Both public and private online communities offer opportunities for research, but many brands are wary of sharing company information openly.
Invitation-only, private online communities centred on a single brand or customer segment may be the solution.
These private communities can also engage customer groups or target consumers who might be difficult to reach using traditional off-line methodologies.
Brands also benefit from online communities by having them on-hand to answer questions, test hypotheses, and observe.
In an online research community members (rather than respondents) talk to each other – they exchange ideas and discuss issues with each other.