At EMI Research Solutions, our roots are in identifying and maintaining a strong network of partners to build you custom consumer panel sample solutions for market researchers. Our vast network of panels gives us access to a wide variety of consumer profiling points so you can better uncover the insights you need.

When the data collected from our custom blends is combined with your sales data, you can better determine the “what” and “why” behind your brand sales and fine-tune your marketing strategy to reach more potential consumers.

Understanding Consumer Panels

A consumer panel is a group of people that a business or organization selects to provide feedback on products, services, or other topics. The goal of a consumer panel is to help a business understand their customers and improve their products or services.

Consumer panels are a cornerstone of market research, providing businesses with invaluable insights into consumer behavior and preferences. These strategically selected groups of individuals agree to participate in ongoing studies, offering regular feedback on products, services, and purchasing habits. This continuous stream of information empowers companies to make data-driven, strategic decisions that align with their target market’s needs, refine product offerings, optimize marketing strategies, and enhance customer experiences.

The Role of Consumer Panels in Market Research

The primary purpose of a consumer panel is to provide actionable insights and feedback about their attitudes and behaviors. This can be everything from their purchasing behavior to lifestyle habits, political opinions, preferences, brand awareness, perceptions of various topics, and their overall opinions on things. Companies use the data collected from consumer panelists in a variety of ways, including:

Improving Marketing Strategies

Consumer panels influence strategic decisions by providing deeper insights into preferences, behaviors, and trends. Through careful analysis of consumer panel data, companies can develop more targeted marketing campaigns, refine messaging strategies, and identify the most effective channels for reaching their target market. For example, panel insights might reveal specific demographic preferences for digital versus traditional marketing channels, allowing companies to adjust their marketing investments accordingly.

Better Understanding Their Customers

Ongoing engagement with consumer panels gives businesses insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and evolving needs. This helps companies anticipate market trends, identify emerging opportunities, and adapt their offerings to meet changing customer demands. Consumer panel services provide a continuous stream of feedback that companies keep up with their customers’ evolving preferences and expectations.

Gaining Competitive Insights

Consumer panels offer valuable insights into market dynamics and competitive positioning. Systematic market measurement allows companies to track their performance against competitors, identify gaps in the market, and discover opportunities for differentiation. Retail measurement services often use panel data to analyze shopping patterns, brand loyalty, and category trends, helping businesses maintain their competitive edge.

Scoping Particular Markets or Segments

Using panel data, businesses can evaluate specific markets or segments, revealing unique characteristics, preferences, and opportunities within each target group. This understanding helps companies tailor their products and services to meet the needs of different market segments, ultimately driving more effective business strategies and better market penetration.

Making Better Business Decisions

Companies with access to consumer panel insights make more confident, data-driven decisions across their organization. Whether you’re evaluating new product launches, assessing pricing strategies, or exploring market expansion opportunities, this approach helps reduce risk and increase the likelihood of success by ensuring choices are backed by actual consumer feedback instead of assumptions.

Importance of Consumer Panel Selection

One aspect that can be overlooked when conducting online quantitative consumer marketing research (or online surveys) is the selection of the right sample provider. Many people believe that panels and the data they provide are all the same. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Consumer panels are different from each other, and they change over time. Selecting the right consumer panel provider can be vital in getting the relevant, actionable insights you want.

That’s where EMI’s sample industry expertise and superior online sample industry knowledge can help.

For the past 20+ years, EMI has been identifying, vetting, developing, and managing a strong network of high-quality consumer sample partners. Each panel we work with must pass our rigorous Partner Assessment Process, where we take a deep dive into precisely what value each panel brings to the industry and what types of studies they and their respondents are the best fit for. Only 30% of panels who have been through our Partner Assessment Process have successfully passed and have been admitted into our network.

Diverse Consumer Panel Partners

Our global network of consumer sample partners gives you access to one of the highest-quality pools of consumer respondents of varying demographic, socio-economic, geographical, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics that give us the ability to create customer strategic sample blends that best fit the target of your study and provide you high-quality, deep insights.

Every sample partner in our network has passed our rigorous Partner Assessment Process so we can best understand the recruiting methods, validation process, and other data quality measures they have in place, as well as the ins and outs of their panel. Our strict vetting process ensures we only allow the best sample providers into our network and maintain high data quality for our clients.

