News

We’re Taking This Show On The Road

Vision Critical is doing a grand unveiling of the next generation in online research, Sparq. This September, we’ll be visiting Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco to show off the one platform for online research.

What was once Panel+ has now evolved into Sparq. We're very excited about the latest edition that features a suite of visual question types, multimedia questions, expanded portal capabilities, new community features and enhanced reporting.

Road Show Dates:
Boston - September 16th
Chicago - September 18th
New York - September 25th
San Francisco - September 30th

If you’re interested in coming to one of our events in your area, send an email to Caroline Hickton to book a spot.

Posted on September 3, 2008
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Vision Critical Gets High Marks for Communities & Panels Webinar

Today it seems like everyone wants to build a community.

But how do you make sense of all the noise? What type of community is best for companies trying to gain consumer insight? Conduct concept testing? And explore product innovation and ideation?

Kris Hartvigsen, SVP International Global Development, and Ellie Sykes, VP of Qualitative and Online Communities tackled these questions in a recent webinar about integrating online communities and custom panels. The webinar was summarized and reviewed in RFL’s Research Conference Report for July-August.

With the proliferation of communities, businesses are hard-pressed to identify “voices amongst the noise” in public community space. “The more you want to zero in on who you are talking to…the more likely a private community or a proprietary panel will be a good fit,” said Kris.

Private communities are closed, intimate, comfortable online environments where customers can share ideas and opinions, establish social connections and build a reputation. Kris said “the wave has led many companies to ask why researchers are sitting behind a one-way mirror?”

Private communities can be used to conduct research on product innovation, customer sat, and brand perceptions; as well as for competitive intelligence, identifying experience gaps, and finding unmet needs. “Combining custom panels and communities can inform quantitative research with qualitative in one environment,” Sykes said. “In today’s world you can have it all, depending on your software,” Sykes stated.

Sykes offered some tips for building a successful community:

1. Establish clear direction
2. Solve real problems
3. Create a culture
4. Fulfill members’ social needs
5. Incent extrinsically when needed

To read the full review in Research Conference Report, click here.

Posted on August 13, 2008
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Will Online Respondents Give Quality Answers Without Incentives?

Angus Reid, CEO of Vision Critical, and Nick Sparrow, Managing Director of ICM Research, debate the issue in a recent publication of Research Magazine. Here is an abbreviated version of their transcript.

Nick

“[We need to start] by building a contract of trust between researchers and their new part-time employees, the panellists themselves. The contract: fair pay for considered answers.”

Angus

“A recent survey of our Canadian panel revealed that almost half would continue taking surveys even if they weren't paid. That's because at least half of our surveys deal with social, economic and political issues and the commercial content is carefully controlled. Also an increasing number of clients now run their own panels of customers. These clients have a huge incentive to do short, meaningful surveys so as not to annoy their customers. And the customers often have an intrinsic motivation to participate – quite independent of pay.”

Nick

“Heavy survey-takers, interviewed face-to-face, told us they are not motivated by the money, but several had detailed accounts of what panels they were signed up to and how much they had earned. Panellists may say they are not motivated by money – but they don't mean it.”

Angus

“Some panel companies treat respondents as robots, subjecting them to intolerable surveys in exchange for a little cash. No surprise that they get professional respondents. Others are engaging a broader cross section of the market with fewer, better surveys, and enlightened communications….At Vision Critical we support about 250 custom panels for airlines, sports leagues and magazines. Many of these panels have very high levels of participation and very low rewards.”

Nick

“People join custom panels because of their interest in the product or service; there is an obvious benefit for them and therefore little need for incentives. But why should anyone join a general access panel to answer questions on a wide variety of subjects?”

Angus

“In our experience money counts – but only for about a third of our panellists. The rest are motivated by a plethora of factors including a desire to be involved, to make a difference, and to engage with a well-known brand in polling. And nothing can kill these motivations faster than garbage surveys that dish out repetitive questions and grids. If you treat respondents like lab rats most will exit the scene and all you'll be left with are those with an insatiable greed for more rewards.”

Nick

“I think we may be agreeing. General, use access panels will tend to attract those in it for the money. Bespoke panels can rely more on the interest of panellists in the specific subject area.”

See the full discussion here.

Posted on August 11, 2008
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Virtual Shopping Gains Momentum at IIR Shopper Insights Conference

Vision Critical met up with manufacturers and retailers in Chicago at the 8th annual Shopper Insights in Action conference to discuss the latest in online virtual shopping solutions for CPG and retail companies. The conference focused on how to work within a changing market while getting closer to the shopper.

Andrew Reid, President & Co-Founder, along with a team of Vision Critical staff, attended the conference to share examples of how companies are getting to know customers better by implementing virtual shopping insights.

“Our online retail simulations show retailers and manufacturers exactly what pushes shoppers to buy, saving time and money by testing thousands of shoppers simultaneously,” said Andrew. “By using the virtual environments, we’ve had clients save millions of dollars by isolating opportunities of in-store marketing tactics.”

Vision Critical has a suite of rich media research applications called Fusion including shelfsets, virtual retail environments and ad or package testing. If you’re working hard to keep up with consumer and retail trends, our Fusion technology could be the solution you’re looking for. Learn more about our solutions by contacting Andrew Reid.

Posted on August 5, 2008
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Sneak Peek of the Latest Online Research Platform, Sparq

This fall our flagship product, Panel+, is becoming Sparq - the online research platform for market researchers around the world. Panels, communities, one-off surveys are all-in-one, with enhanced multimedia features and drag and drop reporting.

Here is your chance to see a sneak peek of Sparq. We recently previewed this release to 50 of our clients at the Panel Summit in Whistler.

We’ll be adding more information to our website in mid-August, but if you want to see Sparq in action, register below for our upcoming webinar on September 10th.

Sparq Webinar

Date and Time: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 2:00 pm

Join us as we unveil the next generation of online research – Sparq, the world’s first platform to unite custom panels, private online communities and one-off surveys.

Please Register Below

Posted on July 24, 2008
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