The RED C panel allows for the easy set up of specific brand communities to help marketing teams interact directly with their customers.

Private online communities are where a targeted group of participants gather to discuss research-related topics on a weekly basis. The topics are facilitated, with periodic reports and recommendations provided to the client.

Blog and bulletin board facilities within the panel infrastructure allow us to re-skin a separate section of the panel site to be branded for companies, and allow them to talk to consumers on an ongoing basis.

Communities work best as an addition to standard research and in close collaboration to the marketing team, they are particularly valuable when a brand is investigating new approaches and ideas.

These “Web 2.0” tools are combined with focus groupcapabilities that researchersneed, including membermanagement and databasefiltering, points and incentivemanagement capabilities, and transcript downloads, etc

Communities are primarily a qualitative methodology and should not be considered as a replacement for online survey research. However, they can serve as a venue to launch online surveys to a targeted group. They are also effective in understanding the “why” behind the “what” of an online survey.

This provides a secure environment for brands to be able to test new ideas or concepts among a relevant audience and gain feedback to help tailor these approaches.

Research community sizes vary, although most are between 50-300 people. We typically recommend around 150 participants to keep the feedback manageable while encouraging connection among members.

The length of time that a community lasts also varies by the objectives. Communities last typically at least one month, although they can last years.