Sample Lemon Markets? | Ep. 148

Data Gurus Podcast | Insights on Business Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Market Research & Data Collection

Welcome to another interesting and informative episode of the Data Gurus Podcast! Sima is excited to have Bob Fawson, the EVP of Business Strategy at Dynata, joining her today. In this episode, Bob and Sima cover several hot topics related to challenges within the industry around data and sampling. Bob Fawson’s background Bob has an academic background. Before getting his Ph.D., he decided to take a break for a while and work. So Bob applied for a sales job at a research company. He enjoyed the experience, and after a short time, he and a few others in the research company started a panel business. They grew the business. It merged with SSI, which merged with another company to later become Dynata. Bob has played various interesting and fun roles in the company over the years, from sales and operations to research science. Most of his career has been in building and maintaining Dynata’s supply. What’s driving the data and sampling segment of the industry? Several things are driving the data and sampling segment of the industry. One factor is the increasing quest to measure and manage data quality. Inextricably tied to that is the user experience, and modernizing what we do in the insights industry to attract and retain participants better. Another factor is finding and retaining the right talent to do those things. An opportunity A lot of new talent is coming into the insights space. That is creating an opportunity for those within the space to learn from those people, grow, and change the way they think about how research gets executed. An interesting analogy We tend to see a single price for each make and model in the used car market and little differentiation in terms of how cars get sold. That is because it is difficult for buyers to evaluate the quality of a used car before buying it. It is also difficult for the seller to communicate quality credibly before a sale. That lack of information drives a market where the items get sold based on the average quality at an average market price. Lemon markets In many lemon markets, we see commodity pricing (as with sugar or grain) or decreasing quality and decreasing prices as the market finds equilibrium. Bob thinks that the same thing has happened in many data markets. Reputation Reputation is a primary way for lemon markets to become more efficient. The drivers of quality Although it is hard to define quality within the insights space, a quality survey needs three elements: Identity validation. The collected data must accurately reflect what is studied. Good in-survey behavior. (The respondents need to have a high level of participation and trust.) Grids Even though researchers love grids because they are structured and provide structured data, grids tend to drive more disengagement than anything else. Quality data Researchers should remember that they are dealing with real people on the other side of the research process. That’s why they need to take the time to think through the simple steps of putting questionnaires in front of people, to get the quality data they require. Why do people participate? People tend to participate in surveys because they have an innate desire to share. They also participate to get a reward of some kind. Improving the research industry There is better engagement when the topic is well-matched to the audience. So to benefit from people’s innate desire to share, researchers need to do a better job of profiling qualifying people into their surveys. Researchers will also benefit from gaining more trust from consumers and motivating them to become panelists and share. Recruitment Bob feels that the research industry faces more of a challenge with retention than with recruitment. Data breaches with big companies like Google and Facebook have fostered a tremendous lack of trust. So, researchers need to follow through with a good experience after engaging consumers if they want the engagement to stick and be produc...