A research community is a group of real customers or end users who agree to take part in short research activities over many months, not one survey. CRS recruits the members, verifies them, runs the activities and keeps the community fresh. The client owns the questions and the findings. CRS holds the members' personal details.
01
Find people who match the profile, from our own databases and the places those people already are: supply houses and trade lists for professionals, recipe newsletters and stores for consumers.
02
A screener checks the profile. Verification checks the person: a license or employer check for a technician, a photo task for a home baker. Duplicates and industry insiders are removed.
03
Members accept a plain-language agreement, fill in a profile and complete a short welcome activity. The profile means later activities can be targeted without screening again.
04
A quarterly calendar of polls, boards, diaries, live groups and placements, each sent to the members who fit it. No member is asked more than once a week.
05
Inactive members are retired, long-tenured members rotate out, and new members are recruited to hold the profile. Members hear each quarter what their answers changed.
Recruiting a B2B community vs a consumer community
| Technician community (B2B) | Home baker community (consumer) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where members come from | Trade association lists, supply house counters, technician referrals, the CRS business database | The CRS consumer database, recipe newsletter partners, social ads, in-store intercepts |
| What the screener checks | Trade, license, commercial vs residential work, shop size, equipment brands serviced | How often they bake, what they bake, flour brands bought, household |
| How members are verified | License number or employer check, plus one short technical question | A photo of their baking shelf, plus duplicate and fraud checks |
| Who is kept out | Manufacturer and distributor staff, sales reps | Food industry employees, members of another baking panel |
| Typical size | 300 to 500 members | 1,000 to 1,500 members |
| Time to build | 6 to 8 weeks | 4 to 5 weeks |
Professionals are the harder build. There are fewer of them, they are busy, and they have to be verified. That is also why owning the community pays back faster in B2B.
Incentives · thank-you by activity
| Activity | Member time | Thank-you, poll = 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Quick poll | 3 to 5 minutes | 1 |
| Concept board | 20 to 30 minutes across a week | 4 |
| Live group | 90 minutes, scheduled | 10 |
| Diary week | 10 to 15 minutes a day, 7 days | 12 |
| Placement | 4 weeks of use, 2 check-ins | product + 8 |
Paid as points that members redeem for gift cards or a charity donation. Professionals are thanked at a higher rate than consumers, in line with the value of their time. Nobody is paid more for a positive answer.
Privacy · what members are promised
Refresh · keeping the community typical
| Q3 refresh | Retired | Added | Members | Turnover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corvane technicians | 24 | 24 | 420 | 5.7% |
| Millhaven bakers | 71 | 71 | 1,204 | 5.9% |
Where communities go wrong
Between activities, a calibrated synthetic panel can be built from the community's own answers to screen early ideas, so live members are kept for the questions that need them.