Consumer research
Consumer studies live or die on quota management. Most of the respondents who reach a nationally representative survey will be screened out or land in a cell that is already full, so the router has to return them to their panel quickly and tell the supplier exactly why.
Routing risks and how they are handled
- Cells fill unevenlyYounger men and older women fill at very different speeds. Overquota endlinks let suppliers stop sending people into full cells instead of wasting their time.
- Low incidence categoriesCategory buyers can be a small share of the population. Terminate endlinks feed accurate incidence numbers back to suppliers so they can target better.
- Repeat participantsThe same person can belong to several panels. Respondent-ID and device checks at entry stop duplicates before they reach the survey.
Recommended project settings
| Minimum LOI | Around one third of the median length of interview from your soft launch. |
|---|---|
| Duplicate devices | On for most consumer studies. |
| Endlink signatures | On whenever your survey platform can calculate an HMAC. |
Questions about consumer research
What incidence rate should I quote for a consumer study?
Quote the share of people who enter the survey and qualify, before quotas. After soft launch, compare it with the incidence ResearchDart reports (completes divided by completes plus terminates) and update the project if it differs.
Should overquota respondents be counted as terminates?
No. Send them to the overquota endlink. They qualified, and suppliers treat them differently from people who did not match the target.
Other research types
B2B researchProfessional audiences such as IT decision makers, finance leaders and small business owners.
Healthcare researchPatient, caregiver and healthcare professional studies with extra care around sensitive data.
Brand trackingContinuous or wave-based trackers that need consistent sample sources over time.
Concept and ad testingFast-turnaround monadic and sequential tests with many cells filling in parallel.
Academic researchUniversity and social science studies that need transparent, documented sample sourcing.
Put a quality layer in front of your next study
Tell us whether you buy sample or supply it. We set up your account, share sandbox links and walk through the first integration with your team.