Traditional online research does not apply here.

Online automotive research can be tricky, but we have it figured out.

Online panel providers are fine for most general population research, but we are usually looking for feedback from owners of very specific vehicle makes/models. This makes it much harder for online panel providers to provide the respondents we need; thus, additional steps are needed to find the correct research audience. Read on to learn more about our recruiting approach and how we mitigate potentially poor online data coming from panel respondents.

Recruiting

Our preferred method of finding the right respondents for each study is to use purchased or client supplied owner lists. Invites will be sent via email, regular mail, or via phone recruiting. We typically use a two-prong approach for recruiting, utilizing owner lists and online panel providers.

Data Quality

At Sift, we take various steps to ensure the respondent data we are including is valid and thoughtful. The longer the survey, the greater the chance respondents just click through the survey quickly to earn their incentive. As a result, we review survey completion time and any survey that is completed unusually fast will be thrown out. Additionally, we search for straight-liners, review all open ended responses, and include red herring questions to identify poor respondents.

Format

Whether the respondent is coming from an online panel provider, or from an owner list, the length of the survey can have a huge impact on the data quality. Many respondents start to lose interest after 5-10 minutes so it is important to keep the content lean and to-the-point to make sure the survey length stays short.

Topics

With the exception of confidential product designs or ideas, just about any topic can be explored via online surveys. Some of the more common topics we have researched include vehicle pricing; feature evaluations, pricing, and bundling; brand analysis; and concept testing.