Market Research Online Communities (MROCs): Receive real-time insights straight from your customers

• • Examples of such techniques include laddering, ZMET (Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique) and mind mapping.

• • We use laddering – a technique well-established from psychology – to get to the heart of buyer motivations, decisions and behaviors.

• • We go beyond traditional questioning (“why did you choose/do this?”) to explore the consequences of a product, service or behavior (“why is it good/bad that…?”).

• The final step is establishing the values which ultimately drive any decision: “Why is that important / what is the impact?”

Market Research Online Communities (MROCs) are a relatively new technique for gathering real-time, qualitative market research insights.

They typically consist of a closed network of like-minded respondents taking part in a series of conversations and structured exercises around a given topic.

Online research communities such as MROCs are, however, different from bulletin board or online focus group discussions in that they:

• Tend to take place over a much longer period of time (usually measured in months and years, rather than days and weeks)
• Allow respondents to spontaneously contribute their own content on the community topic, whether in the form of discussions, blog entries, video journals or other multimedia. In fact, community members are actively encouraged to interact with other participants as much as possible through sharing custom profiles, status updates and commenting on the submissions of others

• Are well-suited to gathering ad-hoc ‘quick dip’ insights from the market at relatively short notice. Straw polls and discussion topics can be swiftly asked of the community. This approach is particularly important for clients in fast-moving and technical industry sectors or for any initiative where rapid prototyping and feedback is necessary.
• Gather more in-depth and reflective insight compared to shorter-term qualitative research techniques. Since conversations take place over the course of many weeks or months, cohorts of business respondents can be gradually guided through complex topics or decision-making dynamics.