EMI’s Consumer Panel Advantage

At EMI Research Solutions, our goal is to provide you with the highest quality, most cost-effective data – ensuring you get the best consumer sample for your project. Whether you need Consumer, B2B or Healthcare sample, EMI can connect you with the target audience you need.

Unlike other panel companies that only utilize their panels, we have incredible scope through our global network of 150+ partners in 95 countries. This ensures we can provide the completion you require for your target audience.

Our Approach to Sampling

Founded in 1999, EMI has been a leader in online sample and strategic sample blending for over twenty years. We have been a sample consultancy since our inception and since the infancy of online sample.

Over the years, we have developed a knowledge of the sample industry that is unrivaled when combined with our unbiased sample blending approach. We have built this knowledge by not only working with panel partners throughout the industry but also conducting research-on-research for more than a decade into the online sample industry to understand the differences between consumer panels and how they change over time.

This unparalleled industry knowledge is the driver, along with not owning our own panel, to provide unbiased, transparent sample consulting and advice to our clients that emphasizes what is right for their research and not what is right for any specific panel.

Strategic Sample Blending

Strategic sample blending takes traditional blending to the next level and is the best sample design to ensure confident business decisions. It is blending three or more sample providers, but the selection and blending of the selected providers is done in an intentional and controlled manner. Providers are selected to complement one another while reducing the overall sample bias and any potential behavioral or attitudinal impacts a panel can have. This method ensures that sample blending isn’t done simply for blending’s sake. Utilizing our strategic methodology, we build customized blends that best meet clients’ needs while ensuring the best results possible.

Additionally, strategically selecting providers and managing their allocation increases overall feasibility while avoiding “top-up” situations and panel bias, both of which can skew your data.

Project Management: An Extension of Your Sample

We don’t just provide you with sample; we back it up with our world-class project management services. The team provides 24/7/365 coverage and works with you as an extension of your team, providing you a single point of contact, utilizing responsiveness, creativity and flexibility to help you navigate any issues.

The backbone of all projects is SWIFT, EMI’s proprietary, cloud-based, sample management platform. By connecting your survey to our sample network, we are enabled to:

  • Launch your projects.
  • Field and close projects with more speed and accuracy than other panels. 
  • Manage multiple partners where we can insure there are no duplicates across panels.

You can view the full capabilities of SWIFT here. 

Why Choose EMI?

EMI’s experience in identifying, vetting, and managing a network of high-quality consumer panels, combined with our industry-leading approach of strategically blending samples, makes us your best option for conducting market research. We will offer your company unique insights that will allow you to uncover precisely who your customer is, how they buy, and why their behavior changes over time. These insights will help you develop your company’s strategies and grow your business.

EMI’s unique combination of expertise, white-glove service, and reach allows us to be your one-stop sample provider — getting it done without compromise.

Consumer Targeting Points

With a focus on quality, our consumer sample network can provide high-quality respondents that deliver deep, rich insights for your research studies. EMI’s ability to target a wide variety of consumer characteristics worldwide is unmatched. Here is a snapshot of our targeting ability in the consumer space:

General

  • Marital Status
  • Children in Household
  • Education Level
  • Household Income
  • Ethnicity
  • Sexual Orientation
  • Religion
  • Politics
  • Hispanics
  • Mothers/Pregnant
  • Teens/College Students
  • Pet Owners

Automotive

  • Car Make/Model/Year
  • Fuel Type
  • Insurance Carrier
  • Purchase Intent
  • Satellite Radio / Navigation / DVD
  • Boat/RV/ATV Owner

Consumer Products

  • Apparel / Clothing
  • Food / Beverage
  • Cosmetics
  • Footwear
  • Tools
  • Household goods

Health

  • Exercise
  • Diet/Healthy Eating
  • Smoker
  • Skin/Hair Product Use
  • Fitness Equipment Owner
  • Gym Membership

Finance

  • Credit Cards
  • Banks
  • Credit Card Loyalty Programs
  • Investment Firms
  • Tax Preparation
  • Investible Assets
  • High Net Worth

Travel

  • Leisure/Business
  • Car Rental
  • Hotel Rewards
  • Cruises
  • Airlines
  • Method of Booking

Technology

  • Cable/Satellite TV
  • Game Console
  • HDTV/Smart TV Owners
  • Smartphone Type
  • Cellular Carrier
  • Tablet Owners
  • Gamers

*Targeting will vary from country to country. Please inquire for specific capabilities.