15 Fascinating Market Research Trends In 2022

The market research industry is one of the vast industries in the world today. This is because it cuts across all other profit-making sectors. Companies need market research to understand the activities going on in their market. Sufficient knowledge will also help them make the best decisions for the business and customers.

As of 2008, it was worth $32 billion, and by 2019, it had hit a record-breaking market value of $73 billion in 2019. As of 2022, the market research industry is worth exceedingly more.

Interestingly, the market research industry is constantly evolving, with new trends being introduced frequently. What worked yesterday may not work today. At the same time, what worked today, may not work tomorrow. While we cannot predict what remains in vogue, we can say the industry keeps advancing. This article will discuss top market research trends in 2022.

We talk about trends that have stood the test of time and are still being implemented. We will also discuss systems that have been phased out and what they've been replaced with. Either as a marketer, researcher, or business executive, these trends could be what reshapes your business this year. If well incorporated, they could help you stay ahead of the competition. Also, you can learn more about the best market research tools.

1. Social Media Listening

(Netbase Quid)

There is more to social media listening than a lot of people know. Many business executives even confuse it with social monitoring, which has been mostly used until now. Social monitoring works on a much smaller scale compared to social listening. It is majorly about collecting specific data related to your organization. This data could be your brand and competitor's mentions or hashtags that have trended or still trending. It could also be a comment, compliment, or complaint that garnered much attention. 

However, the rise in market competition has taught us that it is not enough to collect data for complete and effective market research. Analysis and implementation are the most important parts of it. Social media listening is concerned about the past and the future as well. It offers a broader approach to collecting data, and scrutinizing public platforms for topics. Such topics are not just about your brand but also crucial to your brand's growth.

Social listening uses sentiment as well to create insight into the future. Companies that implement social listening have recorded 5x growth than companies that haven't. Starkist, a tuna packaging company, improved its packaging by using social listening to understand consumer sentiment about flavor profiles and wordings. The result was a massive 138% increase in sales. 

Apart from sentiment for insights, social listening has helped organizations create a more personalized approach regardless of how vast their target audience is. With the emergence of more social listening tools, 2022 is already seeing a huge difference in the way businesses approach marketing. 

2. Adjacent Markets

(NetBase Quid)

Many organizations have understood the importance of adjacent markets ever since the COVID 19 pandemic. According to The World Bank, one-fourth of the companies in the world saw their sales drop by half. Companies that were affected mostly were transportation organizations as movements were restricted. Uber was an exception, though. Their entry into an adjacent market in 2016 had saved them from hitting rock bottom like other transport companies.

Although many of them were not able to do anything about the disruption and fall of their businesses at the time, they immediately sprang into action after the COVID 19 pandemic was over. They began exploring new markets that were adjacent to theirs. Two years down the line, this research is still going on.

In 2022, these organizations have taken to not just learning about their adjacent markets but advancing into them. Even if another pandemic doesn't break out, your presence in more than one market is paramount to the survival of your organization. As they say, it is dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket. Experts believe that if organizations shift their market research towards existing adjacent markets, they'll discover more growth opportunities.

3. Smart Surveys

(Netbase Quid, SurveyAnyplace)

A vast majority of people today no longer fill surveys. But again, in 2022, the market research industry is implementing new methods to collect more accurate surveys. Surveys are one of the good old ways of extracting information. Different survey methodologies have been employed over the decades. There have been paper, mails, telephone, and even panel surveys. However, the digitization of business brought about online surveys.

One thing to note is that all smart surveys are online, but not all online surveys are smart. Creating smart surveys now includes doing it a little at a time. Recent statistics have shown that people in the online space are more likely to fill out short surveys. Half of these people will not finish extremely long surveys, and a significant percentage will rush it up by including random answers. Also, in 2021, the average survey response rate was 33%. Smart surveys aim at increasing this value this year.

Personalization and use of sentiment in survey creation are also characteristic of a smart survey. Technology has made it quite easy to personalize surveys. Companies that use smart surveys for research mostly use artificial intelligence tools to build them. There has also been a rise in the use of chatbots for personalized surveys.

Researchers are well aware that the use of surveys for market research cannot die out. Therefore, they keep coming up with more ways to improve survey methods and add incentives that attract more people to fill their surveys. Whether it's a product survey, brand survey, or customer service survey, making it smart is your best bet at having higher conversion rates. 

4. Increased Speed Of Insights

(New Zealand Marketing, Statista)

Many say that information is no longer key. They believe that how fast you get the information and put it to use is key. As true as this is for other niches in life, so is it for business. The war is no longer focused on who has the most customers. Instead, it is now based on gathering relevant insights and putting them to use effectively.

