All about the client panel
One of the benefits, and there are several, of an Extellio survey is that you can recruit a client panel. The panel is an excellent resource, especially for planning and evaluating changes on the website. In this article, we'll go through all you need to know about the client panel.
What is a client panel?
A client panel is a group of people that you can use when you need a focus group of some sort. Maybe you are planning to change the structure of your website and want to ask your visitors some questions to understand their needs, or maybe you have already changed your website and want to do some user testing. These are perfect times to use your client panel.
The panel consists of survey respondents who answered that they are willing to participate in further studies (more about recruitment below). You therefore have the advantage of knowing that they have visited your website before, but since they are recruited from the survey, you are also able to create a segment for the client panel and see their roles and purposes, and so on. The best part of that is that you don't have to contact all the members of your client panel, but you can choose those that you are interested in - say your customers only, or only those that struggled on your website.
How do you recruit a client panel?
The recruitment of a client panel is a simple on/off setting under "Ending" when you are editing your survey. If the recruitment is on, the respondents will be asked if they are interested in participating in future surveys from you. If they are interested, they give their name and email address.
It will take a while to recruit a usable client panel. About 3-15% of respondents sign up to the client panel, and not all are going to be interested in whatever you are contacting them about. You therefore need to activate the client panel months, or even a year or two, before you want to use it.
Are the members part of the panel forever?
No, the personal information for the client panel members is saved for 24 months, and is then removed. How many members you have will therefore move up and down. If you are curious about how big your client panel is, you can create a segment for them in the "Respondent" category (see image below). Note that you will need to look at the last 24 months, but an approximation works too unless you need an exact number (in that case, use specific dates as your date range).
Creating a segment for the client panel is also a great way of understanding which types of visitors make up the panel. This segment works as all other segments, and you can see which visitor categories the panel members belong to, and their purposes, and their ratings, and so on.
Is there a reason not to recruit a client panel?
Yes, if you're not going to use it. When the members sign up for the panel, they are expecting to be contacted for future surveys etc. It can therefore be disappointing to never hear from you.
However, that should not be a reason to fear using the client panel. It's not like loyal visitors are going to abandon you for not contacting them. It's simply more considerate to not recruit a client panel if you're never going to use it. But if you're unsure, it's better to have the client panel.
How do you contact your client panel?
Because of GDPR, this will differ depending on who's the personal data controller.
If you are the personal data controller, you have permission to view the personal information of the client panel members. When you want to access the client panel, just contact us and we will send the information as soon as we can. This is a temporary solution while we are developing our platform.
If Extellio is the personal data controller, only we at Extellio are allowed to access the personal information. When you want to use your client panel, we will contact the members of the panel and inform them about your survey (or whatever you wish to use the client panel for). We will ask them if they want to participate and inform them that if they say yes, we will give their contact information to you and they will no longer be anonymous. You will then get a list of all the client panel members that want to participate, with their email addresses.
If you want to use your client panel, feel free to contact us. We are happy to help!
Is the client panel free?
Sort of, and again, it depends on whether you're the personal data controller or not. The recruitment of a client panel is free regardless, but when we need to be part of the process of contacting the client panel due to GDPR, there will be an addition fee that compensates for the extra work . How much time it takes to contact the client panel and administer their responses differs from case to case, and we therefore take an hourly rate.
If you are the personal data controller, you already have access to your client panel's personal information, and can therefore use the panel for free.
Can you send Extellio surveys to the client panel?
Yes, but not the regular UX surveys. Instead, you will need a CX survey. The difference is how they are distributed. UX surveys appear automatically on your website, while CX surveys are distributed with a link or QR code that you can send in an email, for example. You are therefore able to more precisely control who answers a CX survey.
