How Agile Market Research Is Becoming More Agile

Let’s face it; agile is nothing new. Today, almost every industry outside of software development has worked toward agilifying their organization in some way or another. So how do you continue to innovate in a space that’s already changed so much in recent years? We believe it’s done through the adoption of new technology and processes, with the use of human expertise where people know how to adopt it effectively. Automation and data integration are two such areas that are already improving the agile market research industry.

Automation Will Increase Agility

Automation, as it relates to market research, is the use of technology to streamline a process or repetitive task. While agile methods have always worked to systemize processes, with the increase in automation capabilities, it’s going to become easier and faster than ever. But it’s no longer just about improving the integration with panel providers or using a marketing automation platform—the benefits of automation will be far more robust and impactful:

• Increased speed of the completion of processes or tasks as they become more real-time and automated
• Increased accuracy of insights as researchers are able to spend more time on what matters most
• Increased consistency of results and decreased risk of errors as processes are defined and controlled by technology

The most relevant means of automation for market research is already taking place when it comes to data collection and analysis. For example, using more technologically advanced solutions for qualitative analysis in the form of natural language processing is just one way the market research industry has already adopted automated practices. As far as quantitative insights go, incorporating real-time data analysis and visualization helps to build stories faster and allows researchers to glean insights early on and improve the efficiency of reporting.

Data Integration Will Improve Quality & Depth of Insights

There are three different formats of data: the first being what most market researchers deal with on a daily basis—first-party or primary data. Primary data is data that results from research you create or gather in-house. Then there is second-party data, which is data you may buy from another organization (like point-of-sale data from syndicated data sources). Last is third-party data or data that someone else gathers and sells to an open market or data management platform (DMP).

With the increase in third-party data and DMP’s, there is now a substantial market available for any industry looking to uphold the veracity of big data—or quality and relevant data for their business. Infusing big data with primary research is already impacting the agile market research industry. But big data integration is not meant to replace surveys. Rather, it is meant to be used in conjunction with them in order to develop deeper insights at the speed at which consumers change. In other words, current agile methodologies coupled with big data and automation will be able to provide not only iterative, agile insights, but the depth of insights needed to confidently translate results into the marketplace before the landscape changes again.

Through automation and data integration, the speed, flexibility, affordability, and confidence in market research will only improve. To learn more, check out the GRIT Commentary below where our CEO Matt Warta talks about how automation and big data analysis can be combined to help you identify and understand profitable audiences upstream to achieve product innovation.