Learn about FGI’s private online community.

Online surveys are just one of the market research applications for FGI’s online consumer panel, SmartPanel™. Panelists are eligible for invitation to the SmartPanel™ Community, as well. In this private online community, members may participate in one-to-two-week community sessions devoted to specific topics, or they can continually interact with other panelists in our Hot Trends forum. Live-streaming data from Twitter and quantitative “quick polls” keep the discussion lively, and discussion moderation and monitoring safeguard against any type of abuse.

How You Can Benefit
As an alternative to purchasing a private community, clients can field a “blind” study on the SmartPanel™ Community and interact with panelists for one-to-two-week sessions. These blind studies offer all of the benefits of a custom community, at a lower cost, including:

• Targeted recruitment and sample-screening so you talk only to the audience whose opinions you want.
• Discussion monitoring to ensure that no abuse takes place.
• The option to add a highly-trained moderator to help panelists through specific exercises.
• Public posting and replying privileges for all community members, with private-messaging capabilities for clients and moderators to follow up with members individually.
• Multimedia integration, including panelist profile pictures, so you always know who is talking to you.
• A “quick poll” to add raw quantitative insight to your qualitative study.

You can use your blind community session for any type of research that you need. You could, for instance, ask for feedback on your latest advertising campaign –or you could test a campaign before you implement it, to make sure your audience responds as you intend. You can assess a concept as part of product development, or you can evaluate your existing product to determine if you need to relaunch. Any application of traditional qualitative market research can apply in the context of your community session. The real benefit for you is that you can conduct research without having to attach your brand, if that is part of your strategy; and you can get powerful insights at a lower cost than if you had purchased a private community.

To learn more about online community research on the FGI SmartPanel™ Community, or to explore your options in terms of building a custom community, call us for a complimentary needs assessment.

To join SmartPanel™, and become eligible to join our online research community, click here. Or read more about SmartPanel™.