Its new product allows researchers to grow the community over time, through research that is already being done – avoiding the costly up-front and high fixed expenses of a traditional research community while still gaining consistent access to consumers.

20/20 will host and manage the tool with its QualBoard enterprise platform, which engages respondents in a variety of ways, including qualitative diaries and group discussions, real-time video chats, and quick quantitative polls.

Using its proprietary nationwide panel, 20/20 will recruit the initial community population and keep them active throughout the project.

Isaac Rogers, CEO of 20/20, said: “Digital insight communities have been a mainstay of the market research industry for more than a decade. This methodology allows researchers to quickly tap into their audience without lengthy fieldwork before each event.

“However, we are hearing from researchers that the high costs of a traditional community, along with the desire to be more agile and have the flexibility to follow emerging trends, has led them to seek an alternative way to engage consumers for ongoing insights. It’s in response to these changing needs that we developed our Lean Community solution.”