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Page 7 of 15 Gathering Profile Data Once someone has joined a panel ideally you need to learn as much as possible about that individual. There are two approaches - interrogation or conversation. MyVoice follows the conversational approach as it can be shown to yield better data. 1. Gathering Data Through Interrogation The Interrogation Approach is to force new panellists to complete a titanic profiling survey as soon as they join. One "benefit" of this approach is that the panel owner knows everything about everyone in their panel. However unless they use this data a lot, it rapidly ages as people change their credit card, upgrade their mobile phone and so on. There's also a good chance that the information you think you know is in fact incorrect because normal people see registration surveys as a chore. A second "benefit" of the interrogation approach is that your panel is super responsive because anyone who is put off by a 60 question profiling survey on joining an unfamiliar panel will drop out whereas hungry professional respondents will make it through. This obviously does not ensure your data is solid though as clearly the more “normal” response is to not want to fill in a huge long survey. Insisting on a lengthy interrogation skews the panel. 2. Conversation - The MyVoice approach MyVoice builds a trusted relationship with our members over time. Initially we require only 8 fields of information from them – name, country, age, gender, marital status, postcode, email, lifestage. We know that this means we get more “normal” people in our panel because the universe of people happy to provide 8 bits of information is bigger than the universe happy to provide 60 bits of information so we’re fishing in a bigger pool. Then, as we get to know each other we provide members with opportunities and encouragement to provide more information over time. In the end therefore we have both complete AND accurate information, thoughtfully provided by bona fide people who remained in control of their data and destiny at all times. The disadvantages of our approach mean that we don’t always know every bit of information about everyone in our panel, especially new members, as it’s up to our members whether or not they complete a profiling survey. However we’re confident that the information we do hold is more accurate as it was given willingly and at the member’s convenience. |