communities (or MROCs) are truly making waves. Not only are they a fantastic means of gathering rich, in-depth insights into your target customers, they also drive down market research costs and allow you to make the best use of your time and resources.

Read on to find out how...

5 ways MROCs will help you save on costs, time and resources

1) Geographical diversity does not always increase logistical costs

An MROC is an online community. This means that, compared to other methodologies, you’ll have a lot more flexibility when selecting participants, because you won’t need to take travel expenditures, accommodation and sustenance into consideration.

By using a Market Research Online Community-based research methodology, you’ll also be able to avoid having to rent out equipment or a venue to accommodate your group, as participants will be able to work in the comfort of their own homes with their own tech, such as laptops and smart tech.

2) You are saving time and so is your community

A Market Research Online Community may be physically spread out over a wider area, but members still participate in real-time and as a group.

You as a researcher and your participants will only need an active internet connection and access to the digital platforms required for data aggregation and communication.

This means that, on top of travel expenses not being a factor, there is no travel time to account for. Participants will only need to commit a fraction of their day to the research and can fulfil the research requirements at their own pace.

Consequently, you will have more time to analyse the data you gather without having to waste time supervising the group. This is usually more time-effective than more traditional methods, such as focus groups.

3) Incentive strategies are simplified

A big market research cost consideration is incentive schemes. However, for MROCs, these need only be reflective of the time participants put into the research project. The fact participants can contribute in their own time and from the comfort of their homes can be viewed as an incentive in and of its own!

And because your expenses are more manageable, you could even consider making it comparatively more interesting for respondents to engage actively by creating a more compelling incentive.

It would still be more cost effective than sourcing the costs incurred through focus group-based research exercise. Introducing a sense of online, reward-driven, competition can encourage more reserved MROC members to voice their own opinions and observations.

4) MROC recruiting is less resource-intensive

The lack of geographical restrictions MROCs offer gives you the option to really pinpoint the consumer type you want and recruit respondents with the right personality traits for your research.

Compared to more traditional recruitment, you have a much wider pool to choose from, and there are no time and travel restrictions. This makes the process go a lot faster, which means your overall market research cost is reduced!

You’ll need to have a more stringent screening procedure in place to offset the fact that a Market Research Online Community isn’t as supervised as a more traditional focus group. This is a bonus in the long run, as it means you will start your research with a stronger pool of participants to begin with.

5) Flexibility in size and scope

It is clear from our previous points that using a Market Research Online Community saves time and resources. But this extends beyond the obvious geographical freedom and financial leeway this methodology grants researchers.

Your qual MR also gains flexibility, as you can do more in less time. For instance, you can add additional research points to any given project, whereas before you may have had to run two independent projects to cover the same research.

This scalability is the ultimate time and money saver and makes any form of online qual MR a huge asset to any market researcher!

Want to find out more about MROCs?

At Angelfish, we have over a decade’s worth of experience in supporting market researchers with their MROCs, which you can learn more about here.

Not only that, we have also developed an innovative guide to getting the best possible results from your MROCs!

Now you've read the 5 cost and resources benefits of MROCs, download the guide below to ensure your next one is a success, and do not hesitate to contact our team for more information: