Using Technology to Gather Human Insights, Not Just Data

Modern technologies can put your customers – quite literally – back into the driver’s seat of your business planning and campaign development. Don’t run your business based on data analytics and spreadsheets, make business decisions based on real customer insights, Aaron Burcell , CEO , methinks Technologies.

A focus on data has dominated the last 10 years of rapid innovation in technology. The promise of big data, usage tracking and analytics have created an emphasis on analyzing what consumers want. Sadly, there's never been a time in the history of technology when the human element has been so in danger of being an afterthought. In a race to understand what, there’s been too little innovation and focus in why consumers like and dislike products brands and even ideas. 

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The future of MarTech is about using technology to gather human insights, not just user data points. Emerging technology companies are changing how marketers conduct, manage and report qualitative research by blending the desire for true customer insights and the need for modern digital tools that expedite research timeliness. This explains why Research-as-a-Service (RaaS) solutions are commanding venture capital investment, creating multi-billion-dollar valuations and acquisitions. In order to understand why Qualitative RaaS will be such a focus in 2020, let’s take a look at the challenges of qualitative research and the way new research platforms are injecting more consumer insights into product development, faster and at a much lower cost. 

Problems with Qualitative Research

Learning how customers think and feel about your product/service is vitally important to improving them. That's why qualitative research is so valuable. But, in many ways qualitative research still suffers from the same challenges that existed 20 years ago, specifically: 

• Traditional methods of executing customer research are expensive
• Logistics make gaining research insights time-intensive
• Seeking customer insights in later stages of R&D; disrupts velocity, delays time-to-market
• Companies need exact matches to their target customers, “close enough” doesn’t count
   

Getting relevant customer feedback—and getting it quickly—is more essential than ever to business success and making customer-centric business decisions. Sure, recruiting candidates to interview is hard and time-consuming, research interviewees are never as promised, and the timelines for getting customer insights are too long to keep pace with the speed of product development and market demands. But, finally, we have the power to create and execute qualitative research quickly. Technology is overhauling the prevailing agency-based research methods, giving in-house research and agencies the tools to recruit, interview and produce customer insights in a matter of hours, instead of weeks and months.

Evolving Qualitative Research

Using cutting-edge technology to overcome the logistical frustrations and delays that typically accompany qualitative research, RaaS solutions are empowering researchers to refocus on what matters most: conducting research and generating insights that can make a real difference. Use of modern qualitative research technologies put the customer back in the driver’s seat. Don’t create a marketing campaign based on a spreadsheet, create one based on real human feedback.

The good news is that adopting new qualitative research technologies is not a new, trendy decision. Industry-leading companies are adopting new technologies to help create and inject qualitative research into product and marketing development, faster and more frequently. You will find marketers and business leaders at high-profile companies around the world, from Samsung, LG, Verizon, Machine Zone and Hyundai – these companies and more are using RaaS tools to transform their businesses to meet (and exceed) customer needs and expectations.

RaaS Discovery and Implementation

With time, energy, and thousands of dollars on the line, you can’t afford to invest in a research platform that doesn’t produce results. Here are five essential capabilities qualitative researchers should expect from their platform: 

1. Frictionless video experiences 
 

Let’s not beat around the bush: if your research service doesn’t have video capabilities, it’s falling behind (and so is your research). But even if it does, how can you know a video solution is right for your research projects? 

The problem with video’s rapid growth across the research industry is that many companies are more worried about being able to say that they have video services than ensuring those services are best-in-class.

Keep an eye out for research platforms that go beyond video basics to deliver features like: 

• Live video with no lag
• Automatic transcription
• Bookmarking and editing 
• On-demand translation
• Easy in-browser video editing tools
• Video stitching, enabling video “mashups” of different interview subjects

2. Mobile-first approach
 

If you’re anything like the average employee, you’re on both your phone and your desktop throughout the day. In fact, 91% of corporate employees are using at least one mobile app to stay on top of projects while in meetings or on the go. Yet, many research solutions remain firmly stuck in the past. At worst, many have no mobile version available. 

Meanwhile, others create clunky mobile apps that lack critical functionality, like video chat, scheduling or payment approvals. These solutions don’t work for the modern researcher. Instead, select a mobile-first tool you can use to adjust participant settings, schedule interviews, and post projects straight from your phone any time, any where. 

3. Access to your existing customers or the right target market
 

There’s no doubt that a research platform’s panel size is significant—without a big enough pool to draw from, you may not be able to find the participants you need. But don’t fall into the trap of believing that quantity equals quality. 

A platform can have millions of users, but be rife with professional test-takers, ultimately rendering their services useless. To perform meaningful research, ensure the platform you choose has both: a large number of users and a strict quality assurance policy that weeds out unreliable and dishonest participants. 

4. In-depth user profiling 
 

User details like age and gender are undeniably helpful. But to mirror your target demographic as closely as possible, you need more. Make sure your tools can go deeper to collect things like: 

• Political stances
• Lifestyle information
• Spending habits 
• Media consumption
   

Even better, find a platform that collects data straight from users, not secondhand from cookies or social traffic. 

5. Streamlined logistics 
 

Highly necessary and deeply underrated, logistics are the unsung superhero that can propel your research forward—all while lowering costs and shortening timelines. Whether it’s easily accessible scheduling that can adjust at the drop of a hat or a payment system that simplifies the process for you and your participants, streamlined logistics make a huge difference in every single project. When it comes to evaluating research services, logistics should be a make-or-break factor. After all, if a company isn’t paying attention to the details that can make your life easier, why hire them? 

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Summary

RaaS solutions are greatly impacting the multi-trillion-dollar R&D; industry by making customer validation a timely, efficient and cost-effective sub-process in bringing virtually any product or service to market. Costs, time and logistics are no longer hurdles in gaining consumer perspectives. As a result, the frequency of conducting and applying qualitative research should increase and change best practices across numerous industries, worldwide. 

Thanks to RaaS solutions, multinational companies are successfully bringing new products to market in new and different geographies. And, for startups and small businesses, a number of companies are learning about key product changes that delight customers, helping them grow revenues and brand awareness faster, more efficiently. Truly a sign that even a classic trade like qualitative research can embrace – and benefit – it this digital age.