Some organizations still employ old research models, thereby waiting for days before they get the outcome of their research. This approach is changing with the birth of newer technologies. The market research industry has discovered that organizations could do research in little or no time. Insights could get delivered in one to two days or even hours.

According to Statista, online surveys are the most used quantitative research methods, with about 89% using it regularly and 9% using it occasionally. In 2022, more businesses are changing their research approach. They use artificial intelligent systems and up-to-date research tools to gather insights from different sources. These technologies have also birthed new methods of research. Soon, businesses that are yet to discover the true extent of insight speeds will have barely any chance to survive.

5. Democratization Of Data

(New Zealand Marketing, Forbes)

One of the advancements that technology is bringing into the world is the enablement of non-professionals to do the same thing professionals would. Technology is making specialization of little or no use. There are citizen developers who create solutions without much technical knowledge. There are no code/ low code platforms that allow regular people to build apps. Data analysis resources also enable anyone to interpret and make use of data without needing a data analyst, market researcher, or other data expert. 

Democratization of data is the availability of data to anyone at any time. With data democratization, specialists are not needed, and anyone can easily interpret data. This is of great benefit to many organizations as decisions will no longer be kept pending when they urgently need to be made. Many organizations have not tapped into this world of endless possibilities yet. Some do not know it is possible. Some do not believe analysis resources will be as effective as specialists. Some are also scared that the data will be at risk if everyone can get it on their hands. 

However, there is more benefit than harm to data democratization. It brings about ease of work in an organization and also promotes teamwork. In 2022, the use of technology to analyze big data will become common. These technologies include data virtualization software, data federation software, cloud storage, and more.

6. Trend Tracking

(Netbase Quid, Buddy Punch)

Trends have been behaving anomalously for quite some time now. It has become quite difficult to follow a trend from a few years back and expect it to act as predicted. There are several reasons behind this abnormality. The rise and fall of the economy, recent catastrophes, the pandemic, and more are only a few things that shift trends. However, the anomaly in the industry you're in, you still need to watch the trends closely. This is because businesses that can track the trend will always be at the top. 

Just because something has been growing steadily for a long time doesn't mean it can't go sideways. The past few years have been clear handwriting on the wall that what matters first is the current trend, then the behavior over the years. This is why the market research industry is keeping an eye on trends, as research would be incomplete without a thorough evaluation of trends over a long period. 

In 2022, organizations are tracking the trends through online research, social media, customer interaction, and, most importantly, thorough investigations using new technologies.

7. Redefinition Of Customer Experience

(Netbase Quid, Forbes)

Customer experience is one thing that businesses always need to stay committed to. After all, without your customers, there is no business. The problem, however, is that most organizations do not take the time to develop their customer experiences. They still use the same approach they used some years back without any strategic upgrades. Many of these businesses end up losing authentic customers in the end.

With the ever-increasing competition present in all markets, customers' loyalty is likely to shift at any inconvenience. Turning prospects into customers is already hard enough. Losing existing customers will only make surviving harder for your business. This is why in 2022, research is slightly shifting to how to give customers better experiences. 

At the moment, personalization is one of the methods being applied in the industry, and it works. According to Salesforce Research, 80% of customers say that a company's experience is as important as its products and services. That's not all, as Forbes also wrote that 40% of executives in a survey agreed that personalization had a direct impact on their business.

8. Hyper-Segmented Research

(New Zealand Marketing, Salesforce)

As discussed earlier, personalization is now the main focus of research in 2022. After decades of research, the market research industry has realized that general information is not enough for businesses to scale or perform better than their competitors. If they want to do this, research will have to narrow down more to personality traits. It will no longer be about age, location, gender, financial status, and so on. Instead, it will be more about psychological behaviors.

This is what leads to hyper-segmented research. The behavior of humans is not regular. Someone could abhor something but still have hobbies that require that thing to function. With hyper-segmented research, companies can become more customer-oriented in their services and delivery. In research by Salesforce, 76% of customers expect that companies understand their needs and expectations. While this was not possible before, the industry has seen an emergence of technologies that will propel hyper-segmented research. 

9. Consumer Consciousness

(New Zealand Marketing, Salesforce)

Research in the past few years has shown that consumers are now more aware of brands than before. This can be attributed to the circumstances that surround our day-to-day lives. There's so much going on in the world right now that customers now place trust as a criterion for purchase. Unlike some years back when it was just competence and quality of service, ethics and values now matter a lot.

Brands that want to keep making sales and reach out to more prospects must keep their social values in check. While it is important to maintain professionalism, they must ensure that their brand has a familiar and relatable image. According to Salesforce, 95% of consumers say they are more likely to be loyal to companies they trust. Another 67% say their standard for good experiences is higher than ever before.

