Innovating Market Research: Today’s Modern Market Research is Digital & Customer-Centric

Almost a decade ago now, I was on a team trying out the use of VR for market research testing. Participants donned VR headsets, and walked into a new kind of bank. We tested how people would react to banks with virtual tellers only, banks with cafes, banks with new forms of self-service.

It took months to convince our client, a leading bank, that developing a VR experience and testing these new concepts was way cheaper than the alternative: constructing a physical model in a warehouse and then bringing participants there for in-person testing (yes, really - that was our pitch!)

I chuckle at this, because today, building a physical world would be unthinkable, as in-person research is fading slowly out of style.

Virtual is the new black, and it’s the reason why—at a Digital Summit conference last week—I had a riveting conversation with a brand who was testing grocery store purchases with VR.

I can’t believe anyone ever thought eye tracking glasses were the way of the future (who are we kidding, I totally did!) because for this brand of organic snacks, participants don't need to go into a store at all.

With a VR headset, they can join the fun in their living rooms or at their kitchen tables—and be transported to a virtual grocery store where they browse and select products from the snack aisle, with realistic product displays, packaging, and signage. As participants make their selections, researchers are able to track eye movements and record reactions in real-time, plotting a mighty realistic buying journey and giving their marketing team detailed insights into how consumers interact with competing products, what catches their attention, how they perceive brands, and what they hone in on when looking at packaging.

New trends are emerging each day with ways of leveraging technology to conduct market research—and companies who understand what a huge differentiator customer experience is can be ready for it! Over the years, every industry adapts and modernizes based on environmental factors, technology, customer expectations—and market research is no different. As the business landscape changes in ways we could have only dreamed about a decade ago, marketing and product teams at companies across the world must gather data in new and innovative ways, personalizing projects for each company’s unique business goals. 

At Bixa, our research team is leading the charge on modernizing market research approaches to provide more accurate, flexible, and targeted insights to businesses. As technology and customer behavior continue to evolve, market research firms will need to adapt and innovate to provide the insights that a brand will need to succeed.

Here are several key shifts that have impacted the way we plan, gather, synthesize, and report on customer data for our modern-day clients: 

Virtual Everything

COVID accelerated adoption of digital technologies from remote work and virtual meetings to e-commerce and digital marketing. Businesses have had to rapidly adapt to new ways of operating in a digital-first world. It’s no surprise, then, that brands are much more open to market research firms gathering data in new, more virtual ways—and that participants are far more willing to participate in a zoom interview, virtual focus group or a video diary study. We conduct video diary studies regularly and participants find it easy to record their thoughts in unmoderated selfie videos or show us what they’re doing on their phones via screen recordings. 

Access to niche audiences

Now that it is so prevalent that business professionals are online—especially on LinkedIn—with seemingly unlimited data about their job role, tasks, and expectations (“Open to work” labels for example), it is becoming increasingly possible to reach and recruit just about every B2B niche, making market research available even in very niche markets. Also, because most research (even qualitative research) is virtual today, it’s easy to schedule a quick interview on someone’s lunch break or during the day when they’re “working” from home. 

Shift to data-driven decisions

For years, I’ve been saying to just about anyone who will listen to me (in conferences, books, blogs, podcasts, instagram lives, etc.) that there’s no point in doing research for the sake of research! Brands need to be able to use data to impact real decision-making. Actionable research that leads to focus and confidence. Isn’t that what we’re all after?

The availability of data and advanced analytics tools has enabled businesses to make more informed and data-driven decisions. It is now expected that a company will pull in social listening and internal website analytics into an analysis. This shift towards a data-driven culture has led to companies making greater investments in market research (finally!) as well as routine investments (quarterly or even monthly in some cases to benchmark and assess brand or product health from a customer perspective). 

Growing importance of customer experience

The customer experience has become a key competitive differentiator, and businesses are investing in customer experience initiatives to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. This includes personalization, omnichannel experiences, and improved customer service.That has affected the focus of many a market research project, as we tailor research goals and questions to dive deep into the customer’s experience with a brand, product or interface.

Open to trying modern research techniques

Today’s businesses have had to adapt quickly to changing circumstances over the last several years, and this has led to a greater emphasis on agility, flexibility, and resilience in business strategy and operations. While a few years ago, we might have had to convince a business to try something new like testing with a video diary study or a VR headset, but since COVID, businesses have been increasingly open to experimenting with new techniques. The ups and downs of businesses over the past few years has underscored the importance of agility and resilience in business operations. So bring on the experimentation, market researchers!

Emphasis on qual

While quantitative research will still play an important role in market research—especially in mixed methods projects—metrics make it easier than ever today to get to know customer behavior (the “what). The differentiator now will become an understanding of the “why” behind it, which leads to an emphasis on qualitative research methods. Qualitative research methods may include virtual focus groups, in-depth interviews, or virtual ethnography such as video diary studies or video surveys to gain deeper insights into customer needs and preferences.

Customized research

As businesses seek more targeted insights, market research firms are likely to provide less cookie-cutter, more custom research solutions tailored to the specific needs of their clients. This includes mixed-methods research that is specifically tied to goal-planning at the beginning of the process. This is one of the reason that at Bixa, we start nearly all projects with a kickoff phase that includes a workshop and one-on-one stakeholder interviews.

We understand that a lot of emotion goes into product design. Part of the success of our kickoff phase is that we take the time to meet with internal stakeholders to listen to the various perspectives, including success metrics and tangible outcomes that each stakeholder hopes to achieve through this research. Inevitably, expectations and outcomes vary quite a bit between people with different roles in any organization. This helps us to set metrics for what success means for this project overall, and how we can learn the most out of our time with potential customers. Based on the research objectives (aka research questions) for your project, we will create a custom strategy for answering the key questions you want to find out from your research.

Automation and AI

Automation and AI-powered tools are expected to become more prevalent in market research. This can help streamline research processes, improve data accuracy, and provide deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences. While at Bixa, we still do line-by-line coding by hand (we find it’s more accurate and nothing is missed!) we certainly use AI translation and transcription services that can help.

Your customers are changing—why shouldn’t your market research firm?

This list of changes and predictions have had a significant impact on the way my company Bixa does business as a leading market research firm, and they are likely to continue shaping the business landscape in the years to come—especially as many innovative companies use the data we provide to make continual strategic decisions. As technology and consumer behavior continue to evolve, market research firms will need to continue to adapt and innovate to provide the insights that businesses need to succeed. 

Want to talk with a researcher about getting the customer insights you need to reach your strategic business, product, and marketing goals? Book a time here to strategize with a researcher at Bixa.

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