Clients and Agencies are Optimistic for 2025

In connecting with many across the insights ecosystem over the past month, here are some key areas people are talking about…

Data Quality
This is still the number one theme of conversation. More questions about the validity of underlying data, with brands and corporate researchers digging in to know more. This includes a requirement for agencies to be ISO-certified from a major corporation. To be clear, the threats are real, but there is no reason high data quality cannot continue to be generated to support confident decision-making. The Insights Association is assuming a greater leadership role in this area, and has kicked off a major Data Quality Benchmarking program involving both data collection suppliers and full-service agencies. The program covers everything from respondent device types and interview lengths to survey abandonment rates and fraud removals. More to come.

Recruiting and Data Collection
We have talked before about the industry’s level of trust and engagement with consumers and the general public, and research participation has dropped. Many panels and participant pools were simply not nurtured for sustainability. But there is a movement to improve this, and it involves some old school approaches. In particular it increasingly involves phone and a human interviewer. Recruiting and completion of the research may still be online, but the human touch dramatically improves participation and increases trust. It is particularly effective for confirmation on qualitative recruits and for longitudinal studies like online communities. We are seeing more of this with product testing and with all types of B2B research. The way forward isn’t always with abandoning the effective means of the past.

AI & Synthetic Data
AI continues to dominate headlines and conference agendas. But brands and corporate researchers want solutions, and not buzz or productized offerings. They want to know how AI can drive efficiencies and enhance insights. There are solutions and case studies already, and we need more of these. Efficiencies abound in transcribing and analyzing qualitative data, and also in enabling higher end quantitative data simulations. There is more work to do in understanding human vs AI in various research tasks. Our colleagues presented on this in early February at the PMRC Conference in comparing the results of human vs AI in analyzing and synthesizing qualitative data in a common healthcare area.

Demographics
We spend a lot of time talking about the future of insights and data, and perhaps not enough on the future of consumers and the foundation of our data. Demography is the future. Darrell Bricker who leads Public Affairs at IPSOS presented on this topic at the Insights Association CEO Summit in late January. Birth rates in the U.S and most developed nations have been dropping significantly, and have passed or will soon pass natural population replacement rates. This has huge significance for researchers and our clients. Clearly the average population age rises, and will soon be above 40 in the U.S. Society also becomes more female, as well as more suburban and more southern. This all raises a number of questions for researchers and marketers. Some immediate ones are whether we should be segmenting differently and whether we should be sampling differently, especially among the growing cohort over 65. Bricker talked about the growing power of older women. Longer term questions involve managing a shortage of young consumers for brands.

Please let us know if you want to discuss any of these topics or see other emerging themes. We look forward to engaging with you. Please reach out at tmcmullen@mv-research.com.