Survey panel: How to use it in your surveys?

Survey panels give you easy access to the sample you need to conduct any survey. Nowadays, the vast majority of market research is done with survey panels because of the many advantages they offer. Find out how to access a survey panel and how to use it in your market surveys.

What is a survey panel?

A survey panel is a group of previously selected people who have agreed to participate in surveys or market research by answering surveys or questionnaires. All survey panels have some common characteristics:

• Pre-selected participants. All survey panels have large volumes of people who have been recruited in advance. By having a large volume, specific samples can be created for each need by cross-referencing the base by demographics, geography, interests, or specific behaviours.
• Regular participation. Panelists are regularly contacted to participate in different market surveys or UX tests.
• Incentives. All panels have incentive systems that allow them to redeem rewards earned for cash, gift cards or donations to all types of organisations.

Survey panels have developed significantly in recent years and nowadays a large majority of online surveys are done with survey panel samples.

Advantages of a survey panel

When you are going to do market research, you can order the sample you need from a company that has a survey panel. Doing so will provide you with a number of advantages.

• Access to consistent, quality data. By having a stable group of participants who are incentivised to provide quality information, the data obtained is usually better. All survey panels have increasingly sophisticated quality controls that identify any suspicious behaviour among panel members and remove them before their responses become part of the survey results.
• Possibility of longitudinal surveys. Survey panels allow for longitudinal analysis (tracking over time). For example, when researching a market and asking about habits from time to time. By working with the same sample, we can survey how purchasing and consumption habits change among the same people. It also allows for ‘re-questioning’, i.e. when something is not entirely clear, or the answers lead to new questions, the same sample can be accessed to collect additional information and have all the answers.
• Precise segmentation. This allows you to segment panellists by demographics, interests or behaviours that have been previously collected. For example, in most survey panels, new members provide information on household characteristics, equipment or habits. This information is stored and periodically updated so that all these fields of information can be used to create filters. For example, it would be possible to interview mothers of households with children, drivers of a brand of car, customers of an insurance company, regular buyers of a supermarket brand or consumers of a brand of sliced bread. This allows for very precise segmentation of the sample immediately, as there is no need to ask questions to identify the sample prior to sending the questionnaire.
• Speed of data collection. Since the panellists are already available and willing to participate, the time needed to recruit and collect responses is significantly reduced. In fact, you can start fieldwork as soon as you are satisfied with your questionnaire.
• Price. Finally, accessing panel participants directly, although it requires an investment on the part of the survey panel owner, is much more efficient than seeking a new sample each time. This is why market surveys with a survey panel are more cost-efficient.

Survey panel at We are testers

We are testers has its own survey panel of 130,000 people for Spain and Portugal. In the rest of the countries we have samples from other internationally recognised survey panels.

Our own survey panel incorporates a large number of security and quality measures to ensure the reliability of the data.

• Strict recruitment rules. Only participants who provide satisfactory and sufficient information are included in the panel.
• Verification of registrations through mobile phone. This ensures the identity of the panelist.
• Captcha to avoid bots
• GeoIP validation to avoid duplicate accounts.
• Automatic technical controls such as unique token assignment, average response time and more…

The survey panel incorporates a system of cards and penalties and any suspicions are communicated to the panelists so that they can explain them before expulsion from the panel. The system performs constant debugging of the panel, so that panelists with suspicious response patterns or inactive panelists are removed.

When it comes to sample selection, our survey panel has 400 variables to create an infinite number of profiles:

• Household: household income, household members, household life cycle, characteristics and age of the home, second homes and other properties, home automation and security systems, contracted utilities, rates, pets, vehicles…
• Training: level of training and surveys completed, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, vocational training, schools where they have been trained, online or face-to-face training channels, knowledge of languages and learning routes, intention to continue training in terms of educational modality and centre…..
• Employment: employment and professional situation, length of service, sector, specialisation, position, decision-making power, type of organisation and size, financial institutions with which the company operates, IT variables, etc.
• Banking and finance: users by primary and secondary bank, length of time as customers, consumers by banking product and length of time, bank by banking product, savings capacity, online banking users, users of bizum and other mobile payment applications, private banking users and personal advisors.
• Insurance: purchase decision-makers when taking out dental, travel and death insurance. insurance taken out for car, motorbike, home, life, health, death, dental and pet insurance, use of insurance in the last 12 months, type of insurance taken out, how each insurance policy is taken out, company taken out and single or shared payment for health insurance.
• Food: type of shop and brand where purchases are made, membership or customer loyalty programmes, physical and online shopping habits, frequency, responsible party, average monthly expenditure, basket composition, organic and Km 0 food products, predisposition to innovation, white label consumption, etc.
• Telecommunications: purchasing decision-maker in contracting suppliers, contracted services, landline, mobile, internet and pay TV provider, on-demand TV platforms, operating system and mobile brand, payment method for mobile phone service, company phone, with its operating system, company and payment method.
• Health: vision problems, hearing problems, oral health, diagnosis of diseases, types of diabetes, smoking habits, types of food, types and degrees of disability or dependence, use of online channels for health-related aspects…

We regularly add new fields to our survey panel, so when you are thinking of carrying out market research, check out the possibilities offered by our sample. Our research experts will be happy to give you all the details and provide you with a quote for the sample you need. Contact us today.