10. Fewer Research Platforms

(Netbase Quid)

“The more, the better” has now become a thing of the past. More no longer means better, faster, or more accurate when it comes to research, and brands are starting to discover this. In the ever-competitive business world, the last thing your organization needs is cumulating platforms and resources that will reduce the speed of getting relevant insights. 

Your ability to get market insights, study the trend, make successful investigations, and tap into your customers' lives are what keep you relevant in your industry and to your customers as well. In recent research, 57% of consumers said they stopped buying from a company because a competitor provided a better experience. If you cannot get relevant insights, how can you provide a better experience to your customers?

Many organizations in 2022 are now employing faster and more centralized methods of research. Centralized methods are very helpful because all the information is gathered in one body and is easier to interpret, analyze, and use.

11. Quality Of Metrics

(Netbase Quid)

In any business, the quality of metrics matters as your metrics are the foundational prerequisites for evaluating your company's performance. If you miss it here, many other things could go wrong. You could keep making wrong evaluations for years, arriving at wrong conclusions, and implementing the wrong strategies. It all amounts to one thing- a failed business.

Metrics are easy to get cluttered as well with irrelevant subjects. If you're not as specific as needed, your analytic tools could mix your requests based on name, location, and other similarities. This is why before brands set their metrics, a lot of research is needed to filter out anything that could contradict their organizational values, services, products, etc. A clean dataset is needed for effective audits.

12. LGBTQ+ Research

(Drive Research)

In the past few years, most market research and surveys have sidelined the LGBTQ+ community as a single niche. Well, things promises to be different in 2022. Researchers have become aware of the potential the LGBTQ+ community holds. They also realize that businesses have not fully maximized this potential for various reasons;

• Some businesses still see the LGBTQ+ as a separate entity
• They also think there are particular times businesses should target the community
• Some also think they still form a minority of the social groups today.

However, all of these are misconceptions. While it remains a community for support, the LGBTQ+ can no longer be classified as a single block. The community comprises people with different social and religious beliefs, backgrounds, and behaviors. Businesses that are already incorporating this into their research have seen significant changes.

13. Filtration Of ‘Bad' Data

(Drive Research)

Can data be termed as bad? Yes. Bad data is acquired from fake or random responses, artificial intelligence bots, and other dishonest sources. Data becomes bad when it is not useful to the research and can contaminate the whole process. Before, there weren't many ways to identify such data. Existing systems were not meticulous enough to filter them out. 

However, with new technologies, 2022 will improve data processing. Most of these technologies use consistency of answers, time used to complete the survey, comparisons with responses in other surveys, and other factors to filter out bad data. Bad data will corrupt not only the result of research but also the conclusions drawn from it and how it is applied to other sectors of the organization like sales and marketing.

14. Shorter Surveys

(Drive Research)

One of the questions that bother market researchers the most is, “what should the length of interview of my survey be?” Researchers and business owners are always caught in the dilemma of the length of surveys because, for a long time, survey LOI had been attached to the quality of data. If it was too short, they might not get enough data. If it was too lengthy, the data could get corrupted with random responses, or respondents may not complete the surveys.

In a recent study, data quality had reduced drastically when the survey time hit 10 minutes. By the end of the study, the best responses were gotten between 5 and 7 minutes. In 2022, new methodologies will be being created using high-rise technologies. The focus of these methodologies will be to get maximum data in a very short time without it being too cumbersome. This means apart from direct responses; researchers will also monitor indirect responses. 

15. AI Adoption

(Netbase Quid)

We have mentioned the adoption of AI for improvement in several market research sections. This is because the power and possibility of AI to turn the market research industry around cannot be overemphasized. AI is currently being used to;

• Speed up the delivery of data insights
• Democratize data
• Study the behavior of respondents during a survey
• Reveal trends across a wide range of indicators

With AI systems in place, companies can avoid the expenses of human researchers. In summary, the employment of AI in the market research industry will soon phase out former research methods. Artificial intelligence has come to stay with an estimated CAGR of 46% through 2025. Soon, businesses that are yet to incorporate AI will see a decline in performance in all sectors of their organizations. 

Conclusion

Growth and development in the market research industry are actively tied to the emergence of newer, more effective technologies. The top trends in 2022 are the beginning of a long series of changes in the industry. If business owners and marketers do not adopt these trends, their businesses will suffer greatly.

References

Statista
Forbes
BuddyPunch
Forbes
Statista
MarketWatch
NetBaseQuid
NetBaseQuid
NetBaseQuid
NZMarketingMag
DriveResearch

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