SPONSORED CONTENT
Tsahi Ben Yosef
SVP of Product Innovation
Toluna
hi@toluna.com
Has MR tapped the full power of automation?
Automation has forever changed marketing research. Technology has led to scope and scale previously unimagined. Consider the volume, breadth and depth of brands charted, products compared, data points tested and panel members reached. The industry has moved from hundreds of consumers comparing thousands of products to tens of thousands of consumers comparing hundreds of thousands of products simultaneously – and sharing their results in real time.
Automation has also improved the work lives of researchers. Technology does not get tired in doing the simple repetitive tasks required while conducting studies, increasing efficiencies and lowering the potential for human error. It has also freed researchers to focus on the parts of their jobs requiring knowledge and creativity. Machines can find patterns in volumes of data. Today, human expertise analyzes the patterns for context, perspective and business implications. Soon technology will support these functions as well, as machine-learning algorithms support predictions and more.
Quality is also a factor as automation supports high quality standards. We can automate best practices around sample and questionnaires, and templated quotas are helping brands find targeted audiences faster and in more consistent ways.
Automation will do more . . . and soon
If there are 600 companies claiming to offer technology-driven consumer insights, then there are likely fewer than 50 companies who can be classified as truly being automated. How can an agency or brand or organization distinguish the automation experts from those with software and marketing claims?
Automated survey processes and results. In general, most MR companies do a good job of end-to-end data collection. However, automation allows for the building of bigger frameworks than the old-school approach to marketing research. With every step of the process automated – sample, procedure, insights and recognition – multiple concepts can be tested at the same time with no threat to quality.
Investment in tech. AI and VR will soon have the impact that automation continues to have on marketing research. Clients should look for companies that continue to invest in technology. We ask questions to get answers, and the answers become our data points and then our models. AI and VR will vastly add to our abilities to collect, analyze and model data, as will the introduction of third-party data.
Automation, agility and quality. Moving faster and testing more means nothing if there is a negative impact on the quality of the results. Quality is protected when research methodology is embedded in the enhancements – for example, automated or templated questionnaires that provide best practices within a global organization or an organization with global needs, keeping consistency around research methodology.
Research industry experts know that technology is crucial to delivering consequential business decisions. It is not an option to sacrifice agility or quality, with automation playing a key factor in each. Rather, research must continuously deliver value – the results of automation, agility and quality – apace with market movements and consumer preference.