1 March, 2016

How New Technology Is Changing Market Research

By Bill McMurray

The rapid evolution of technology such as mobility, data analytics, and cloud computing, is changing the way organisations and marketers gain insight, but Qualtrics APAC and Japan MD Bill McMurray says this technology is making it easier to accelerate business decisions through insight gained from the market research platforms.

Of all the new technology making market research faster and more effective, mobility is probably the most important. Thanks to mobility, the research industry now has greater and easier access to consumers. Other technology is also making a difference, such as cloud, analytics, and social media.

The vast majority of people carry a mobile device, and that device is almost always connected. This means that market research or customer feedback platforms with a mobile component could gain insights at any time, from just about everyone.

For example, mobile-responsive surveys, SMS-based surveys, surveys activated by QR codes, or even social media engagement, can all give researchers a way to better reach and engage potential respondents.

With over half of the Australian public now claiming access to the internet via smartphones, according to Nielsen’s 2015 Mobile Ratings report, and an estimated seven million Australians accessing the Internet via tablets, mobility gives researchers a broad scope for connecting with respondents (1).

This saturation of mobile devices gives the research industry a useful mechanism to collect data in real-time with visual images and other multi-media content. This lets market research professionals monitor behaviour instantly, providing the opportunity to test or adapt products and services, marketing, and strategies instantly.

Just using one channel, such as email, for capturing market insights can severely limit a research campaign. Organisations need to make sure their market research platforms make the best use out of the most appropriate touch-points for respondents, and mobility, social media, and other new technology, provide increasingly-flexible platforms with which to find the right engagement methodology.

For example, research provider, Anomaly, is seeing the benefits of using mobility for a recent market research project. The company conducted a mobile study for a global beverage brand. Anomaly mapped out the moments of ‘happiness’ during a week in the life of a number of Australian teens.

Thanks to Qualtrics’ mobile survey technology, Anomaly was able to pinpoint exactly when and where the surveyed teens were most happy. All this was achieved without the need for cumbersome questions.

Another organisation benefiting from the new technology underpinning research platforms is research and consulting firm, Fifth Dimension.

Qualtrics has been working with Fifth Dimension to help it drive its insights capacity in the local market. Fifth Dimension can now send out surveys to more than 20,000 people per week. In fact, Fifth Dimension predicts they will invite more than 1.7 million people to respond to surveys over the next 12 months.

This has all been made possible by new technologies, such as mobility and cloud, which are underpinning today’s research platforms, and all contribute to provide researchers with the flexibility to find the right engagement strategy for respondents.

Reference:
(1)2015 Mobile Ratings Report; Nielsen; 2015

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