2021 Market Research Technology Trends

The pandemic brought along a multitude of unexpected challenges for many that had to be solved quickly.

The quick adaptation of technology was able to solve a variety of them as well as lead into innovations that will be here to stay. With many enjoying this new work-life balance that was found during the pandemic, the best researchers will be able to utilize these technological innovations to gain better insights.

Broader online community uses and the rise and reliance on technology

2020 drastically changed the workplace. With the adaptation of technology to facilitate work from home, both researchers and employers have found a new work-life balance that was not possible before. Because of the popularity of this new balance, this technology, particularly video, is not going to go away. Research technology such as insight communities have seen improvements such as increased qualitative capabilities through online video focus groups in communities, and the smart researcher would utilize it to maximize participation. Greenbook notes that video first will still be the trend even as people return to offices.

In addition, with this digital shift, online communities have quickly added new features to their platforms. A notable example of new features available in communities includes expanded UX testing focused around customers' online experience leading up to a purchase. These improvements to communities will most likely continue as it is cost effective and efficient for companies to conduct most of their research through online means.

Greater importance on CX & UX

Due to consumers’ change in habits, particularly with the increase of online shopping over brick and mortar stores, it is now even more important to understand your customers' experiences when shopping on your company’s website as well as the other interactions that your customers may have with the brand. This focus on CX and UX and understanding the differences between the two can help take your research to the next level and help provide a better experience for new and existing customers.

AI & automation

With the vast amount of data now available to market researchers, technology has become extremely important in managing it all. When implemented and utilized properly, AI and/or automation can help researchers find smarter insights at a faster rate than before. One example of where AI can be implemented is with categorizing long-form and open-ended questions to find insights faster than any human can. With speed being everything, the best researchers will quickly learn how to utilize AI to aid them in creating better insights.  

Continuous Research

In today’s fast-paced world, the need for in-the-moment insights is everything. By utilizing longitudinal, continuous and most importantly, quick research can find small changes in respondent’s behaviors that can lead to vastly different insights that help in the ever changing market. Fast customer feedback can also help your team evaluate new initiatives and allow for changes to be made along the way.

The best way to go about this research is through online insight communities that allow for researchers to track these slight changes due to always having a group of willing participants that are always ready to provide immediate feedback. With My-Take, you can form an market research community that can easily track participants over time so you can learn about behavior changes when they happen.

Short, mobile-friendly surveys

Shorter attention spans make it hard for participants to make it through a whole survey without experiencing survey fatigue. Thankfully, the rise in technology has given researchers the ability to store demographic information about participants, allowing them to exclude demographic questions from most surveys. This coupled with only allowing one team on a survey at a time asking smarter questions, are leading to shorter surveys that almost eliminate survey fatigue with better insights. However, when designing these surveys it is important to keep in mind that there is now a decent chunk of participants taking them from their mobile phone, therefore it is important to design these surveys to be easily accessible on a mobile device and/or creating an app for participants will also aid in gaining these insights.

With My-Take Missions, a mobile app that brings My-Take’s communities to a mobile phone, it is easy to gain as many responses as possible to create better decisions for your company. While missions are geared for specific applications like in-store feedback, all of My-Take’s activities are responsive and adjustable to the device a participant is using.

Communities becoming all in one hubs

The growing dependence on technology has also led to MROCs adding features that allow for companies to do more with a single platform.

“You’re really seeing organizations looking to broaden what they do with insight communities form qual to quant to online focus groups...you can think of it almost as an insider research hub within an organization.” From expansions that will help companies understand consumers better to assessing the customer journey and enhancing marketing initiatives, MROCs [aka insight communities] are becoming the new one stop shop for companies to conduct most of their market research, even previous activities that used to mostly be done in person like focus groups or in-depth interviews.”

- My-Take Co-founder Todd Hoskins

My-Take has helped organizations make smarter decisions and market more effectively through powerful market research online communities and panels for 10 years now! Contact our team today to learn more about how our market research online community platform can connect your brand with your consumers.