The Challenge
In the past 15 years, the market research industry has faced radical changes as many traditional methods of intelligence gathering have been disrupted by the explosive growth of online panel management and data collection. Market research companies that manage panels of respondents have faced massive challenges in growing their capabilities to reach multi-national audiences, acquiring and retaining consumers on their research panels, while at the same time controlling spiraling costs.
As Dynata grew their research panels to 45+ countries, with 68 different panel brands, across 5continents and 27 local languages, they faced the serious challenge of developing an incentive and reward strategy that remained relevant to their diverse participants — from a demographic, cultural, and geographical perspective.
Having taken over several new panels across multiple regions (America, Asia Pacific and Europe), Dynata found that panel retention and survey completion rates were particularly weak in some countries. This was due primarily to a poor reward choice and user experience with the reward process, which failed to retain and motivate panel members.
Requirements
Through the use of focused research questionnaires, Dynata determined that improving the selection of prepaid rewards on offer and the speed of reward delivery would significantly improve panel growth and retention rates. The desirability of local prepaid rewards, matched with speedy distribution for younger generations, would also encourage existing non-active panel members to complete further surveys.
A key requirement was to reduce logistical costs by consolidating the prepaid reward incentive to a single supplier to fulfil all rewards on a global scale, while providing a superior user experience compared to industry competitors.
Objectives
It was hoped that pursuing such a strategy would yield the following benefits to the business within a year of implementation:
- Increase panel retention by 20%
- Increase survey completion rates by 10%
- Reduce logistical costs by 15%
The Solution
Dynata contracted Ovation to develop its global incentive platform to address these specific business requirements. Commencing in 2011, Ovation, on Dynata's behalf, developed a unique network of over 1,200 different retail merchant prepaid products used to incentivise and motivate over 3 million registered panel members in 34 countries, 17 currencies, and 27 languages.
Ovation pursued a strategy ofmaking the reward process more efficient, reducing costs, and developing theincentive mix to be more relevant to Generation Y — the largest demographicsegment — and the fast-growing Generation Z. Ovation did this by researching,contracting, and developing order processing systems with e-gift card merchantsand e-voucher suppliers on a global basis.
The introduction of real-timerewards was crucial to the success of the retention growth, where instantgratification was the main driver for panellists' engagement. The impact isevident: the use of physical prepaid cards was reduced globally from 79% to37% in just 5 years.
Ovation's bespoke technologyenabled the real-time delivery of electronic prepaid value to panel members.Today, 95% of the 1,200 brands are electronic and available forimmediate delivery in real-time.
Results
The results of the initialstated objectives were more than reached through aggressive recruitment,retention, and incentive strategies, including the implementation of OvationIncentives globally:
- Panel retention rates 230% above target
- Survey completion rates 60% above target
- Reduction in logistical costs 63% above target
- 80% reduction in customer service queriesthrough the introduction of Ovation's Customer Service Tool
- Highly desired local reward options delivered inreal-time
“Ovation Incentives have been a key incentive provider to us for many years. As a business that has a member base spanning 45+ countries, it can be challenging to source tailored rewards per geographic location — Ovation act as a one-stop shop to provide a wide variety of localized gift cards to suit dozens of locales. Through these localized, instant rewards, we increase member satisfaction and participation rates. Along with their robust portfolio, the team at Ovation consistently provide us with reliable, knowledgeable and friendly customer service.”