Can insight communities be run globally?

Absolutely. We can manage market research online communities and panels across the U.S. and in <a href="https://touchstoneresearch.com/global-research/">60+ countries</a>, with multilingual capabilities and in-market moderators.

Insight Community & Market Research Online Community Solutions

Q: What is an insight community?

An insight community is a private, online group of participants who share feedback over time through surveys, discussions, and interactive activities. It’s ideal for ongoing engagement and deeper audience understanding.

Q: What is a market research online community?

A market research online community or community panel is similar to an insight community but often emphasizes a mix of qualitative and quantitative research activities in one space. Both allow brands to gather rapid, ongoing insights.

Q: How is an insight community different from an online panel?

An online panel is typically used for one-time or periodic surveys with large sample sizes, while an insight community focuses on smaller, highly engaged groups participating in multiple studies over time.

Q: What is an insight community platform?

An insight community platform is the technology that powers your online community, enabling activities like surveys, discussion boards, video uploads, heatmaps, and more — all in one secure, centralized environment.

Engage your audience in ongoing, interactive research with our full-service insight community solutions. Whether you need a short-term project community or a long-term market research online community, our team designs, manages, and moderates communities that deliver richer, faster, and more actionable insights.

Start Your Insight Community Project

Insight Community & Market Research Online Community Solutions

Insight Community Services & Expertise

Comprehensive Insight Community Solutions: As a leading insight community company, we design and manage both short-term and long-term market research online communities and online panels tailored to your goals.
Cutting-Edge Insight Community Platform: Engage participants with multimedia activities, mobile-friendly access, and tools for surveys, video uploads, heatmaps, and concept testing.
Rapid, Ongoing Insights: Access real-time feedback from highly engaged members for faster, more informed decisions.
Integrated Qualitative & Quantitative Research: Combine focus groups, diaries, and discussions with surveys and polls — all within one community.
Expert Community Management: Our team plans engaging activities, moderates discussions, and keeps participants active for consistent, high-quality responses.
Flexible Service Models: From full-service community management to targeted support, we adapt to your timeline, budget, and objectives.
Global Reach, Local Expertise: Launch market research online communities across multiple countries and languages, supported by in-market moderators and multilingual capabilities.

Our Community-Based Research Solutions

We offer a range of community research models to fit your objectives, timelines, and budget. Each approach is powered by our advanced insight community platform and backed by expert management.

Insight Communities

Primarily qualitative, our custom online Insight Communities are designed for ongoing engagement and rapid insights generation. They leverage discussion boards, diaries, polls, media uploads, remote IDIs/groups, UX, and other interactive activities to capture deep, nuanced insights from your audience.

Rapid Qualitative Insights: Quickly gather and analyze qualitative data for timely decision-making.
In-Depth Exploration: Facilitate deep qualitative exploration and in-depth discussions.
Attitude & Behavior Understanding: Understand complex behaviors and motivations over time.
Strategic Development: Ideal for developing and refining strategies through interactive feedback.
Strengthen Relationships: Build strong connections with a core group of engaged members.
Trend Tracking: Track changes and trends over time for continuous improvement.

Community Panels

Our Community Panels seamlessly integrate high-frequency online quantitative and qualitative research activities, providing a comprehensive approach to gathering insights.

Mixed Methodologies: Leverage the combined strengths of both qualitative and quantitative research for richer insights.
Ongoing Iterative Research: Ideal for addressing multiple research objectives over the long term, adapting to evolving needs and insights.
Enhanced Engagement: Increase member participation through diverse research touchpoints.
Integrated Insights: Blend detailed qualitative feedback with robust quantitative data for a holistic view.
Product Development: Ideal for product development, concept testing, and rapid feedback cycles, enabling swift adjustments and improvements.

Online Panels

Our custom Online Panels are ideal for large scale ongoing quantitative survey work (e.g., weekly, bi-weekly, monthly surveys).

Rapid Surveys: Conduct quick surveys on various topics to gather essential business insights swiftly.
Robust Sample Sizes: Support for large survey bases allows for statistical testing and ensures data confidence and integrity.
Longitudinal Tracking: Excellent for tracking attitudes, sentiments, behaviors, and key performance indicators over time.
Audience Segmentation: Optimized for segmentation of your audience so you can develop a deeper understanding of your various consumer segments.
Advanced Methodologies: Supports sophisticated methodologies like conjoint analysis, MaxDiff, TURF, and more.

Pop-Up Communities

Short-term Pop-up research communities designed to gather quick, focused feedback from your audience.

Flexible Duration: Run your pop-up community for a few days or several weeks, depending on the scope and goals of your research.
Targeted Recruitment: Engage with precisely targeted participants recruited to meet your specific demographic/behavioral needs.
Scalable Solutions: Easily scale the pop-up community size or length as research requirements and objectives shift.
Rapid Feedback: Get quick responses and reactions to your questions, concepts, prototypes, etc.
Actionable Insights: Obtain clear, actionable insights on a specific objective that can be immediately implemented.

Insight Community & Online Panel Research Activities

Our insight community and market research online panel solutions support a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research activities — all managed on our advanced platform.

Surveys & Polls
In-Depth Interviews (IDI’s)
Focus Groups
UX Research
Discussion Boards
Diary Studies
Multimedia Uploads (Video, Image, etc.)
Card-Sorting
Heatmaps & Click-Tracking
Text Highlighter
Digital Collages
Shop-Alongs
Secure Content Testing
Advanced Survey Logic & Quota Designs
Rolling Research Programs

Concept Tests
Product Tests
Ad Tests
Co-Creation & Ideation
In-Home Product Testing
Longitudinal Research
Trend Research
In-the-Moment Research
Purchase Journey
Live Chat
Tracking Studies
Advanced Analytics (e.g., MaxDiff, Conjoint, TURF, etc.)
Personas / Segmentation
Dial Tester
Recruit-to-View / Listen

Insight Community & Online Panel Services

Our insight community and market research online panel services cover every stage of your community research program — from participant recruitment and management to activity design, moderation & reporting.

