Don’t get fired, market researchers. Prove your value.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit extreme. But the truth is that you must be able to show that what you do every day is positively impacting your company and feeding into the broader corporate strategy. And for us market researchers, this means getting the insights out of the data more efficiently and sharing these insights far and wide within an organization. 

Legacy processes that are in place for many brand-side researchers make this an impossibility. Relying on outside agencies and vendors to generate cumbersome cross-tabs every time you need to make a business decision is inefficient. In fact, it can delay the process so severely that your stakeholders may end up making decisions without using your data - an excellent way to undermine, rather than reinforce, your job value.

A better way is more important than ever.

The past few months have exacerbated the pressures that market researchers were already grappling with - the need for agility, the need to bring all the data together for holistic views, and, most of all, the need for ridiculously fast insights. As consumers ourselves, we know that our behaviors and feelings have been all over the board through the ups and downs of the pandemic. Brands need to keep pace or be left behind - and they’re relying on insights to do just this. 

So what exactly needs to happen to help make insights insightful enough to drive business decisions?

Bring that data together:  Data streams are coming in from all angles - what consumers are doing online, what they’re actually buying, what they’re sharing with friends, and how they feel about it all (via surveys). If you are only looking at one tiny piece of the puzzle, you don’t fully understand your audience. When you can present the “big picture,” your insights become exponentially more valuable to your stakeholders. They’ll look to you and your comprehensive data first before taking action. 

Take control of your data: If you have instant, direct, dynamic access to your data, you can uncover insights on your own timeline - or that of others in your company. Take out the “middle person” and use technology that gives you the first-hand ability to analyze continually updated data when the need arises. This way, when someone has a question, you can answer it - with data - immediately. How’s that for proving value? “

Magic happens when we collaborate: Seamlessly collaborating with others opens up deeper insights and knowledge finding. It also enables us to draw on the best skills of each individual, whether these be internal staff members, external consultants, or experts that are helping you get over the finish line. Two (or 10) heads are always better than one when it comes to the robust collection, analysis, and smart on-the-ground use of your consumer insights.

Share those insights all over the shop: The days of static reporting are dead and gone. But for some reason, many still cling to the familiar clunky crosstabs and slides of yesterday, and they go through multiple parties to generate these monstrosities. Dynamic, interactive, customized dashboards can showcase your survey insights and bring them to life - especially with permission-based access by leaders in your company.


Using a technology solution built for market researchers, you can accomplish all of these points and automate the mundane parts of your job. You can be more effective, leaving behind manual workflows so you can focus on answering the business question. You can wield market research technology as your secret weapon, so you can take a seat at the table of your organization - with insights driving business decisions, just as they are meant to. 

Remember, you can’t implement new insights technologies without the support and knowledge of people that can genuinely make sense of them. We need insights professionals to be supported, not replaced, by these new technologies. Approach adoption of new solutions with this in mind, and keep a deft blend of talent and technology for success.