Building & Engaging a Co-Creator Panel

Date: March 28, Katrina Noelle

We at KNow Research recently recruited a panel of co-creators to work with an exciting new start-up in the wearable technology space. It was an eye-opening experience all along the way and we look forward to helping our client learn from this dynamic group in the months ahead. However, it also brought to mind the nuanced differences when engaging with co-creators (as opposed to research participants or respondents)

Our usual recruiting task is to find the best-suited participants possible for a single research engagement. Sometimes we have the opportunity to invite them to participate in multiple stages, however, this time we were challenged with inviting a team of specialists to participate in an ongoing project over the course of several months. This team will intimately work with the client team as they perfect their prototype and go-to-market communications strategy.

My recent involvement with GRBN (Global Research Business Network)’s participant engagement initiative has brought the topic of engagement top of mind. It is especially important when conducting ongoing non-blinded studies to ensure participants:

• Feel connected to the project
• Get feedback on how their input moves design and decisions forward and, of course
• Stay incentivized appropriately along the way.
• To do this we recommend the following steps:
• Meet regularly (e.g. no less than monthly) with co-creators in person or on webcam
• Bring in an experienced moderator/research team to provide the conduit between the client team and the co-creators
• Use an online community to coordinate scheduling, incentive distribution and interim exercises
• Schedule interim exercises regularly to keep co-creators involved digitally between in-person activities
• Set expectations for when activities are either individual or group exercises
• As part of their incentive, give co-creators a version of the insights/report

Consider using co-creators as your first Brand Ambassadors once the concept/product is released.  And always consider an Insights Workshop with your team to integrate the insights gathered from the co-creators!