About Us
FAQ
For any questions about The ID Factor and how we can assist you and your business, please email info@theidfactor.com
| Information about our commitment to quality and adherence to quality. | ||||
| 1. | Is it an actively managed panel (nurtured community) or just a database? |
The iD Factor places a great deal of importance on panellist engagement as we believe that being engaged means highly quality responses. We do not class our panel as a community as panellists don’t engage with each other. We have two UK based actively managed panels, Home of Research and Tech Tank. We also have 22 specialist panels that our pre-profiled from our Home of Research panel. Panel members are regularly engaged through the use of newsletters, quizzes and email research campaigns. Our member panels are cleaned following every campaign to remove opt-outs and bounce-back mails. | ||
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| 2. | Truthfully how large is it? |
This question usually elicits a high degree of obfuscation but it should not. Our consumer panel, Home of Research currently stands at 175,000 members, 105,000 whom are active. Tech Tank currently stands at 50,000 members, 15,000 of which are active. | ||
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| 3. | What is the percentage of ‘active’ members and how are they defined? |
Approximately 60% of our Home Of Research panellists are active members. Approximately COMBINED ACTIVE – 54% Our definition of an active panel member is measured by participation of at least one survey or response to at least one communication over a 6 month period. |
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| 4. | Where are the respondents sourced from and how are they recruited? |
The iD Factor utilizes several methods of recruitment, primarily being:
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| 5. | Have members clearly opted-in? If so, was this double opt-in? |
All members undergo a double opt-in process. The first step is our registration process. New panelists are then sent an e-mail with a link to activate their membership. They are also invited to join our short Home Of Research ‘fun’ survey for profiling, the demographic validation survey, client segmentation survey and any of our specialist panels relevant to them. | ||
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| 6. | What exactly have they been asked to opt-in to? |
Members are offered the opportunity to be involved in various research activities including online surveys. There is a clear description of the panels on both sites, detailing:
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| 7. | What do panel members get in return for participating? |
Members of our panels are offered a clear scheme, where they are provided with content and communication as well as direct participation rewards. The primary reward model is based on a points system whereby members can redeem points for cash. This is paid by cheque – a system used to verify home address and postcode. Additional incentives are developed on a bespoke basis when relevant to the study which include – prize draw incentives, charity donations, online group participation payment and. |
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| 8. | Is the panel used solely for market research? |
Yes, our panels are solely used for market research purposes. Activities conducted with respondents that is not purely ‘research’ is designed to be part of the member experience and is comprised of newsletters, competitions and forums. At no time are members asked to purchase. | ||
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| 9. | Is there a Privacy Policy in place? If so, what does it state? |
Yes, The iD Factor has a clear description for both Privacy Policy and Members Terms and Conditions | ||
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| 10. | What research industry standards are complied with? |
We always comply with the MRS rules and regulations. We require inactive panellists to verify they are not interested and unsubscribe them or simply remove them after a ‘warning’ email if they do not participate in a survey for 6 months or more. | ||
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| 11. | Is the panel compliant with all regional, national and local laws with respect top privacy, data protection and children e.g. EU Safe Harbour, and COPPA in the US? |
Our panels are always compliant with EU and UK laws apart from the above comments. I do not know whether the panels we use data from are compliant with relevant legislation. I imagine when we ‘buy’ data to use we need to get an assurance which will act to make them liable. WE may do this but I am not sure. | ||
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| 12. | What basic socio-demographic profile information, usership, interests data etc is kept on members? |
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| 13. | How often is it updated? |
Updating of personal information happens in a variety of ways including:
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| 14. | In what other ways can users be profiled (e.g source of data)? |
Panel members are profiled within categories relevant to them, which include:
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| 15. | What is the (minimum and typical) turn-around time from initial request to first deployment of the emails to activate a study? |
SAMPLE ONLY |
FULL SERVICE |
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| 16. | What are likely response rates and how is response rate calculated? |
The iD Factor guarantees the number of complete surveys required, not the response percentage. Response rate is calculated by the number of click throughs divided by the number of emails sent. Average for the whole panel is 10%. Highest response rate is from our Specialist Panels at 66% |
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| 17. | Are or can panel members who have recently participated in a survey on the same subject be excluded from a new sample? |
Yes, every respondent is provided with a unique identifier code. This enables us to track the panel member’s survey activity and restrict invitation to surveys of a similar nature or any other client requirement for exclusion. | ||
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| 18. | Is a response rate (over and above screening) guaranteed? |
The iD Factor will offer where possible a guarantee on the amount of completed surveys required rather than overall panel response rate. This is to ensure the client only pays for data they require and is incorporated into our per completed interview (PCI) cost issued on quotation. Where the pre-screed or accepted incident rate indicates low representation on our panels clients will be offered a cost on ‘best effort’ completion only The iD Factor has exhibited stable response rates over its 7 year existence and are, therefore, highly predictable. |
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| 19. | How often are individual members contacted for market research or anything else in a given time period? |
Communications vary according to sample type. We ring and protect valuable sample but on average, panel members are contacted 3 times per month | ||
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| 20. | Is the sample selection process for a particular survey undertaken? |
Sample extraction is based on the selection criteria supplied by the client. The criteria is applied to profiling information held on panellists and used to generate a mailing list. | ||
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| 21. | Can samples be deployed as batches/replicates, by time zones, geography, etc? If so, how is this controlled? |
The iD Factor has an e-mail campaign system that:
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| 22. | Is the sample randomized before deployment? |
Yes, sample is randomized. | ||
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| 23. | Can the time of sample deployment be controlled and, if so, how? |
Yes our campaign system can manage sample deployment based on time, region. | ||
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| 24. | Can panel members be directed to specific sites for the survey questionnaire to be undertaken? |
Every survey is initiated by a personalised e-mail invitation sent directly to the panellists registered e-mail address. Each invitation has a unique link to the survey that they are invited to participate. Whilst the majority of surveys undertaken by The iD Factor panellists will be hosted by the respective panel site, respondents can be directed to third party sites if required. | ||
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| 25. | What guarantees are there to guard against bad data i.e. respondent cheating or not concentrating/caring in their responses (e.g. click happy)? |
We set times for surveys and those who are too fast are screened out. However I don’t think this happens the whole time, depending on how many surveys we have etc. | ||
