2. The 3 key learnings you will take away with you are:
1 How to plan your conversations
2 The rules of engagement
3 Tangible ideas for feedback to
customers that will make a difference

3. How to plan
Ask members of your panel how often they
would like to hear from you and try to mirror
On average most community members will
advise they are happy to hear from you once
a week
Generally no less than two contacts a month
is the sweet point for b2c panels and less
frequently for b2b
Consider your mix of asking and responding
Produce a roadmap of activity for 6 to 12
months that incorporates asking and sharing

4. Product Development General XYZ
- Finished Product Testing - What Made You Switch?
Product Development
- What Does Value Mean to Product Development,
Members? concept testing
- Third Newsletter - Fourth newsletter
- Welcome study - Public Relations, Rate
- Marketing and Acquisitions, Marketing and Acquisitions
- Welcome newsletter Review
Communications Effectiveness - Retention and Loyalty
- Second newsletter
- Member Satisfaction
Study (PM)
- Website Review: How Are General
- Retail mind & mood
- Product Development, Members Using It - What’s Your Thought
- Seasons Greetings & Best
Concept Testing - Mobile usage study Process?
Wishes for the New Year!
- Media segmentation
eDM
Study

5. Learn how to effectively engage your
panel by:
What
When
How
• Determining the “what” to share
• Planning in advance for the “when” to share
• Using Sparq for the “how” to share

6. The Majority of Research
A
I GIVE a The
company
company company
NEEDS ?
insights & MAKES
insight &
ideas decisions
ideas

7. Providing Intrinsic Value to Memberss
I GIVE the
company
insight & ideas
The company
GIVES ME The company
feedback on GETS insight &
how my insight ideas
is used
The company
MAKES
decisions

8. Key Drivers of Satisfaction
Note where “incentives
offered” vs “input you
provide is valued” are
ranked

9. Ways to Provide Intrinsic Value
Quarterly Newsletters
Updates on the panelist portal
Short email updates to keep
memberss informed
Member of the Month

10. Newsletters
Results summaries: Providing members with regular summaries of
results from studies is an important part of intrinsic incentive
programs.
Updates on actions taken from panel results: One of the strongest
motivators for panelists is proof that their contributions are being
heard and driving change or resulting in positive initiatives.
Sneak Peeks: Another element that members respond well to is the
feeling that they are part of a “special” or exclusive group. This can
be reinforced in the form of access to content or information
outside of the panel that hasn’t been seen by general public yet.
Member of the Month: Each month a member can be selected to
be highlighted on the panel. This can be as simple as selecting a
panellist based on a strong participation on the panel, or can even
be a random draw selection from study participants. Specific
feedback can be obtained from the member on their experience
with the panel.

11. Portal Updates
• In order to really use the member portal as
an engagement tool, we recommend
updating the quick poll content monthly (at
the very least) in order to engage members.
• Spend time each month coming up with
topics for the portal.
• When creating Quick Polls, it is important to
remember to ask questions that are relevant
to members, questions that are interesting
and engaging. For example, asking a member
about their favourite pizza may not seem
appropriate unless the panel is focused on
food.
• Asking questions about current affairs,
political issues, special events, questions that
are timely, and possibly controversial in
nature, could generate some interesting
response rates.

12. Verbatim Questions
One suggestion to encourage feedback from panel
members is to include verbatim questions at the end
of each survey to allow members to give their opinions
openly, like in the image below:
Are there any comments you would like to
make about the TOPICS in this survey?
Are there any comments you would like to
make about the EXPERIENCE you had taking
this survey?

13. Five Feedback
Tips for Member
Engagement

14. “Your voice was heard! 89% of
respondents claimed to prefer
Package C for our new widget, Or, another example:
and this is the packaging we
will be going with.” “Because a large number of you asked us for
more information about XYZ, we are writing an
article about that in our February issue”

15. If an actual decision is not appropriate, include the findings
themselves
6000
5000
4000
enough sleep
3000
not enough sleep
“89% of business leaders 2000
on our panel feel they
don’t get enough sleep” 1000
0
Don’t include graphs all the time – quick points with results are great on their own

16. “We’re launching our Spring
line this month – watch for
that great handbag we
tested with you in
September.”
“A few months ago, we tested different concepts for our new advertising,
and our newest ad campaign is starting this week.”

17. Where Our Members Live
San Francisco 29%
Vancouver 29%
“Here is where the people on New York 20%
our panel live:
Toronto 22%
People want to know how they compare

18. • Include a comment from the CEO
about how he/she feels about the
panel, or write a letter to the
panel.
• Give people an opportunity to
write in with questions directed to
a particular member of your
company – designer, medical
specialist, chef, etc.
“Click here to ask our health expert
any questions you have about our
report on exercise”

19. Some additional ideas …
• Include a link for members to view special content on your
website, or take a quick poll on the member portal
• Updates on prize winners from sweepstakes draws
• Engage members by asking them for suggestions or hot topics
• Include a special contest within a
newsletter and highlight the winners
& entries in future communications
• Ask fun, non-research verbatim
questions in surveys and include the
results, for example “95% of you are
anxiously awaiting the next season
of “Lost”

20. Recap – 5 Feedback Tips
I GIVE the
company
insight & ideas
Tell members about what decisions your
company made as a result of the research
If an actual decision is not appropriate, The company
GIVES ME The company
include the findings themselves feedback on GETS insight &
how my insight ideas
is used
Provide follow-up on past projects
Tell members something about themselves The company
MAKES
decisions
Tell members something about your company

21. Some Helpful Hints
When you are designing your next survey, highlight
the areas that could be included in a newsletter
Mark quarterly newsletters on your research
planning calendar, including time for content
gathering
Allow members to anticipate feedback by telling
them how often you intend to communicate back
to them, and stick to it
Post a quick result on your website, direct the panel
there to see their insights put into action
Have FUN with it – ask yourself what you would
want to know if you were on the panel

22. Sparq: the “How”
• Communicate your feedback via the newsletter template in Manage >
Communication
• Put updates on the member portal
• Create a new “study” that you update with reports & information and send
out an anonymous link

23. Encouraging survey starts

24. Encouraging Survey Starts with your Invitation
Part of conducting successful studies is making sure that members will
read invitations, and click on the link to start. Below are some tips on
authoring emails that give you best possible start rates:
1 Length of Survey:
2 Call-To-Action:
3 Personalisation/Relevancy:
4 Special Characters & Spammy keywords:
5 Physical Addresses: