As a brand, you need to adapt to the constantly changing needs of customers to understand their actions and motivations. But how do you gain customer insights, especially ones that help you make better business decisions?
Accurate insights help improve the customer journey and let you personalize your marketing efforts, leading to more customers and increased retention.
Two of the best methods for acquiring valuable customer insights are survey research and focus groups.
Both of these methods have their pros and cons.
This is where artificial intelligence can play a big role by helping make traditional survey research and focus groups more effective.
How to gain customer insights: Focus groups and surveys
Focus groups are a method of qualitative data collection where a group discussion is held to understand participant views on a particular product or issue. They offer the opportunity to capture personal beliefs and attitudes.
The history of focus groups can be traced back to as early as 1937 when the Princeton University Office of Radio Research studied the impact of war propaganda films. During World War II, the US government studied the effect of military propaganda films on the general population. The goal was to increase public support for the war by crafting the most effective messages.
Survey research is one of the easiest ways to collect customer’s opinions. You can get feedback simultaneously from several customers, and the results can be decisive. Survey research is based on the concept that when you conduct surveys based on large random samples, it reflects the actual behavior of the population.
However, these methods aren’t perfect.
Focus groups and surveys: Room for improvement
Businesses often hire market research companies to carry out research surveys. The costs associated with running surveys can be high due to the work involved: preparing questionnaires, scheduling the survey, and identifying a survey cohort. All this work, of course, takes time.
Once you have the survey data, it needs to be sent to data analysts for further processing, which can mean additional costs. They do all the number crunching and draw conclusions from the survey.
Meanwhile, in focus groups, some participants find it hard to share their views freely. People with introvert personalities get dominated by extroverts. And if the topic is sensitive, few people will feel comfortable expressing their views. Consequently, you might not complete, accurate customer insights.
Moreover, the people in your focus group might not end up being an accurate representation of your target audience.
How AI helps take customer insight to the next level
Artificial intelligence is helping brands get digital transformations right. It’s making traditional survey research and focus groups faster, better, and cheaper.
Overcoming the problems of focus groups and customer surveys has become easier with the rise of AI, machine learning, facial analysis technology, and video conferencing.
The best way to collect accurate customer opinion is by becoming a “fly on the wall.” AI helps you be the fly on the wall so that customers express their genuine views.
Here are the two significant ways by which AI is revolutionizing the way focus groups and research surveys are conducted.
Collect data from several sources
AI makes it possible to instantly collect and analyze unstructured data across a variety of online sources.
Nowadays, there are many platforms where genuine customer opinions can be collected and tracked in real-time, including:
- TripAdvisor
- Amazon
- Quora
- Yelp
- TrustPilot
- Your website
Get faster customer insights
One of the main problems with focus groups and survey research is that the data collected remains in raw form. It needs to be further analyzed to extract meaningful information.
AI leverages computational analysis and natural language processing to process data faster with minimal human involvement. Instead of waiting for months to get the results, you can get faster insights within days. Faster access to insights leads to quicker business decisions, which are crucial to defeating your competitors.
The foundation of an effective business strategy rests on data and analytics. AI has made the task of conducting focus groups and customer surveys way more manageable than before. Brands that leverage the power of technology to gain crucial customer insights at the right time will outpace the competition.
