Panel Management Basics
Posted by Jeffrey Henning on Mon, Jan 11, 2010
Ready to start experiencing the benefits of panel management? Panels can be as easy as 1, 2, 3.
The three essential components of a panel are:
- A central email list for surveys
- An ability to unsubscribe from the panel
- A record of panelists' survey activity
Central Email List for Surveys
Many organizations start with manual panel management for their customer research. They build their panel by importing into a database files with customer profiles. On the plus side, this is quick to set up; on the negative side, this is time-consuming as they try to keep it in sync with the list of customers as new customers are added, old customers move on and existing customers change their contact information.
Automatic panel management typically involves using a file synchronization utility that periodically exports files from a CRM system and then imports new and updated records into the panel. This can be done use FTP transfer of files or by use a SOAP API (a web integration call). Once this is done, the panel is always in sync with the customer data; in fact, many of these processes run as is for years with no intervention or update needed. The only negative is that automatic panel management does require an upfront investment in configuration and custom programming followed up by irregular reconfiguration whenever the CRM file layout changes or new fields are added.
Ability to Unsubscribe from the Panel
The second key requirement of a panel is to maintain a list of people who don't want to be on the list. For U.S. organizations, this suppression list is not just a courtesy but is required by the CAN-SPAM Act for many types of email. Dedicated panel management systems all have unsubscribe processes and suppression lists as a standard feature. The unsubscribe process becomes more complicated, however, when integrated with marketing systems.
Many organizations have EMM (Enterprise Marketing Management) platforms that maintain a global suppression list, where individuals can opt out of all bulk email communication with the organization. Too often, this unsubscribe process is an all-or-nothing approach. If your panel needs to integrate with Marketing's unsubscribe systems, make sure to treat "Surveys" as a discrete channel. Let the reader opt out of some but not all channels of communication: list the available types of mailings and the current email settings and offer a separate channel for "Feedback Surveys." Most individuals are willing to provide feedback, and may unsubscribe from every channel except this one. It's worth asking them.
Record of Panelists' Survey Activity
Third, and finally, a panel management system will track the frequency with which individual panelists have been invited to take surveys and how often each individual has completed surveys. A more sophisticated panel management platform will also include panel health scores to look at the participation rates of panelists individually and in aggregate.
Want to learn how to set up your own customer panel? Download a complimentary copy of my white paper, Customers as Confidants: Customer Panel Management Made Easy or sign up for one of our upcoming panel research webinars.