Game … Changed

These days, you hear a lot of talk about the potential impact of new technologies on marketing research. Online communities, Web analytics, social media research, crowdsourcing, mobile research, video interviews – the list is seemingly endless and growing daily.

To a client, it may appear as though the entire research industry is a rocket perched on the launch pad, ready to be blasted into a new frontier, one which is both exciting and frightening all at the same time.

But that analogy is totally and completely wrong. We are already in flight, and things are going quite smoothly.

According to recently released industry data[1], growing numbers of both researchers and clients have already used these new technologies and incorporated them into their overall research strategy. Approximately one-third have utilized online communities, data mining and social media analytics. Nearly a quarter have used text analytics and mobile surveys.

Further, the use of social media analytics, online communities, data mining, mobile research and text analytics is expected to double in 2012. We’re not preparing for launch; we’re approaching warp speed.

The key takeaway here is that these technologies grow less and less “new” with every passing day. It’s important that clients know that the “experimentation” phase is over with many of these methodologies. In numerous cases, we have already developed a track record of demonstrable, reliable and actionable results gained through the use of “new” technologies.

“New” can often mean “scary.” Clients need to know that, while they may have never used a particular methodology, we as researchers already have. We’ve developed enough of a knowledge base at this point to determine what works and what doesn’t, and which of these “new” methodologies is best suited for a particular project.

In short, clients should know that the captain has turned off the seat belt light, and they are now free to roam about the cabin.

 


This article was written by Kirsty Nunez.  Kirsty Nunez is President and Chief Research Strategist at Q2 Insights. Q2 Insights is a market research consulting firm with offices in San Diego and New Orleans. Kirsty can be reached at (760) 230-2950 and kirsty.nunez@q2insights.com. 


 

[1] GreenBook Research Industry Trends Report, Fall 2011


This entry was posted in Game Changing Research Methodologies and Concepts and tagged on February 9, 2012 by Kirsty Nunez