4 Ways to Upgrade Your Research M.O.

By Matt Kleinschmit, Reach3 Insights

Here's a conundrum for you: If 90% of us prefer to talk with businesses via text over more traditional channels, why are we all still getting email surveys?

The fact that the email survey remains the primary method for quantitative research globally in the year 2024 is, frankly, astounding. At a time when an email feels more like a formality, isn't it time we evolved the research space to fit with how consumers communicate with one another today?

While the answer seems clear, the insights space has been slow to react- boring email surveys that reduce response rates and hurt data quality are the norm. To get people talking to you requires comfort, and there's nowhere we feel more comfortable than on our phones.

Human-centered, mobile-focused research design needs to replace the stoic and overly formalized email survey. Mobile, chat-based technology can make the insights-gathering process feel less like taking a test, and more like talking to a person. This subtle change can drive significant depth & richness, providing both the quantitative and qualitative insights we need for data-driven decisions.

Here are some things to consider to achieve more accurate, deeper insights.

1. Use a Conversational Approach

A 2020 study by Wharton Business School looked at what people would reveal through a mobile device versus through a desktop or laptop. It found that people are more likely to disclose greater detail through their mobile devices. The same study showed they're also more likely to delve into more sensitive topics.

Maybe it's the natural result of communicating through such a personal piece of technology; maybe it's just easier to text through a phone; maybe it's both.

Since old-school email survey-based response rates are hovering below three percent, use the mobile opportunity to grab those in-the-moment learnings: capturing emotions and experiences as they happen, and driving insights with immediacy.

As many of us push to bring behavioral science into the research process, moving your insights to the phone is an easy win that will result in deeper, richer insights.

2. Recognize AI's Limitations

AI is a junior-level assistant, not an omniscient genie. We can use it to fast-track aspects of the research process, but only if we ensure the inputs fueling AI models are of exceptional quality. AI can identify patterns in responses, but if the data lacks depth or nuance, the insights it generates will be shallow.

In this way, AI and conversational research go hand in hand. Conversational research methods produce better quality inputs, which in turn create better quality outputs. These rich, detailed responses serve as better inputs for AI, allowing the technology to analyze patterns and trends more accurately. Garbage in equals garbage out…so let's make sure we take the garbage out!

3. Make Data Collection an Engaging Experience

With AI synthesizing such vast amounts of information, data collection matters more than ever. Most respondents don't have 20 minutes to spare, and many are on the move as you reach out. How do you engage in the moment, making them more likely to pay attention to your questions, share more and be receptive to follow-ups?

Make the technology itself enjoyable to interact with. When done right, people forget about the medium of communication, and open up as though they were talking to a peer. With this approach and tech, recontact rates hit around 65%+. That's unheard of with email surveys, but something mobile chat based, conversational research designs regularly deliver.

This philosophy of more accessible, authentic and organic insights-gathering and greater storytelling can be applied across the entire research continuum. Think about journey mapping, path to purchase, new product innovation, co-creation, online communities and learning platforms-all of these have a foundational need for instant access to high-value consumer voices on an ongoing basis.

4. Use Data as a Storyteller

Data needs to be digestible, and those of us stuck in the old ways lose ground to those who make the story consumable for stakeholders. Herein lies another big differentiator: How you analyze and unlock the insights from the data set is critical. If we're leveraging both structured and unstructured data through video inputs and screen capture technologies, this "show, don't tell" attitude turns an insights professional into a data powerhouse.

It's equally important to offer deliverables that are designed specifically for different types of stakeholders, like curated, journalistic-style digital stories designed for high-level executives or specific teams. It's our job to make these time-poor individuals more likely to play their part in actioning the insights across the enterprise.

Inspiring action means moving away from 80-page PowerPoint decks, and towards deliverables tailored to particular stakeholders, using modern technology to help activate results. We put tremendous time and effort into our data collection, so let's not skimp out on making it usable.

Be Conversational, Not Clinical

If we can slip out of this overly formalized and clinical approach, and towards one which reflects the way people actually communicate today, we'll have deeper, richer, and all-around-better insights to pull from when leadership taps us on the shoulder.

We now have the ability to engage people where they are; out and about in the world, interacting daily with an array of brands, products and services, and at scale. Let's challenge our industry to embrace these new techniques and evolve our methodologies to reflect the inherent benefits these new technologies can offer.

About the Author:

Matt Kleinschmidt is Founder and CEO of Reach3 Insights With 25 years of hands-on consultative insights experience across a variety of industry sectors, Matt is a skilled and seasoned research innovator specializing in developing agile, inter-disciplinary consulting teams and creative, technology accelerated insight solutions for global brands who are determined to win in today's fast-paced marketplace.

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