If you want to access hard-to-reach respondents and target audiences with specific criteria, qualitative market research online communities are a great methodology. They’re a fast, efficient way for researchers to unlock in-depth insights and have a number of benefits for healthcare market researchers too: there are no geographical restrictions, they can fit into respondents’ everyday lives and they can also act as a kind of support group, allowing patients to come together and share their experiences.

However, an ongoing concern with medical market research online communities is how to maximise engagement and ensure they consistently deliver the very best results. From initial low response rates to respondents losing interest during the research itself, uninterested and disengaged respondents can have a big impact on your results – and not in a good way! So, what can you do to increase engagement in your healthcare market research? Read on to find out;

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to conducting a market research project. And when you add in the specific criteria of healthcare market research, combined with looming deadlines, hard-to-reach participants and time pressures, it’s easy to see why mistakes are made. But when it comes to medical market research, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail – so it’s really important that you are aware of any potential pitfalls before embarking on your study. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, we’ve seen it all – so without further ado, here are the five most common medical market research fails we see (and our suggestions on what you can do to avoid them!)

It can often be difficult to source quality respondents for patient market research. Not only do you need to plan your research to fit in with your patients’ lives, but there’s often specific criteria to meet as well. From those living with low-incidence rate diseases that are often spread out across the country to projects targeting those who take a particular type of medication, or even newly-diagnosed patients, healthcare market research is notorious for its niche audiences. However, thanks to the rise of digital methods such as online communities, barriers are being broken down – making the lives of researchers that little bit easier. Read on to find out why online communities are the perfect methodology for engaging with hard-to-reach respondents in patient market research; 

If you are carrying out any type of market research study, one of the very first things you need to do is gain the informed consent of your participants. According to the MRS Code of Conduct, “informed consent is a process by which a participant voluntarily confirms his or her willingness to take part in a particular project, after having been informed of all aspects of the project that are relevant to their decision to participate”. Likewise, ESOMAR’s Data Protection Checklist states that consent must be free, specific and informed, and one of the first things the BHBIA says in their Legal and Ethical Guidelines is that “you must obtain informed consent from market research respondents, willingly given, to collect and use their data”.

We all know how difficult it can be to find the perfect participants for healthcare market research. So when you do find the right respondents who fit all the necessary criteria, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders. There’s just one thing left to do before your research kicks off – scheduling. And for a lot of researchers, that’s where the headache begins.