Multicultural consumers comprise about 40% of the U.S. population and are important to brands searching for growth outside of saturated markets. Essential to penetrating this consumer group is understanding the nuances of it. Sample providers fulfilling census-representative sample requests or requests for multicultural sample, in general, must build out their panels to include multicultural perspectives from a broad spectrum of respondents across ethnicity, gender, income levels, and other factors. This ensures they obtain functional insights into the diversity of attitudes, interests, and lifestyles that define this multifaceted consumer.
But sourcing sample providers who are well versed in the complexities of fielding multicultural data are few and far between. Panels are often underfunded and under supported. Not enough resources are invested in attracting, engaging, and retaining multicultural respondents due to factors like budget. This underinvestment is especially problematic when sourcing hard to research audiences like Gen Z, who make up the lion share of multicultural consumers in the U.S. today. With limited access, vendors struggle to strike a balance between over and underusing minority samples or have trouble finding minority respondents who aren’t survey or sample fatigued.
This week on the The New Mainstream podcast, Joi Gladman, Vice President of Field Operations at Edge Research, discusses ways the sample industry can attract and retain more multicultural respondents and tackles top issues affecting the integrity of sample data collection.