Insights

Q&A with Reconnect Research

Jun 09, 2016

Every day, billions of calls are made to Toll-Free and Local Numbers in the US, connecting businesses with their customers. These calls lead consumers to the answers and services that they need.

But dialing the wrong number or a disconnected line usually doesn’t lead callers anywhere — until now. A Los Angeles-based company, Reconnect Research, is creating the opportunity for businesses to make the most of these unused connections.

Reconnect Research, a subsidiary of Dial800, has built an Inbound Calling Survey platform that connects consumers, already on the phone, with the opportunity to provide their input on consumer research surveys. We recently talked with Scott Richards, CEO of Reconnect Research, to learn why phone-based surveys are the best way to provide market researchers with low-cost, consumer research.

What service do you provide to your customers?

After a caller makes an incomplete call, Reconnect Research connects callers with the option to take a survey. These surveys are for the government trying to gather accurate health data or companies trying to gather accurate market research from a specific demographic or on a certain topic.

On average, out of the 150 billion calls made every month to Toll-Free and Local Numbers in the US, over 5 billion are incomplete calls. This is a unique opportunity to survey consumers who are already on the phone.

How do these surveys work?

Utilizing our national carrier network, when a consumer makes an incomplete call, rather than play an intercept message and hang up on the caller, we insert a simple message inviting the person to participate in a survey. The survey is conducted by either Interactive Voice Response (IVR), mobile/the Web or live agent.  The researchers can incentivize callers to take their survey by offering gift cards to shops or restaurants.

If they choose to opt into the survey, people are asked a few demographic questions about their age, gender, and ethnicity, in order to provide them with the right survey.

What is an incomplete call?

When a consumer makes a call that doesn’t connect with the intended party, we call that a MIDI call, which stands for Misdialed, Incomplete, Disconnected, or Inbound.

Misdialed calls are ones where the caller entered one or more incorrect digits, and therefore didn’t reach their intended party. Incomplete calls are ones where the caller receives a busy signal, or due to technical difficulties, the call doesn’t complete. Disconnected calls are calls where the caller dials a number that is no longer in service. And inbound calls are ones that are initiated by the caller rather than the market research company.

Why are phone-based surveys so important for consumer research?

Getting accurate answers about the perspective of the general public is more challenging today than ever before. Few consumers answer their phone when market research companies initiate the call. And online surveys are fully representative of the general population.

Surveys conducted over the phone are preferred because researchers are able to ask very specific questions and use phone numbers to more reliably identify who the customer is. And choosing to take a survey over the phone is a more positive experience for consumers than Robocalls, because they can choose to share their opinion for a reward. So, in the end, researchers are able to gather quality data at a lower cost, since we have such a high volume of phone calls ready to be connected with the potential for a survey.

It’s a triple win for consumers, carriers, and researchers. Consumers are being rewarded for their choice to opt into surveys and share their opinions. Plus, carriers no longer have billions of calls going nowhere, and researches receive low-cost, high-quality data. 

To learn more about Reconnect Research, visit their website or call 1-800-RECONNECT.

Additional Q&As

Q&A with ATL Communication

Q&A with csf Corporation

Q&A with TSG Global

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Reconnect Reseearch built an Inbound Calling Survey platform that connects consumers with the opportunity to take surveys.
• Surveys conducted over the phone are preferred because researchers are able to ask very specific questions and use phone numbers to more reliably identify who the customer is.