A company that does not innovate in today’s day and age will lose its competitive edge and eventually become obsolete. BCG states that the companies that build a strong innovation culture are 60 percent more likely to be innovation leaders. With the wave of new-age technology that has disrupted every sector – be it consumer packaged goods (CPG), automobiles, real estate, or finance, companies that want to sustain themselves in the long term are heavily investing in integrating technologies like AI, machine learning (ML), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), Generative AI into their products and solutions to enhance their product offerings. Insights from market research firms guide brands in identifying unfulfilled consumer needs, perceptions, the competitive landscape and market trends etc to make informed innovation strategies.
Ruchika Gupta, CEO of Borderless Access, highlighted in the Greenbook Research Industry Trends report (page 151) how the consumer insights market is undergoing rapid transformations driven by digital and AI/ML advancements that enhance connectivity, agility, and information synthesis. She also pointed out how the current innovation-focused ecosystem has seen a shift in how global brands now collaborate with specialized partners to navigate the constantly evolving market.
Explorative And Risk-Taking Mindset
From cosmetics companies aiding virtual try-on of their products, car manufacturing majors facilitating test-driving a car virtually, to retail mammoths allowing to shop in the metaverse, innovation is the focal point to thrive in the digital ecosystem. As the whole ecosystem is heavily focused on innovation, most brands are now more risk-taking and explorative. This risk-taking mindset allows brands to expand horizontally and vertically across geographies and customer segments fueling business growth.
Changing Expectations From Market Research Firms
The end goal for any brand is to satisfy the customer with their product or solutions. Innovation only works when it’s backed by nuanced insights on dynamic shifts in consumer behavior and the movements in the industry.This is where the role of market research and insights firms has become even more important now. As companies are now innovative by nature, their expectations from insights firms they are collaborating with have drastically changed. Just providing insights from data does not cut it anymore. Companies want insights firms to implement tech-enabled quality research at every stage to provide strategic insights directly impacting business decisions.
Consumer Neuroscience-Decoding The Consumer On A Granular Level
Companies do not just want to get an overview of the target audience they are catering to or plan to cater to (in case of expansion plans to other customer segments and/or locations). They want to understand on a deeper level how customer’s brains react to external stimuli and experiences while making purchasing decisions.
This kind of deep-dive, often termed consumer neuroscience, is what companies are expecting from their market research partners. Such sophisticated insights find applications in usability testing, package and shelf evaluation, product/ solution improvement, as well as bringing out hyper personalized marketing strategies that can improve the overall customer experience.
Real-Time Behavioral Tracking In Interviews
In the era of constantly evolving consumer tastes and requirements changes, incorporating real-time behavioral tracking in interviews can provide insights by capturing participants’ reactions and responses as they unfold. Again, it provides a more holistic view of consumer behavior. It can also bring out a more dynamic understanding of consumer tastes and preferences if real-time behavioral tracking is done over an extended period of time.
High Standards In Data Quality
Strategic business decisions must be made based on good-quality data. Poor data quality can create wastage of resources and time, incorrect decision making and reputation tarnishing. Accurate and reliable insights ensure that the analysis and interpretation of data is trustworthy to make informed decisions. The role of tech in ensuring strict adherence to data quality standards is paramount. Companies tying up with market research firms expect strict measures to be undertaken for data quality management as it directly impacts business decisions.
Using Big Data, AI And ML To Deliver Precise Predictions And Insights
Embracing AI and ML capabilities is a necessity now for companies and the expectation is the same for market research and insights vendors to get precise predictions and actionable insights. Integrating big data helps analyze vast and diverse data sets to bring out patterns and associations. Deploying ML solutions improves predictive capabilities by learning from the past, leading to accurate forecasting of consumer behavior, market changes and upcoming trends.
Hybridized Research Approach To Bring Agility And Deeper Human Centricity In Decision-Making
In a hybridized research approach, researchers use qualitative (in-depth interviews, focus group discussions) and quantitative techniques (advanced analytics, AI, ML) to deepen human-centricity in research outputs and, ultimately, in decision-making. It also serves the purpose of understanding the target audience comprehensively to figure out their motivations, attitudes and preferences.
How Are Market Research Firms Keeping Up With Such Expectations?
To keep up with the growing expectations of stakeholders, market research and insights firms are using various tech-enabled techniques to cater to their needs.
Tracking emotions
Facial recognition technology helps to understand human emotion while reacting to different experiences and stimuli that can aid in ad testing and user experience research. Eye-tracking technology observes where customers focus, enhancing ad campaign effectiveness and optimizing store layouts and package design, while voice analysis decodes emotions from tone and pitch, informing personalized marketing strategies.
Stringent data quality management measures
Technological advancements have enhanced the efficiency of data collection, processing, and analysis for market research firms. Preventing respondent duplicity is achieved through digital fingerprinting, evaluating parameters and assigning quality scores. VPN Blocker and Geolocation ensure respondents join from their country, while Captcha activation prevents bot interference. Machine learning algorithms can analyze respondent behavior, predicting future actions based on metrics like response and completion rates.
Integrating AI, ML, NLP in solutions
Market research and insights firms are integrating AI and ML capabilities at every stage of their research processes to keep up with stakeholder demands. AI and ML-enabled bespoke community management platforms, NLP-powered chatbot solutions, AI-ML-driven sampling and incentive management, customized reports and dashboards, and platform customization as per client requirements are some of the techniques the industry is implementing.
Mapping consumer journeys
Consumer paths-to-purchase have evolved across awareness, contemplation, media touchpoints, decision-making, conversion, and evaluation. Market research vendors are deploying a hybrid approach, integrating online qualitative and quantitative methods for comprehensive path-to-purchase analysis. The methodology includes near real-time assessment, mapping journeys beyond the purchase point, and highlighting touchpoints’ roles in decision-making.
Conclusion
The evolving business requirements require a proactive approach to innovation for companies to stay competitive. Market research firms that embrace innovations can become indispensable partners to companies in steering strategic decisions and ensuring sustained business success in the digital era.
