We write for Greenbook about fraud detection and bots in market research
Why do market researchers tend to panic when they hear the word “bots”? Bots are prevalent across the online ecosystem, and were even the reason the highly publicized Elon Musk-Twitter deal fell through. They can negatively impact data quality, but they are here to stay. Our CEO Patrick Stokes writes for Greenbook about fraud in market research, including bots, and how to employ better measures to ensure data quality.
He sets the stage by covering the fraud landscape, and how we have been fighting fraud in market research for decades. He writes, “It’s pervasive, it’s persistent, and it certainly isn’t going to go away - not when there is financial gain on the table for fraudsters taking surveys for incentives.” Because fraudsters are becoming more and more sophisticated, in lock step with advancements in technology, we must undergo continual optimization and improvement when it comes to the methods we use to fight them.
In the article, Patrick outlines a few best practices that can be employed to fight today’s fraud and better ensure quality outcomes for your market research projects. A few things that he says can help - things that have been proven through both research on research and on-the-ground use, include:
Obtaining sample from multiple sources with an unbiased approach. While proprietary panels generally have their own fraud mitigation techniques in place, if you source through an unbiased “agent” like Rep Data, we place another set of protective layers between a survey and potential fraud. This approach also spreads out the risk of bot infiltration, creating better outcomes.
Layering multiple fraud mitigation techniques can help to proactively eliminate fraudulent respondents and bots. We studied this in our research-on-research and it was proven to be effective. Rep Data employs a large number of fraud mitigation techniques, including our proprietary hidden variable approach which is specifically designed to trip up bots, as it is only visible to them and not humans.
Evolving fraud fighting techniques to keep up with the evolution and increasing sophistication of bots and fraudsters. A mindset of continuous improvement, and taking action with the necessary tools to stay a step ahead of fraud is essential.
He closes the article with the fact that we must “keep calm, carry on, and realize that the cat and mouse game of chasing bots is part of the market research ecosystem. We just have to be better at finding them than they are at showing up.” The complete article can be found here.
Want to find out more about how working with Rep Data can boost your data quality? Contact us today.