Design & Build

Creating a custom market research online community panel that aligns with your brand and engages your audience is essential. Whether working with your existing brand style guide or developing
custom designs, we prioritize consumer-centric thinking to ensure our panels and communities are innovative, modern, and relevant. Your brand and customers are at the heart of our inspiration, making the consumer panel experience appealing and engaging for participants.

Market Research
Online Communities &
Panels Recruitment

Whether for small or large-scale community panel programs, our rigorous recruitment and screening process ensures top-quality participants. Each participant completes a multi-layered online screening and consent process before joining your customer community. For insight communities or panels with specific audience criteria, we implement additional validation measures to engage with the most suitable consumers, ensuring accurate and reliable insights.

Market Research
Insight Communities & Online
Panels Recruitment

Insight Communities &
Panels Management

Our seasoned researchers operate as an extension of your team, bringing a blend of market research expertise, technical knowledge, and collaboration to your market research online community panel. Our dedicated panel management team meets with you regularly to align on your research objectives and needs. We also handle tasks like member management, customer service, and incentive distribution, allowing you to focus on core objectives.

Market Research
Insight Communities & Online
Panel Management

Online Qualitative Research Services

Activity Ideation
Activity / Discussion Guide Development
Project Setup and Management
Moderation
Transcription
Reporting and Analysis
Video Highlight Reels

Market Research
Insight Communities & Online
Panels - Qualitative Research Services

Quantitative Research Services

Questionnaire Design / Pre-Testing
Online Survey Programming
Sample and Field Management
Data Processing / Banner Tabulation
Weighting
Open-End Coding
Normative Databases
Reporting and Analysis

Other Market Research Services

Outside Sample / Supplemental Recruitment
International Capabilities (including translation and localization)
Custom Question Type / Tool Development
Third Party Technology Integrations (e.g., eye tracking, facial coding, AI tools, etc.)

Insight Community & Online Panel FAQs

Wondering how our insight community solutions work? Below are answers to common questions about building and managing a market research online community—including participant engagement, platform features, community length, and how these programs deliver deeper, ongoing insights.

What is an insight community?

An insight community is a private, online group of participants who share feedback over time through surveys, discussions, and interactive activities. It’s ideal for ongoing engagement and deeper audience understanding.

What is a market research online community?

A market research online community or community panel is similar to an insight community but often emphasizes a mix of qualitative and quantitative research activities in one space. Both allow brands to gather rapid, ongoing insights.

How is an insight community different from an online panel?

An online panel is typically used for one-time or periodic surveys with large sample sizes, while an insight community focuses on smaller, highly engaged groups participating in multiple studies over time.

What is an insight community platform?

An insight community platform is the technology that powers your online community, enabling activities like surveys, discussion boards, video uploads, heatmaps, and more — all in one secure, centralized environment.

What are the benefits of an insight community?

Benefits include faster feedback, richer insights, cost efficiency, ongoing trend tracking, and stronger relationships with your core audience.

How long should an insight community run?

It depends on your research goals. Communities can run for a few weeks (short-term or “pop-up” communities) to several years (long-term strategic programs).

What types of research can be done in an insight community?

Insight communities support surveys, discussion boards, diary studies, product tests, ad tests, UX research, and more — often combining qualitative and quantitative methods.

Do you offer participant recruitment for insight communities and online panels?

Yes. Our in-house recruitment team finds, screens, and manages participants to ensure they are relevant, engaged, and reliable.

Can insight communities be run globally?

Absolutely. We can manage market research online communities and panels across the U.S. and in 60+ countries, with multilingual capabilities and in-market moderators.

Audiences We Engage in Insight Communities & Online Panels

We design and manage insight communities and market research online panels for diverse audiences, from hard-to-reach niche groups to broad consumer segments. Our recruitment team ensures each participant is carefully screened, relevant to your objectives, and ready to provide meaningful feedback over time.

Kids / Gen Alpha

Teens

Young Adults /
Gen Z

Adults & Parents

Educators

Creators & Influencers

Generative AI

VR / AR

Multicultural

And More!

Industries We Serve with Insight Communities & Online Panels

Our insight community and market research online panel solutions are trusted by brands across a wide range of industries. We customize every community to reflect the unique goals, compliance requirements, and engagement styles of your sector.

Technology
Media & Entertainment
Youth & Family
Education
Consumer Packaged Goods

Toys & Gaming
Sports, Wellness, & Fitness
Food, Beverage, & Restaurant
Retail & Apparel
Healthcare

Trusted by Top Global Brands for Insight Communities & Market Research Online Communities

What Clients Say About Our Insight Community & Online Panel Services

The team at Touchstone is wonderful to work with. They have been instrumental ongoing partners for us in many of our research initiatives, ranging from quick-turn projects with our online communities to more complex and larger scale studies utilizing in-depth-interviews, online diaries and more. They are highly communicative, responsive to our needs, and offer great client support. We have gained so many invaluable insights through our various research studies with Touchstone and feel very fortunate to partner with this consistent, hard-working team.

Vice President, Streaming Research & Insights
Media & Entertainment Company
For anyone who is unsure about doing online research, you don’t have anything to think about with Touchstone. They will take care of you and your project will go smoothly every time from start to finish.

Educational Consultant
Media & Entertainment Company
We have done quite a few Quant and Qual research projects with Touchstone. They are always extremely responsive, flexible, and provide great recommendations on how to get the most out of our research.

Director, Product Marketing & eComm
Food & Beverage Company