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If there’s one thing market researchers can all agree on it is that quality data is the primary goal. We must be able to trust the data in order to make decisions. But how can buyers ensure that their sample suppliers are on the same page?
Here are a few “buyer’s tips” to help guide the process and ensure that the latest technology is applied, toward the goal of uncovering quality data. These originally appeared in P2Sample’s eBook: “The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide: How to Select A Sample Supplier.”
Representation
In a world in which the industry has willingly departed from the principle of probability-based sampling, we must at the very least be sourcing respondents from a large and diverse number of sources. From online forums and blogs to search engines, shopping sites and social networks, and from gaming sites to app stores, automation makes it possible to recruit a wide variety of people from hundreds of sources while managing quality and costs.
Conversely, sample buyers should avoid companies that use a limited number of recruitment partners, or source from only one channel – such as only drawing respondents from mobile gaming networks.
BUYER TIP: Buyers should recognise that some traditional parameters that signalled quality in the past don’t necessarily still apply. For instance, the fact that a panel is double opt-in doesn’t mean it will yield high-quality data. Double opt-in has been used as a way of ensuring the person’s commitment, as well as an additional layer transparency surrounding exactly what’s on the table in terms of privacy. In this day and age, it is a stronger (but not mandated) sign of GDPR compliance. Nevertheless, if a panel supplier is doing little on the engagement and fraud detection fronts, double opt-in matters little. After all, a fraudster could automate his response. The bottom line is that each person needs to be real, profiled, engaged and treated respectfully, in accordance with the law. This can all be accomplished with single opt-in.
Profiling
Proper management of one’s panel makes it possible to develop deep and rich profiles with literally hundreds of demographics and behaviours. This provides immense benefits to both suppliers and respondents. For suppliers, it means effectively targeting participants, which boosts conversion rates and lowers waste. For the respondent, it yields better experiences and maximises the likelihood of completing a study and earning an incentive. But these benefits can only arise if the profile data points are put to use in field through APIs so that respondents aren’t asked questions which aren’t relevant for a study or for which suppliers already have data. This is commonly called “dynamic profiling” and it is less time-consuming and intrusive for the user.
BUYER TIP: Buyers should ask about profile points and how they are used in execution. A good supplier will have a strong commitment to automation and APIs, and will put these practices to use for the benefit of not only the bottom line, but also respondents.
Identity validation
Automation and artificial intelligence (AI), while poised to create overall efficiencies in our industry, are also making it easier for fraudsters. This reality means that suppliers must employ ever more vigorous practices to defend against fraud.
Traditionally, we’ve employed several techniques to mitigate fraud. These have included:
- Email and address verification;
- Captcha, which provides an artificial, puzzle-like block that requires human intervention;
- Honeypots, which employ computing codes to act as a trap that machines find irresistible but humans never notice; and
- Open-end questions, which make it difficult for most fraudsters to create realistic, genuine, open-ended answers at scale.
- A machine-learning method that compares pattern behaviour by analysing billions of data points for anomalies
- A large amount of historical data to provide accurate classification and help the machine learn
- A vendor with experience in identifying, understanding and managing fraud, providing a solid foundation
