Three Quarters of Market Researchers Expect to Increase Use of Online Research
Thursday, 08 December 2005
According to a survey conducted by Greenfield Online Inc and its European subsidiary CiaoMarket, researchers worldwide are expecting their company's use of online and online access panels to increase in the next 6 months. Study results indicate that 76% of market researchers surveyed in North America and 85% in Europe are predicting their use of online to increase.
The Greenfield / Ciao Online Research Barometer study interviewed 572 market researchers worldwide in November 2005 to provide an in-depth snapshot about the adoption of the Internet for market research surveys. The study has been fielded twice yearly since mid-2004.
"The Barometer indicates that online is maturing and evolving as a research methodology, yet still experiencing growth," says Nicolas Metzke, Senior Vice-President of Survey Completion at Greenfield/Ciao.
"While the study suggests that the life-cycle of online usage in North America is a flattening curve, with 24% of researchers expecting no change in usage. This compares with 13% in Europe; however, no researchers anywhere are predicting that their online usage will decline." Metzke presented results from the study at SEMO, France's major market research event in Paris on 30th November.
"In North America the study results show that most researchers have primarily migrated telephone studies to online in the last twelve months, while mall studies were the second most common study methodology to be migrated to the Internet," says Metzke. "However, in Europe, while telephone to online is still the most common switching that has occurred, half of researchers say they have replaced also face-to-face studies with online in the last twelve months."
The two most important reasons for conducting market research studies online remain time, mentioned by 82% of researchers worldwide, and competitive pricing (79%). In North America the ability to incorporate multimedia technologies into surveys and having access to complex target groups are greater considerations than they are in Europe where researchers are more likely to use online methodologies to simply gain access to respondents.
The Greenfield / Ciao Barometer study also reveals differences in usage of online research by industry sector. Consumer goods is the industry most using online research worldwide. In North America, finance, healthcare and retail are also very important markets. In Europe, researchers are more likely to be conducting online studies for the telecommunications, information technology and media research industries.
"We've seen in our business that besides one-off ad hoc studies, online is being used more and more for tracker or longitudinal, omnibus studies and custom panel research, and the Barometer findings show that this is an industry trend," says Gunnar Piening, Senior-Vice President of Sales and Operations, Europe and Asia at Greenfield/Ciao.
"Both short and long-term tracking studies are increasingly being undertaken online. Only around a third (36%) of market researchers using online report that they use it for one-off ad hoc studies only. The hardest part in attracting researchers to online tracking studies is making the switch because of the initial loss of data consistency, but the advantages of online have made it a very attractive option for many."
"The good news here," stated Albert Angrisani, President and Chief Executive Officer of Greenfield/Ciao, "is that market researchers plan to continue to increase their use of online studies to fulfill their research requirements. This trend speaks positively for survey completion organizations like Greenfield/Ciao. The Barometer study revealed that approximately 80% of market researchers implement their online studies using respondents provided through access panel providers like Greenfield/Ciao to get the data they need to support their research requirements."