Editor’s note: Zandi Brehmer is head of client innovation and Lisa Holmes is survey manager at research firm Euromonitor International, Chicago.
Marketing researchers understand that the pace of global change today is unprecedented. Technological developments, shifting economic power, population change, environmental pressures and evolving consumer values underpin disruptions in nearly every industry worldwide. MR is no exception.
Euromonitor International’s recent report, “4 Global Trends Disrupting Market Research,” pinpoints the tensions marketing researchers will face in the coming years as clients increasingly demand:
- accuracy and speed;
- technology and research integrity; and
- robustness and storytelling.
Now more than ever marketing researchers are asked to be all things at once: accurate yet fast, tech-savvy yet methodologically pure, robust in detail yet able to quickly and succinctly deliver visual insights. Expanding on Euromonitor International’s report, “4 Global Trends Disrupting Market Research,” this article highlights three specific strategies researchers should take to succeed in an environment of rapid change and competition.
1. Embrace automation and gain comfort with (some) uncertainty.
An always-connected culture and 24/7 news updates have shortened time frame expectations. Brands want data as close to real-time as possible. Investment in technology such as automation or DIY tools is a critical component to delivering on-demand insights and solutions.
New market research tools will increasingly limit or eliminate manual research busy work and let client-side researchers build their own story without sifting through pages of tables and analysis. Executed correctly, these strategies lead to more satisfied stakeholders and more engaged researchers.
Market researchers of the future must become comfortable living with uncertainty as they integrate more technology and automation into their process and deliver insights on a faster schedule. This quick delivery means giving 80 percent of a solution, rather than 100 percent as done in the past. This also means focusing on usable and applicable insights rather than building a comprehensive project for the sake of being complete.
MR can take a lesson from the tech start-up world and adopt the agile process: start, pause/review, change direction, re-start and repeat as needed. In this way, iteration and speed go hand-in-hand, forcing market researchers to become more nimble and adept at building faster insights to drive decisions, even with imperfect data.
2. Be smart about adopting technology and tackling big data.
As businesses look to find competitive insights faster, most are placing strong bets on big data and predictive analytics to get there. Thirty-nine percent of companies plan to invest in AI in the next five years and 40 percent of professionals think their company is setting the industry pace in digital transformation, based on Euromonitor International’s 2018 Digital Consumer Industry Insights survey.
The number of tech-based research tools available is overwhelming. The risk of overcorrecting and going from zero automation and tech integration to too much is real; researchers need to stay in control and keep the client problem front and center. This means not only asking and ensuring an understanding of the client’s problem but why they are trying to solve it.
In this environment, market researchers have an opportunity to be the bridge between tech/data scientists and decision makers. Researchers will play a key role in understanding how to interpret big data, communicating results and recommending actions. As market research firms and clients hire more data and technology specialists, the most successful market research professionals will have the baseline knowledge and skills to collaborate across disciplines.
Amidst change, market researchers must remain the experts. As DIY and big data tools democratize and expand market research to many roles, becoming an educator will be critical for the market researcher of tomorrow. Teaching end users and decision makers what tools or information types to use and when ensures proper use and, more importantly, avoids misuse.
3. Deliver bold, consultative stories that solve the client’s main problem.
Market researchers have always been the trusted providers of critical business information. In order to be more effective and push the industry to operate as true partners, market researchers have progressed their level of engagement with key decision makers and end users of insight. They are more engaged in asking “why” up front to drive stronger solution design, proactively deliver preliminary results, react and reshape next phases of research based on their expertise and learn alongside their clients in real-time. Evolution cannot stop; market research partners of tomorrow must get more hands-on as they help brands maintain focus and work toward actions, not just insights.
Practically-speaking, driving stronger action means better presentations, storytelling and engagement. Market researchers must tell highly visual stories and connect the dots, making sure insights create a cohesive story centered 100 percent around the main problem. Connect recommendations directly back to the insights that drive the action and ensure headlines are action-oriented and command attention. Take the advice of journalists and avoid burying the lede. Lastly, shift from simply presenting insights and recommendations to facilitating a dialogue with decision makers, ensuring you’ve reached not only understanding of results but buy-in and alignment on next steps. This could be as simple as having planned discussion points or facilitating a workshop designed to drive results into immediate action plans.