Each year GreenBook Research surveys and interviews 1,533 participants from 75 countries to set the benchmark for market research and make projections for the future of the industry. This GRIT Report covers everything from the adoption of emerging methods, how vendors are delivering, and hot topics around Big Data and AI. This report truly takes a deep dive into what to expect from insights, and how the market is evolving.

Budding market research technology

The most salient aspects from the report point to how online communities continue to grow as the preferred method of conducting market research. Insights are continually moving into an integrative and holistic space where research solutions are working together to create a hyper-personalized view of the customer, and this report points to how vendors are working to provide their clients with a wide-range of solutions.

At Fuel Cycle, we espouse the belief that data should be easier to capture, analyze and act on. We are pleased to see that communities and mobile-first initiatives are progressively growing, as we see that the future of market research is in the hands of the most agile and adaptive technologies.

While AI has not yet had a visible effect in market research, the coming years will usher in the age of AI applications and machine learning.

Our forecast for the future

Rick Kelly, Fuel Cycle’s Chief Product Officer, surmises that AI will open the doors for researchers to focus on infusing insights with the knowledge that only a human touch can provide while allowing technology to solve the more tedious tasks and constraints of market research.

Cultural assumptions and popular media paint AI as an ominous and foreboding sign of a dystopian future. But we believe that AI is the path to freedom. AI has the power to enhance methodology, analyze and classify expansive amounts of data, and work without time constraints. We see this as the most positive thing that can happen to market research, and our hope is that both users, buyers, and sellers of market research will welcome these changes with open arms. While the adoption curve might seem daunting, the cost of not innovating is far greater.

In the next ten years market research will birth new insights and evolve with the needs and wants of the market, and we look to these changes with an air of optimism

To receive an in-depth look at the state of market research, download the full GRIT Report Here.