What is a consumer panel?
As an Amazon entrepreneur, understanding the needs and preferences of your customers is crucial to your success on the platform. However, collecting feedback from a representative sample of potential customers can be challenging and expensive. This is where online consumer panels* come in.
Online consumer panels, such as those found on UserTesting, Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), Intellivy’s audience, or other platforms, provide a scalable and cost-effective way to conduct market research and collect valuable feedback on product listings, pricing, and other factors that influence customer behavior.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why online consumer panels are a game-changer for Amazon entrepreneurs when it comes to market research. We’ll explore how to identify a high-quality online consumer panel, the benefits and risks associated with using them, and the various types of online consumer panels available on multiple platforms.
By the end of this post, you’ll have a better understanding of the benefits and risks of online consumer panels and how to differentiate a high-quality audience from a low-quality one. Let’s get started.
Recognizing a High-Quality online consumer panel
When it comes to online consumer panels, not all are created equal. While they can provide a cost-effective and efficient way to gather feedback, there are also risks associated with using them, such as low-quality responses, biased samples, and potential ethical concerns. Therefore, it’s essential to know how to recognize a high-quality online consumer panel. Here are some factors that distinguish high-quality from low-quality online consumer panels:
High-Quality Panel versus Low-Quality Panel
- Platform: Choose a reputable platform with a track record of attracting high-quality participants. Avoid platforms known for low-quality participants who prioritize speed over accuracy. For example, Intellivy focuses on recruiting expert participants who are vetted and screened for their attention to detail.
- Survey design: Ensure that the survey or task is well-designed with clear instructions, appropriate question types, and response options. Avoid leading or biased questions. An example of a biased question is one where a specific product is favored over the others. For instance: Compared to product [A], what problems do you anticipate encountering with product [B]?
- Participant incentives: Offer fair and reasonable incentives to keep participants engaged and motivated to provide quality responses. Avoid incentives that are too low, unrealistic, or unclear, as this can lead to low-quality responses and high dropout rates.
- Completion rate and response time: Check previous tasks’ completion rate and response time to ensure that the participants are engaged and motivated. Be wary of completion rates and response times that are too fast, as this may indicate that participants are rushing through the task without providing thoughtful responses.
- Location: Consider using an online consumer panel with participants from the same location as your target audience. Avoid using panels with participants from irrelevant or non-representative locations.
- Online customers: Select an online consumer panel consisting of online shoppers who are more likely to be familiar with the online shopping experience and may have more relevant feedback. Avoid using panels consisting of retail shoppers who may not be as familiar with online shopping or may have different purchasing habits and preferences.
- Low-Quality Responses: Some participants may rush through the task or provide low-quality responses, leading to unreliable data.
Types of online consumer panels
There are several types of online consumer panels available, each with its own benefits and risks. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most well-known online consumer panels:
- Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)
MTurk is one of the most well-known online consumer platforms, with millions of participants around the world. Although owned by Amazon, assuming that the people behind MTurk are a good fit for sellers may not always be accurate. The reason being that respondents may not be a part of the target audience of the seller or may not even be regular online shoppers. One of the benefits of MTurk is its low cost, making it an attractive option for businesses on a tight budget. However, the low cost can also lead to low-quality responses from participants who prioritize speed over accuracy. Another potential risk is the lack of quality control on the platform, as participants are not vetted or screened before joining. One more potential advantage is the audience may not be located in the US, which could lead to less relevant feedback. - UserTesting
UserTesting is a platform that offers a panel of users who can provide feedback on websites, apps, and other digital products. One benefit of using UserTesting is that you can choose specific demographics and interests that match your target audience, ensuring that the feedback received is relevant and actionable. Additionally, UserTesting offers the ability to target users by device, location, and other criteria, which can help you get a complete picture of how your product may perform in different markets. However, the platform’s pricing model can also be a concern, as it can be more expensive than other online consumer panels.
Intellivy’s Online Panel
Intellivy stands out from other online consumer panels because of its exclusive audience. The platform recruits expert participants who are vetted and screened for their attention to detail. This ensures that the feedback collected is of high quality and provides valuable insights into the target audience’s preferences and needs. Intellivy takes pride in its commitment to maintaining a high-quality online panel. We invest significant time and effort into creating a panel that consists of participants who meet the requirements of a high-quality online consumer panel. This rigorous selection process ensures that the panel members possess the necessary expertise and attention to detail to provide reliable and meaningful responses. In the rare case that Intellivy uses a third-party audience, this is only after a thorough screening to ensure the quality is consistent with our internal guidelines. Additionally, Intellivy offers a flexible pricing model that allows sellers to tailor their budget to their needs, making it a cost-effective solution for conducting market research. With a focus on providing high-quality responses and a user-friendly platform, Intellivy is an excellent choice for Amazon entrepreneurs looking to gain a competitive edge on the platform.
Is Intellivy a high-quality platform? Let’s put it to the test!
- Platform: Intellivy prioritizes accuracy over speed. The respondents are rewarded for high-quality responses instead of speed.
- Survey design: Intellivy avoids unclear instructions and biased language.
- Participant incentives: Intellivy offers fair incentives to keep respondents motivated.
- Location: The people behind Intellivy’s online panel live in the US.
- Online customers: Intellivy’s online panel consists exclusively of online shoppers.
*What does the term ‘online consumer panel’ mean?
An online consumer panel refers to a group of potential customers that a seller has engaged with through social media or other online platforms in order to gather feedback or other insights about their products or services. This type of audience can be very valuable to sellers looking to build their brand and grow their sales on Amazon, as it can help them better understand the needs and preferences of their target customers.