Research Trends of the Last Decade and What Makes Them Impactful

When we connect with end-users on projects or with professionals and friends outside of the market research community, we’re always excited to share some of the market research trends that have taken shape in our industry. With that in mind, we wanted to share some of the growing market trends we’ve noticed – and we think will continue to advance the market research community.

 

The Bazis Group team has analyzed five trends in the market research industry we’ve noticed over the past decade. These will likely continue to transform research and insights far into the future.

 

Marked increase of digital data collection

 

This includes online panels, online communities and mobile marketing platforms. We’re going to continue to see traditional data collection methods give way to some new techniques into the foreseeable future.

 

Methods such as eye tracking are gaining ground

 

This technique is becoming more and more attractive in research for advertisements, websites and Internet stores. Eye tracking is quite fascinating — market research firms that offer this service can track respondent’s eye movements as they view communication materials. It goes without saying that special type of equipment needs to be used with this type of innovative research.

 

Visualization in market research

 

Best-selling business author Josh Kaufman writes that “the most effective way to get people to want what you offer, is to encourage them to Visualize how their lives would be if they accept it. And the best way to help your customers visualize is to expose them to as much sensory information as possible.”

In terms of research trends, firms are using sensory research tactics and tapping into the five senses to uncover consumer insights. Moreover, this can be combined with tactics like eye tracking and other technological advancements to glean deeper insights.

 

Data fusion

 

Over the past several years, researchers have been focusing on the necessity of integrating data from different sources to get better insights. Essentially, market researchers work to tie together data sources from disparate databases and present them as a single data source for exploration and analysis.

With more and more data readily available and software / databases at our fingertips, it is understandable that market researchers are finding innovative ways to fuse data.

 

High interest in social issues

 

Of course, market research isn’t done in a vacuum. It is a field that seeks to get to the heart of the matter and better understand how people think, react and respond to products, services and more.

One of the trends we’re really noticing is market researchers actively engaging in research pertaining to social issues. This includes researching sweeping topics such as homelessness and street children, refugees, the LGBT community and more.

The market research community is involved in a global goal to make the world a better place.

There are obviously plenty more research trends in the global market research industry we haven’t covered in this blog. With that in mind, we would love to hear from you: What are you noticing? Feel free to write on our Facebook page and talk about what you feel is the biggest trends in the years ahead.