The Hispanic market is the fastest-growing segment of consumers in the United States, with more than $1 trillion in buying power. Marketers who want to reach these customers must have an incisive understanding of the nuanced attitudes, preferences and personal stories of this diverse population. And they must accurately gauge product usage, opportunities for new products, reactions to brand marketing, and feelings about marketing and media communications.

As Latinos quickly close the “digital divide,” online surveys can be an attractive and cost-effective way of eliciting these attitudes and opinions. But there are still many U.S. Hispanics who are not computer literate. In addition, most online surveys are typically biased toward younger higher income, acculturated populations. As a result, these surveys may fail to accurately capture the tastes, preferences and attitudes of many Latinos—if the surveys reach their intended subjects at all.

To generate meaningful insights across a greater variety of Latinos, online research must allow for:

• Language preference. Even among those who are fluent in English and Spanish, most will be more comfortable with one language or the other. In some cases participants may prefer to move back and for between both languages.
• Cultural differences. The range of linguistic and cultural variation is broad in the heterogeneous U.S. Hispanic population. Online research methods must account for these variations and analyze answers into the appropriate context.
• Relationships and social dynamic. To elicit accurate opinions of Hispanics in a digital environment, particularly with less acculturated Hispanics, research methodologies and communication strategies should encourage significant interpersonal interaction.

SocialQuest’s grassroots online panel, Comadres y Compadres, uses all of these methods to capture the breadth and depth of attitudes and opinions across acculturation and income levels in Latino communities, including the hardest to reach consumers.

Comadres y Compadres is unique in its outreach and its methodology. To reach unacculturated Hispanics who lack Internet and computer skills, SocialQuest uses a multi-part proprietary recruitment approach that helps clients create conversations with customers on their terms, on their turf, and involve them in a relevant way where they live, work, and play.

Not only do we reach these consumers in the most appropriate environments, our Comadres y Compadres online panel uses a scientifically based design that accommodates for a variety of acculturation levels. Our experts execute online quantitative and qualitative studies using proprietary methodology developed for a culture that’s more visual than verbal. It’s a type of in-culture data collection that other research firms just can’t accomplish.

Comadres y Compadres ensures that the entire Hispanic population, with its heterogeneous roots and wide range of incomes and experiences, will be found, heard, and understood. With more than 25 years of experience in deciphering different acculturation levels and issues like retro-acculturation, SocialQuest has a finger on the pulse of the U.S. Latino communities.

Find out more via our Comadres y Compadres panel. Read more specifics about Social Quest’s unique capability, including our recruitment and panel maintenance.