Market Research Trends We Anticipate in 2016

Thanks for the pic, Image Editor

Thanks for the pic, Image Editor

If 2015 is any indication, market researchers must go where their clients’ customers are: online. There’s a wealth of information that researchers are just beginning to tap into, and such information grows by the hour. That mentioned, some methods and techniques are more integral than others. Keep reading to find out which major trends we anticipate for the upcoming year.

Mobile Access and Follow Through

Shopping via smartphone is still increasing, and for good reason: customers can order what they want, when they want. Services, brick and mortar and online, are going out of their way to supplement customers’ new routines, be it apps that offer real-time browsing of a store’s available stock, mobile updates, or content marketing such as games and social media updates.

Within such outreach is ample opportunity to survey customer opinion, analyze mobile use statistics, and conduct qualitative follow through. Smartphones now consist of 60% of all cell phones in the U.S., and such efforts will only become more essential as time wears on.  

Greater Focus on Customer Experience and Convenience

Market research typically focuses on customer identity for one simple reason: conducting field research is traditionally time consuming and expensive. With mobile and online options, however, marketers can more easily observe how customers process their surroundings and make their decisions.  New techniques such as eye-tracking and biometrics, meanwhile offer a fuller view of how customers react to messaging, images, and brand connotations.  

If such findings showcase anything, it’s that more and more customers are placing convenience above brand loyalty. Market researchers must tap into this new premium to find the best, or most, respondents available. Accessible layouts, dynamic scheduling, and other methods allow researchers to better accommodate their subjects without sacrificing deadlines or other vital elements of a study.     

Going beyond Standard Demographics

Plugging into a greater focus on the customer experience, researchers are also looking into overlaps between demographics. Basic facts such as age, gender, and education are still crucial elements that no marketer can ignore. There is a lot of variety within such segments, however, and researchers are finding new overlap within demographics via data that previously was unexplored or nonexistent. A customer’s current life stage can offer far more insight into their preferences and concerns than a mere number.       

Automation

Automation has been a growing phenomenon for quite some time, and 2016 is no different. Researchers save themselves time, effort, and headaches by tapping into respondents’ sense of volunteerism. Such efforts also develop vastly larger subject pools, offering researchers more variety without diminishing quality or rigor.

Ongoing, Agile Projects

Just as customer patterns are changing faster, so too must research. There’s still a place for one-off studies, but sequential methods lack the continuity that effective marketing requires. Researchers can offer far more consistent insight via continual, Agile, projects that examine customer patterns and beliefs throughout the year. Through it, both products and content are no longer as big of a gamble, enabling researchers, overtime, to better chart customer reaction and beliefs.

Boost Relevant Insight, Save Time

Adapting new techniques is a cornerstone for research suppliers and clients alike. Markets are changing faster than ever before, and qualitative researchers must begin matching this pace. 2016 should prove an interesting year, as well one that further establishes the prominence, and efficacy, of new techniques. See how we boost insight and save time by trying our demo today.

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