Community clients ‘spend less on surveys'

US-- A study commissioned by US online communities firm Passenger suggests that growing use of online communities is reducing spending on traditional research.

In a client survey commissioned by Passenger and conducted by Sector Intelligence, 36% of respondents said that using private online communities had enabled them to reduce the number of surveys they might otherwise have conducted in the past year, while only 9% said it had not. As for focus groups, 43% said they had been able to run fewer groups thanks to Passenger, while 14% said they had not.

Samantha Skey, general manager of Passenger, said: “The survey demonstrated that online communities are shifting the way brands think about communicating with their customers, and the dialogue that results from these communities is proving to be a catalyst for significant change within organisations.”

Passenger is now working on a study on the impact that online communities have from consumers' point of view.

Author: Robert Bain