How to ensure getting customer insights that move projects forward — instead of investing in a tool that holds you back?
With time, energy, and thousands of dollars on the line, you can’t afford to invest in a research platform that doesn’t produce results. Here are five essential capabilities qualitative researchers should expect from their platform:
Frictionless video experiences
Let’s not beat around the bush: if your research service doesn’t have video capabilities, it’s falling behind (and so is your research). But even if it does, how can you know they’re right for your research projects?
The problem with video’s rapid growth across the research industry is that many companies are more worried about being able to say that they have video services than ensuring those services are best-in-class.
Keep an eye out for research platforms that go beyond video basics to deliver features like:
- Live video with no lag
- Automatic transcription
- Bookmarking and editing
Mobile-first approach
If you’re anything like the average employee, you’re on both your phone and your desktop throughout the day. In fact, 91% of corporate employees are using at least one mobile app, looking to stay on top of projects while in meetings or on the go.
Yet, many research services remain firmly stuck in the past. At worst, many have no mobile version available. Meanwhile, others create clunky mobile apps that lack functionality as an afterthought to a desktop-first strategy. Neither works for the modern researcher.
Instead, select a mobile-first tool you can use to adjust participant settings, schedule interviews, and post projects straight from your phone any time, any where.
High-quality community of users
There’s no doubt that how many users a platform has is significant — without a big enough pool to draw from, you may not be able to find the participants you need. But don’t fall into the trap of believing that quantity equals quality.
A platform can have millions of users, but be rife with professional test-takers, ultimately rendering their services useless. To perform meaningful research, ensure the platform you choose has both: a large number of users and a strict quality assurance policy that weeds out unreliable and dishonest participants.
With methinks business users have access to readily available Thinkers. Any time, any where.
In-depth user profiling
User details like age and gender are undeniably helpful. But to mirror your target demographic as closely as possible, you need more. Make sure your tools can go deeper to collect things like:
- Political stances
- Health information
- Lifestyle habits
- Media consumption
Even better, find a platform that collects data straight from users, not secondhand from cookies or social traffic.
Streamlined logistics
Highly necessary and deeply underrated, logistics are the unsung superhero that can propel your research forward — all while lowering costs and shortening timelines.
Whether it’s easily accessible scheduling that can adjust at the drop of a hat or a payment system that simplifies the process for you and your participants, streamlined logistics make a huge difference in every single project.
When it comes to evaluating research services, logistics should be a make-or-break factor. After all, if a company isn’t paying attention to the details that can make your life easier, why hire them?
