Market research trends to look for in 2023

Published on February 3, 2023 by Akanksha Singh

The market research sector has grown steadily in recent years and is currently worth approximately USD82.60bn. With adaptability and foresight in its DNA, it is expected to witness rapid growth in the coming years. The constantly increasing volume of data, real-time insights and diverse audiences would prompt it to enhance methodologies and processes and use technology to provide actionable insights for business.

We believe the following trends will emerge in 2023:

Mobile-first survey

Online surveys are very popular among market researchers. A Statista report suggests that 90% of market researchers use online surveys regularly, and rightly so, as 5.07bn used the internet as of late 2022; this number increases 3.5% per year.

Mobile devices have contributed significantly to the increase in online traffic; thus, it is logical to expect mobile surveys to experience similar popularity in 2023.

However, currently, only 60% of researchers surveyed use mobile surveys regularly. Experts believe respondents do not complete surveys due to poor user experience and survey length, and consider this to be one of the major reasons for the lower adoption rate of mobile surveys.

Identifying such weaknesses, correcting them and ensuring a good user experience would improve the outlook for mobile surveys in the coming year and open the way for market researchers to increase reach and the response rate.

Social listening

Statista reports that 5.42bn will be using social media globally by 2025 and currently, the average internet user today spends 147 minutes on social media every day. An article by Buffer highlights that 80% of those surveyed talk about themselves and their experiences on social media.

This data indicates the increasing need for social listening and its popularity across sectors. The metaverse continues to strengthen its position by providing a hybrid and 3D web-based space for consumers to connect, generating uncharted consumer insights and behaviour metrics for organisations to research.

These enable market research firms to analyse user-generated content and conversations to gain insight on market sentiment, trends and actionable opportunities.

Increased use of videos in qualitative research

Videos have been an integral part of the market research process for a number of years, gaining significant traction since the pandemic. Research from Take Note suggests that 93% of market researchers are using online/video focus groups and interviews more than they did three years ago.

This development is likely to gain momentum in 2023, mainly as consumers become increasingly comfortable being “on camera”. Video content was one of the most engaging content types on social media in 2022, suggesting an increase in user-generated content.

Consumers being comfortable with video could benefit market researchers significantly, enabling researchers to dive deeper by studying body language, tone of voice and facial expressions of consumers, a step up from the conventional strategies such as using diaries and focus teams that usually depend on recall.

Agile market research

In this age of constantly changing consumer preferences and needs, companies cannot afford to be slow with their market research. This is where agile market research comes in. Agile market research is a tactical approach to gathering consumer insights through an iterative process, with experimentation and interaction at its core. Agile research enables small-scale surveys to be launched quickly, aligning perfectly with the fast-changing consumer landscape.

We analysed agile market research and its benefits for the sector in a previous blog; access it here. With its data-centric and consumer-oriented approach, such research is likely to increase in efficiency in 2023 and is, thus, the most promising trend this year.

Discovering adjacent markets

The pandemic forced the sector to rethink its way of working and be quick to adapt to the changing landscape by discovering and creating new opportunities. Not just major events, but also small changes or a steady shift towards new ways of living, may also affect consumer behaviour and preferences. Thus, understanding consumers’ adjacent needs would be a priority in 2023. This would enable businesses to expand into new markets, improve existing offerings or bring forwardgenerate new product ideas.

Market research automation

Automation in market research has gained a strong footing in recent years and is expected to grow in 2023. A report by NewMR predicts that 40-60% of current market research jobs will disappear over the next 5-10 years, and roughly 20-30% more of new research jobs will be created due to automation. A report from GreenBook suggests that automation will play a vital role in charting and infographics, analysing images and video data, report writing, attribution analytics, analysing biometrics/non-conscious data, matching contract “talent” to projects, analysing data, integrating into larger business intelligence frameworks, sampling, survey and project design.

We analysed the impact of automation on market research in a previous blog; access it here.

Automation provides many benefits to research, making the process faster by replacing manual and human effort with technology, and deriving more sophisticated insights using artificial intelligence and machine learning, helping researchers match the speed of an ever-changing consumer landscape.

Conclusion

Consumer needs are changing constantly, meaning that efficient market research is key to an organisation’s success. We believe that this year, researchers will be inclined to use more technology, identify new platforms to monitor data in real time and increase the use of smartphones to help businesses obtain the right insight at the right time.

How Acuity Knowledge Partners can help

We offer the latest technologies, optimal execution techniques, robust quality and extensive research, and enable digital transformation through services including interactive survey scripting and programming, social media integration, interactive online reporting solutions and data processing and visualisation.

Sources:

• Market research: global revenue 2021 | Statista

• What are video surveys and how to use them | Voxpopme

• Digital Around the World – DataReportal – Global Digital Insights

• Global daily social media usage 2022 | Statista

• Agile Market Research: What is it and how to get started? | Acuity Knowledge Partners (acuitykp.com)

• (4) 6 Social Media Marketing Content Trends in 2022 | LinkedIn

• Automation and Market Research – Report | NewMR

• Impact of Automation on Market Research | Acuity Knowledge Partners (acuitykp.com)

• Six Market Research Trends To Watch in 2023 (quantilope.com)

• 6 Key Market Research Industry Trends (2023) (explodingtopics.com)

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