Online Communities

Moderated Online Communities

Moderated Online Communities reveal consumer issues and potential solutions.

Man using laptop

How are online communities used in qualitative market research?

Online communities are a great way to apply the learnings from a qualitative study, or deep dive on a topic of interest (or for combining with focus groups or IDIs for pre-interview or follow-up exercises and inputs). CarterJMRN assembles online communities of qualified and engaged Japanese consumers, and designs systematic and task driven content to gather valuable feedback.

This approach can work very well with digital and technology products as well, (since the respondents are already immersed in the digital world), but with more and more respondents of all ages being “online,” this methodology is becoming more feasible for a wider variety of products and services.

Man playing a nintendo switch
3 phones
Japanese man on computer

We’ve organized online communities in Japan to:

  • Evaluate champagne advertising messages and promotional ideas
  • Report wound care product usage experience (as a follow-up to an IDI and in-home use test)
  • Share experiences with other gamers as part of improving gaming product experience

Online communities are bespoke to your market research needs

Communities are tailored to your requirements.  For example, there might be between 30-60 respondents participating for two weeks, with a commitment of 10 to 30 minutes, ranging from daily to bi-weekly tasks. Tasks posted by the moderator range from simple questions added at key  intervals, to self-completed diary exercises, with respondents uploading rich visual inputs from their interaction with a category.

Online communities augment IDIs or ethnographic interviews

Complete tailoring in the design and use of online communities is a key advantage of this qualitative research method, as it can be used to augment face-to-face qualitative work. E.g. as a prelude to an IDI (in-depth interview) (to gather basic pre-interview information and help pre-select face-to-face interviewees), or as a further deep dive on opportunities or developed concepts coming from IDIs or Focus groups.

We work with you to customize the right qualitative market research approach for Japan. Our team of consultants, project managers and moderators have a wealth of ideas when it comes to creating the right approach to meeting your research objectives with online communities.

Seeking human expertise for your research? Look no further.

Our team provides quality research with the human touch needed to interpret meaning and direction.

Let's Talk