If you want to research business opinion (as opposed to consumer) then surely you can find a fieldwork company that gives you access to business respondents… yes?

That’s the question I’ve had several times over from clients this year.

My instant response is to ask them think about business panels as if you were in the respondent’s shoes.

To start with, let’s have a look at how consumer panels work.

People are offered a small but useful incentive (a little bit of money) to answer research questions on a regular basis. Makes sense? Of course it does.

I give my opinion on things. It takes a few minutes. I can do it over the weekend. I get a few bob which I either spend or give to the kids. It all stacks up. I have no vested interest in giving any answers but my own unbiased opinions. Many people will do this… enough volume for the panel provider to be able to provide a nationally representative set of responses across a few thousand people.

So far so good.

Now think of that when your respondents are busy business people (just like you!).

The incentive might be higher, but only marginally so.

You’re incredibly pressed and stressed.

You have tough targets and deadlines.

Management and customers are very demanding.

It would be great to have more resources, but budgets are tight.

If it’s your own business, you’re constantly creating and evaluating and thinking up ideas – even in your leisure hours.

So… do you fill in some questionnaire from a fieldwork company, for a miserable few quid?

I don’t think so.

So, when our latest client said they could buy into a business panel of IT heads across European business, I just went through these same questions and scenario painting. They discarded the panel option within a minute or two.

Now they’re spending the same effort (but less external spend!) getting more engaged with their own customers. After all, what they want to track is how firms are benefiting from their solutions. And their own customers are best placed to give perspectives on the ‘before and after’.

As they engage with customers, the client will be able to track what kind of questions are working and which are not.

They’re doing it through an accredited, independent, experienced third party (us at ThoughtSpark), so customers feel free under these Chatham House rules to give open and accurate answers.

In short, less cost, less risk, better answers.

A business panel might be useful for light touch, generalist research – on subjects like hybrid working attitudes, or workflow, or happiness at work – but anything more specific, specialist or technical, and I would suggest you’re wasting your precious budget.

I hope you find these bulletins entertaining. I’m happy to discuss all relevant engagements – from customer community creation, to directorial mentoring, to strategy development, to thought-leadership content development, to full campaign structuring and management, and more.

Do get in touch!