Introduction

A client panel is a group of customers or prospects that you invite to participate in your business. A B2B client panel can help you better understand customer needs and give you a fresh perspective on what people need from your company. In this blog post, we'll discuss how to set up an effective B2B client panel that will provide useful insights into what's important to your clients.

What is a B2B client panel?

A B2B client panel is a group of respondents who are asked questions about their experiences with a business. The panelists are not compensated for their time, and they do not have any specific knowledge of the business.

The panelists are asked questions about their experiences with the business and their opinions on certain topics. The answers are used to gain insight into how customers perceive a business’s products or services. For more information on customer perception, check out this article here.

How to plan for a B2B client panel

Before you can start the process of planning your B2B client panel, make sure you know what you need to ask. You'll want to cover a range of topics including:

• What are your company's goals?
• What do they want to achieve with this project?
• How much has been spent on similar projects in the past (if any)?

Once you have an idea of what kind of information needs collecting, it's time to start recruiting participants for your client panel. It's important that these people represent a good sample size for whatever survey or research methodologies will be used during this stage. In addition, you can think about the following questions:

-What kind of job function do they have? (e.g. marketing, sales, customer service)

-How long have they been with the company? (ideally at least a year)

How to find the right people for your panel

When you’re putting together a panel of clients, there are a lot of different criteria to consider. For example, you may want to include someone who represents a large company and someone who represents a small business. You might also want to reach out to both an executive director and an entry-level technical consultant. The kind of people you want to recruit will depend on the nature of your B2B research project.

Here are some other ways that you can narrow down your search:

• Look for people from different industries—for example, one from retail and another from healthcare.
• Make sure your panel has representatives from all around the world (ideally someone in each region where your product or service is used (e.g., Asia Pacific)
• Look for people who represent different roles in their companies, like executives and entry-level employees. This will give you a broader perspective on what your product or service means to a company and how it is used.

How to ensure participants are qualified for your panel

It is important to make sure the participants you recruit are qualified for your panel. The best way to do this is by asking them a few questions, such as:

• Is your company interested in participating in a B2B client panel? If so, why? What kind of benefits does it provide?
• Are you willing to participate in this study? If not, what would need to change for that to happen?
• Will you be sharing your contact details with us so we can follow up with additional questions or requests during the process—and after completion of our study—with any additional data or information we may need from you and/or your company?

These questions will ensure that your panel is qualified and ready to participate.

One more tip is also to develop a script for recruiting participants for your B2B client panel.

Benefits that make respondents happy to participate in your client panel

When you're thinking about your recruiting participants for your B2B client panel, use the following points to get them on board. 

• Respondents in a B2B client panel get to help the people who are using your product or service.
• They get to give back to the community in a meaningful way that helps others.
• It's a great chance for them to give you some feedback about what you're doing well, and where you could be doing better.
• It allows them as a business owner and leader of their company, an opportunity to be part of something bigger than themselves.
• They help build a stronger community and improve people’s lives by participating in a research project that directly impacts them.

How to make your B2B client panel successful

To make your B2B client panel successful, keep the following in mind:

• Have a clear goal for your panel. It’s important to understand what you hope to learn from the feedback of your clients during the panel. Are you looking for ways to improve processes? Or do you want to know about their experience working with other companies? Once you have this goal, set up a call-to-action so that participants can share their thoughts and opinions on related topics.
• Make it easy for participants to participate in your survey or engagement tools by providing short descriptions of each question and clearly communicating how they will benefit by participating (i.e., “We are conducting this survey as part of our continuous improvement efforts at XYZ company”).

During the survey, it’s important to keep participants engaged. Ask questions that are relevant and timely so that they can provide feedback on the topic in a meaningful way. If there are too many questions or if you ask about things unrelated to your goal, participants may become frustrated and disengaged (and may not finish).

What to do if you don't get enough responses from your survey

If you don’t get enough responses, you can try again. You might have to make some changes to the way your survey is presented, or if it’s a question that needs more detailed answers—like “why do you like this product?”—you could ask people who open up their response with a short essay on why they like the product.

If you still don’t have enough responses, maybe it’s time for another approach entirely. Maybe there was something about your audience that didn't fit in with what we were looking for (for example, our respondents were all from Canada). If so, you can try changing your target audience. Instead of targeting Canadians only as before, consider expanding your reach into other countries where B2B clients are located (such as France or Australia).

If you’re still not getting enough responses, try a different approach. For example, instead of targeting people who work for companies that sell business software or services, maybe your survey should target people who work for companies that make software or provide services. If you still don’t have enough responses after that change, try again but this time focus on a specific industry (such as banking).

Looking to increase your survey response rates? Check out this useful article.

The difference between a client panel and an expert network

Client panels are different from advisory boards. Client panels are made up of customers and users, whereas advisory boards are made up of experts and industry leaders. Expert networks tend to be more formal, structured, and paid for their time. In contrast, client panels tend to be more informal, flexible, and unpaid (though some clients may pay for your time).

Client panels offer a unique opportunity for you to get insight into what customers or users think about your product or service. You can find out how people interact with your brand on a day-to-day basis. In addition, you can find out what parts of the experience they love or hate most. You can even do this by conducting research interviews with them face-to-face over lunch or coffee at a local café. 

Expert networks are made up of experts in your field and industry leaders who have a lot of experience to share. They can help you think through some of the big-picture questions that come up when starting or growing a business. For example, if you’re planning on expanding overseas, expert network members can provide insight into how other companies have done this successfully (or unsuccessfully).

Learn more about expert networks in ‘How does a global expert network work’.

A B2B client panel can help businesses better understand customer needs

A B2B client panel is a group of customers who are willing to share their experiences with a business. This can be useful for understanding customer needs and expectations, as well as improving products and services.

The idea behind this practice is that if you want to get the most accurate feedback on your product or service, it's best to ask the people who are using it every day. By inviting current and past clients into an online forum, you're able to collect valuable insights into how your product could improve in the future.

Some other benefits of B2B client panels include:

-Better customer service

-Improved product quality and design

-Increased customer loyalty

Conclusion

In summary, a B2B client panel is a great way to get direct feedback from your customers. With the right planning and execution, you can create an effective panel that gives you valuable insights and helps you better understand what your customers want. Do you want to join a B2B client panel? Sign up here to become a respondent with us.