Online Discussion Groups

Each opinion counts. Lots of opinions, however, can count for much more. Online discussion groups are among the quickest ways to gather customer insight, a good thing for market researchers everywhere. While seemingly common sense, traditional implementation of these studies is actually quite expensive and time consuming.  Budgets and schedules alike must accommodate travel, study facilities, temp hires, and all the inconsistencies they entail. Online discussion groups, however, at least give the researcher access to a pool of potential targets to collect input, opinions, and their evolution as the market fluctuates.

Cost is a prime factor for exploring online discussion groups. Quickness, however, is by far the most important incentive. Content and product development output rates far exceed that of traditional qualitative researc. Given current market expectations, and the demonstrable effectiveness of fast, relevant content, many dev teams are overlooking important elements of qualitative input that can better direct their efforts.

Good news is that technological capabilities are catching up, enabling Development and MR to better coincide. Services like Discuss.io connect researchers with online discussion groups in little as two days, many times faster than the months that traditional research methods require. Technically, online discussion groups consist of any collection that exchanges messages via the internet.

These percolate over time. While studying and participating in online discussion groups aren’t the same thing, they are mutually compatible. Many marketers are perfectly fine with “lurking” on a forum, or gathering qualitative data through keywords, while others directly prompt a discussion group’s responses by showing stimulus and asking clear questions. Aside from offering some first-hand insight unto itself, online discussion groups serve an additional few purposes as well.

• Recruitment of participants for qualitative interviews, focus groups, and other real time methods

• Gauging an online market’s current size and potential direction

• Picking up community jargon, terms, and other fun etymology

• Implementation of online discussion platforms for bulletin board surveys

Discussion groups certainly have a wide array of uses. Making the most of them can take a bit of time and appreciation of detail. However, getting into such research can be productive, simple, and valid too. Discuss.io exists to facilitate qualitative assessments, and a major part of that is streamlining the entire process. From arranging new online discussion boards to finding legitimate participants within established ones, our service makes the most of online discussion boards and what they offer. Learn more by checking out our demo.