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Speed new standard in Web research feeds accuracy, privacy concerns
To make forecasts about new products, New York-based Avon Products Inc. for years dispatched interviewers to 17 U.S. cities to survey Avon representatives in meetings at local malls. But in 1997, the beauty products company decided to conduct side-by-side product research studies-one via the Internet and the other in malls. The result: The data correlation was so high and the online method was so much more cost-effective and efficient, "we decided there was no reason to go on doing it in malls," says Beth Landa, Avon's product research manager.
The Internet rapidly is becoming a favorite in the market researcher's collection of tools because it's cheaper, faster and easier than surveys done in malls, by mail or over the telephone. They can conduct wide-open, anybody-can-answer polls; opt-in, invitation-only surveys; password-protected research sites and forums; and Internet-based panels.
Yet this rapidly growing subset of the marketing research industry has its downsides. While researchers are finding ways to translate their scientific methods for online use, no clear standard for validity has emerged. Even more troublesome is the issue of respondent privacy, and contention on this point has led some research firms to court.
"Reputable companies understand there are some concerns (about online research) and have systems and processes in place to allay these fears," says Beth Rounds, senior vice president for Custom Research Inc., a $30.2 million, Minneapolis-- based custom-survey research firm. In addition to its traditional research services, the 25-year-old company now has a growing Internet business as a result of its alliance with online service giant, Dulles, Va.-based America Online Inc.
Dennis Gonier, president of Dallas-- based Digital Marketing Services-an interactive research firm recently purchased by America Online-agrees. "As long as we pay attention to quality and good science, (online research) will be the primary way consumers interact with marketers within three to five years," says Gonier, who is also senior vice president at AOL. "The fundamental rules of social sciences"such as random sampling and controlled respondent access-"are being preserved in the online world."
For example, DMS, with exclusive rights to recruit respondents from AOL's 18 million members, requires visitors to AOL's Opinion Place research forum to first answer about five demographic questions...