More than a year ago, Columinate introduced a market research solution that assisted South African companies to conduct cost-effective market research during the recession while still meeting essential needs such as speed, quality and value of insight. One year later and Market Research Online Communities (MROCs) continue to allow companies to stretch their research budgets and gather rich insights from their consumers and employees, all for a fixed monthly cost with an even better MROC platform.
Engaging Employees to gather continuous, significant insights
Over the past year Columinate has assisted various large corporates to better understand their employees and gather information on employee specific and companywide issues. In so doing, Columinate has found MROCs to be particularly suited for employee research for a variety of reasons, here are five of these:
Creating a dialogue: Employees have the opportunity to voice their opinions in a non-threatening environment. They have the option to sign-up anonymously and engage with an independent research company and therefore express their opinions candidly. Company stakeholders and decision makers have the opportunity to listen-in and further delve into employee related issues without hampering the flow of the conversation.
Bottom-up Insights: MROCs encourage user-generated content and employees are encouraged to steer discussion and conversation. These bottom-up insights allow company executives to keep an ear on the ground and discover insights instead of testing ideas.
Internet Access: The majority of the modern corporate workforce has some level of internet access and can thus easily contribute and interact with other employees in the research community.
Fun and engaging: Time and again, employee feedback suggests that the MROC approach is far more engaging than traditional research. Employees can socialise, blog and share photos while they contribute to important company discussions. These communities also facilitate camaraderie between people who work in different branches across the country, giving employees the opportunity to get to know their colleagues dispersed across the country.
Asynchronous and flexible feedback: The community runs for a set period of time which allows employees to contribute and discuss at a time that is convenient to them. Those who are out of office do not necessarily miss out, as they will have the chance to contribute to any of the relevant discussions at a convenient time upon their return. The longitudinal nature of the communities means that topics of interest do not expire.
The Success is in the Process!
The MROC process itself allows employees to feel that they are being heard and that their inputs and thoughts are important to the organisation. Employees feel they are involved in shaping their organisation while enjoying the social network feel of the MROC, which is often hailed as innovative and exciting.
Columinate is a multipart online solutions company that specialises in creating and facilitating online communities for market research purposes. Contact Columinate ( or ) to request an obligation-free demonstration of the platform, presentation or brochure.
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 to be particularly suited for employee research for a variety of reasons.)
