Principles of Remarkable Research: Part 17 of 20

Embrace Crowdsourcing As A Market Research Option

Two categories of software tools are available to turn crowdsourcing into a practical market research option: idea management platforms and prediction markets. While these categories are distinct, they have a common theme: creating web-based destinations to generate, prioritize, and assess ideas (or predictions). IdeaScale, Infosurv, and Inkling are just three of the platforms that offer trials. Again, new technologies are allowing remarkable researchers to gain customer insights, collaboratively and quickly.

• Tip: Watch out for all of the confusing semantics flooding the twittersphere and market research journals. Collaboration, crowdsourcing, cocreation, open innovation are all popular words that in reality overlap a lot. The idea is simple: inviting a “crowd” (a broad public network, a list of customers, employees, or a set of business partners) to easily share and vote/comment on ideas. The mechanics may vary but the fundamental concept is the same: engaging a group of people of your choice to participate in virtual brainstorming sessions resulting on a prioritized set of ideas. The ideas may be product options, tag lines, sales forecasts, or just about anything else you can think of.

[This is the seventeenth article in a series of 20 mini-posts titled, “Principles of Remarkable Research.” Don’t want to miss this series? Subscribe to our blog via email or RSS.]