30 years of changes in marketing research practices
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This document summarizes the key changes in marketing research practices between 1983 and 2013, highlighting major shifts from traditional paper/phone based methods to digital and data-driven techniques. Some of the major changes outlined include moving from in-person qualitative research to online methods, automating text analysis and in-the-moment digital surveys, gaining the ability to handle huge databases and advanced analytics, transitioning from mainframe to desktop and mobile computing, incorporating new data sources like social media and shopper data, and accelerating the speed of insights from slow to near real-time.
30 years of changes in marketing research practices
- 1. Joel Rubinson, President and Founder Rubinson Partners, Inc. joel@rubinsonpartners.com http://blog.joelrubinson.net Changes in prevalent research practices: 1983 vs. 2013 30 years ago Today Survey mechanics In-mall concept testing, hand-dialed telephone Web-based via computers, smartphones, social media Paper diaries for purchasing and media Handheld scanning and ambient noise encoding Emotions measured via attribute ratings Emotions research comes from brain science using biometrics, brain waves, facial recognition, etc. Brand attitudes and cultural insights strictly from surveys Mine social media conversation as well as survey Qualitative research was almost always in person Qualitative research has gone to bigger samples and is now often online using webcam technology and communities Unstructured input had to be hand-coded Text analytics automates and systematizes In the moment research was qualitative Mobile for in the moment research Cost per interview was expensive Cost per interview can be very low Analytics, data and computing Analytics were straightforward and not very computationally intensive Ability to handle huge databases and computationally intensive analytics is radically different, such as the use of Hierarchical Bayes, Decision Trees, maximum likelihood predictive methods on large datasets and genetic algorithms Computers were mainframes Computing and data access is on the desktop and in your hand No frequent shopper data Frequent shopper data including data integration of media data Little marketing mix modeling Well-developed set of suppliers offer this Ad exposure and recall established project by project via telephone research For digital, ad exposure established via cookies with triggered online surveys. For TV, can automate ad recall research for whole category No digital or social media data. Insights mainly via surveys and qualitative research Web analytics, search, and social media conversation are key sources of insights Cross-tabs on paper Excel, BI tools offer extraction, viewing, and visual analysis tools Acetates for overhead projectors and 35MM Laptops, tablets, smartphones Insights programs Research was about fact-finding and long reports Insights and the now what are delivered via storytelling methods Speed to insight: slow Speed to insight: fast, and in some cases, near real time via digital media tags and cookies and social media listening Ad trackers were proprietary Ad trackers and integrated marketing campaign assessment have been productized Shopper insights research rarely conducted Well established shopper insights teams Borrow from psychology, sociology, anthropology Now, we also borrow from Behavioral Economics