predictions and insight about what's happening across the world
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Prediction 1: Chatbots
In an article for NewMR, market research thought leader Ray Poynter said companies need to pay more attention to chatbot-powered research tools. While they haven’t made an appearance yet on the GRIT report, a bi-annual study on the biggest trends in market research, chatbots are set for heavier adoption in the next year, according to Poynter.
They can be quick, fairly unobtrusive, with a familiar interface and run natively inside other apps. They’re a stepping-stone to truly conversational feedback through intelligent voice agents—and they’re growing. You should think about giving them a go for certain use cases and target audiences.
Prediction 2: More mergers and acquisitions
The year 2018 saw plenty of consolidation, with Ipsos buying four global GfK Research divisions, Kantar merging four brands and SAP announcing its acquisition Qualtrics.
While part of the reason for the consolidation is competitive and market pressure, another driver is the fact that data-driven marketing and advertising is in its next stage of its evolution. Previously, “big data” was the holy grail. However, the bar has been raised. Now, market researchers need to provide better insights and marketers want precise, reliable, and trustworthy data. And, this data is the sweet spot for online panel data providers.
Prediction 3: From conversational marketing to conversational insights
In the same GreenBook article, Eileen Campbell, executive chair of the Reid Campbell Group, shared how the “conversational marketing” trend will spillover to the insights world.
Companies need to adopt conversational technologies (things like chats, voice and video solutions that run within messaging applications) to better engage with consumers for insight. These are technologies that consumers already widely use. I see a huge opportunity for conversational insight technologies to improve how companies reach, engage and provide real value to mobile-first consumers.
Prediction 4: More focus on “experience data”
In January 2019, SAP completed its $8-billion acquisition of Qualtrics—an eye-popping deal that puts the spotlight on the value of “experience data” and how it can help unlock important insights about customer behavior.
According to SAP, operational data—things like sales data, finance data, HR data—reveals only “what” people do, but not “why.” Experience data—which includes the beliefs, emotions and sentiments of customers—bridges this gap as it is feedback that comes directly from humans.
What makes the SAP move notable is that it acknowledges in a significant way that operational data alone isn’t enough. The stunning price tag of the acquisition validates experience data as a valuable source of insight — perhaps more valuable than people thought before.
Prediction 5: The rise of “experiential insights”
Increasingly, innovative approaches allow us to understand different aspects of the customer journey in one research experience. Through new conversational insight solutions, it’s now possible to capture people’s behaviors and opinions in the moment, while also contextualizing these data with highly emotive videos, images and emojis. For example, you could engage a customer in a research exercises while she’s in your store, asking if she’s noticed anything new, and capturing her stream-of-consciousness feedback via video or voice. This is a much better experience than asking for feedback a few days after the customer’s visit and then doing additional activities later to uncover qualitative insights. Plus, it’s just like how consumers already engage with their friends and family members.