Crowd Control: Utilities and Social Media
No matter what your industry, social media is the Great Unknown. Even innovative businesses, with full teams devoted to managing content for platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, struggle to mine and assess the content that emerges from said platforms. Still, social media is a proven barometer of consumer sentiment. Any company concerned about its reputation should be concerned about what users say online.

To illustrate, imagine the following scenario: a rate increase at a utilities company ignites angry reactions, which get posted online in a matter of hours. The response catches the attention of traditional media, whose coverage foments additional vitriol. The ultimate result is a plunge in satisfaction ratings. Whereas disappointed customers might, in the past, have written letters or grumbled privately about an increase in costs, their reactions are now a part of the public discourse –and a damaging one, at that.

This story reflects the experiences of many companies, but it can be avoided through the use of social media monitoring. With an eye on social networks, a provider can quickly latch onto and address any indication that users are displeased with its policies. Some negative sentiment may be altogether neutralized, and any unavoidable backlash can be effectively managed. The bottom line is that listening to customers on social networks is nearly as important as using social networks to talk to them. By establishing dialogue through social media, companies effectively create a feedback loop that supports reputation-management and customer satisfaction as well as marketing objectives.

Connecting to Customers
Two-way communication is valuable to utilities companies in more ways than one. A feedback loop between providers and customers is the principle behind Smart Grid, which uses a network of sensing, measurement and control devices to enable both providers and users to monitor energy consumption. Customers linked to a Smart Grid can use their Smart Meter to track how they personally use energy, when and at what rate, and they can then self-regulate their energy use to maximize budget efficiency. In theory, satisfaction levels rise as personal energy costs drop, and providers see less strain on the grid as demand evens out.

To introduce customers to the concept of Smart Grid, to track its efficacy post-implementation, or to better understand energy consumption habits writ large, utilities providers can use an online research community. Online communities are a cost-effective way to combine quantitative and qualitative insight and engage users in dialogue. Since providers can reach out and receive instant feedback on any number or variety of topics, they have a constant source of insight to support their strategic approaches to customer service and operations. This insight is crucial as utilities navigate the introduction of a new technology or any other concept (including changes in rates or service availability). They can suss out how their users will respond and adjust their tactics accordingly.

Conclusions
No matter how tremendous a technological development or how vital a change in the business model, the best companies will attend to customer response before and after they initiate a change. Before they leap to introduce a concept, providers will conduct qualitative and quantitative research to gauge how it will be received and refine their strategy. After they implement a well-researched plan, those same providers will keep an eye out for any signs of discontent.

Social media monitoring is the latest innovation in market research designed to help companies monitor and address responses to their actions. Online communities offer a way to “look before leaping,” refine ideas prior to their introduction, and minimize the risk of negative reactions. Ways of reaching out and conveying information to customers have been in place for a long time. These research tools offer an opportunity to receive feedback from customers and thereby create services and make changes more attuned to their desires. By staying connected to their customers, businesses can improve satisfaction and performance –and thereby stay ahead of the game, whether that means coping with change or increasing competition. In line with our corporate mission, FGI Research is on the forefront of developing research methods to help companies do both.

The focus group (online or in person) is a tried-and-true method for gleaning qualitative insight from a subset of your target audience.  One of the most attractive benefits of the focus group is the presence of a trained moderator, who can direct and manage conversations so as to target specific questions. The answers to these questions can produce valuable insights that drive marketing decisions and fuel additional quantitative research, both of which ramp up business performance.

But what are your options when you need qualitative reactions from a larger group of people?  Or if you’re not exactly sure what your focus should be?   What if you don’t even know what issues you need to address?  How do you reach your target audience and get them talking freely about what they like, what they don’t like, and what they’d like to see in the future?

For many companies, the answer to this dilemma is to develop an online community. In an online community, your customers can interact not only with a moderator, who sets the ball rolling on precise exercises, but also with each other.  This produces dual benefits. First, it lets researchers drill down on specific issues. Second, it provides ample opportunity for community members to raise new topics that may not previously have been considered priorities.  Keeping these communities invitation-only allows researchers and their clients a way to interact with customers within the proverbial “walled garden.”

FGI’s suite of community products offers additional twists on the private online research community: the opportunity to run topic-driven sessions for short periods of time to deal with a specific set of concerns, or to run the community as a permanent website that is always available to members.  The short-term session is an excellent method both for defining the parameters of an upcoming quantitative study and for identifying future research paths to be explored. Long-term communities, meanwhile, let customers bring up concerns as they arise, allowing businesses to monitor subjective feedback in real time. Each type of online community has specific advantages that respond to different needs. Whether your intent is to keep a constant eye on customer satisfaction or to gauge their opinion on a time-sensitive decision, FGI can help you build a community to satisfy your objectives.

Heather Woodward
Director, Online Research
FGI Research

To learn more about online communities with FGI Research, contact one of our representatives. You can also join FGI’s own SmartCommunity, our proprietary online community where SmartPanel panelists contribute to independent qualitative research and offer their views on the latest trends.

Customers are comfortable meeting in online communities to share their thoughts and ideas. Unlike quantitative studies, participants are free to share ideas and insights that go beyond the highly structured questionnaires used in online surveys. Unlike traditional focus groups (in person or online), participants have more freedom to express their opinions without being dominated by groupthink or strong personalities.

Used correctly, and smartly integrated with other methods, private online communities can unlock needs, ideas and insights that simply are not possible via traditional means (quant or qual) and even newer methods such as social media mining. As a result, online communities deserve to have a prominent seat at the market research table.

David Wilson
CEO
FGI Research

The technology drivers include Internet communications, custom panel tools, community platforms, and new survey methods. In turn, customers are rapidly adopting new methods of communicating with each other and the companies they trust for goods and services.

New technologies and customer behaviors have formed the perfect recipe for a revolution in market research. Going forward, market research must fully embrace these new technologies and behaviors in order to continuously understand and appropriately serve today’s customers.

Custom online panels are fueling the market research revolution and FGI Research is a recognized pioneer and leader in custom panel technology and managed services.

But panels are only the tip of the revolution. As more and more consumers flock to the Internet to communicate, learn and share ideas, market research is expanding into online communities and social media mining. These are rich new sources of valuable and real-time market intelligence that are unlike anything we’ve seen before in the market research industry.

Companies that fail to embrace these new tools and methods (custom panels, online communities, and social media mining) will quickly find themselves out of touch with customers and their broader target markets. Let’s briefly consider the case for each new market research tool.

David Wilson
CEO
FGI Research