MRX Predictions for 2021 From Insights Industry Leaders

It may seem foolhardy to try to predict what lies ahead after a year of so much unpredictability like 2020, but we researchers are always up for a challenge, right? Foresight is the end goal of insights after all, and certainly at the end of one of the most challenging years ever, with so many focused on one understanding how the myriad changes happening to us as individuals, as an industry, and as a civilization, we have gained some insights that may help get us closer to having that foresight for the year ahead.

With that thesis in mind we reached out to the leaders in the insights and analytics industry to share with us what they have learned and what they think it means, and as usual, they did not disappoint! We’ve organized them by themes to make it easier for you, our esteemed readers, to form your own key takeaways as well.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t add my own take as well, which may also serve as a high-level summary of what others are thinking (great minds do think alike after all!). For me we can classify what lies ahead under two big dynamic forces of change: Disruption and Acceleration:

 

ACCELERATION

• Adoption of tech for cost/speed efficiencies in insights and analytics reached the tipping point: we are now truly a tech-driven industry and will continue to evolve in all ways to fulfill that.
• Data Synthesis isn’t a nice to have anymore; it will become one of the core drivers of the industry. The need for holistic understanding is now fundamental.
• DIY vs. Service gap grows; as many sectors continue to feel budget impacts while also having even more urgent needs to understand, DIY solutions will go from strength to strength.
• Everything is digital; it will take some time for face-to-face anything to recover, so for the time being all things digital to engage, understand, and activate business relationships will be the norm.
• Need for consumer closeness; the drivers of decision making, especially priorities, have shifted tremendously and anything that helps understand that more effectively will grow in importance.
• Video becomes a primary method; yep, the “Zoomification” of EVERYTHING is only going to increase.

DISRUPTION

• All insights before April are now questionable; are norms and benchmarks still accurate? Maybe/Maybe not, so expect more research to explore and challenge them.
• New foundational research needed (market structure, segments, channels, landscape, etc…); the world will be divided into 3 eras: Pre-Covid, Covid, and Post-Covid. All are different, and understanding those differences from a foundational knowledge perspective is going to continue to be important.
• New understanding of behavior drivers; how has an increased focus on safety and security changed nonconscious behavior drivers across almost all business phases and sectors? We’ll have to find out.
• DEI is key; 2020 made us all aware of the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as important elements of our social contract so in 2021 look for more active change as we incorporate that into the world.
• Budget & resource compression; the economic impact of 2020 is still unfolding and will take a while to bounce back so expect more focus on doing more with less.

That is a lot to take in, but I have absolute confidence that our industry will navigate these changes well and reach even greater levels of business importance and impact in 2021 while doing so!

Now, on to our panel of seers and visionaries to see what they have to say. And from all of us to you, Happy Holidays, and here’s so an amazing 2021 for us all.

 

2021 Market Research Industry Predictions

COVID Will Continue to Impact the Industry

“I suspect the economic fallout from [COVID] will hit hard in 2021 impacting budgets and creating even more demand for faster and cheaper. As more and more fast and cheap options enter the marketplace the only way companies will be able to distinguish themselves will be through better. Better methods, better analysis, better consulting and better learning and meta analytics.” – Steve Phillips, Founder and CEO of Zappi

“[COVID]-19 will still most likely impact the first half of the year with the 1st quarter looking much like 2020 and the pick up in revenue starting to be seen in the tail end of the 2nd quarter. We expect the 3rd quarter to be the overture to a very strong 4th quarter.” – Kevin Goetz, Founder, and CEO of ScreenEngine and Robert Levin, President and COO of ASI

“This year “change “was not just a buzzword but real…Remote working has finally become a reality that cannot be avoided, and many have moved out of cities into the suburbs. This coupled with failed restaurants and retail will have real effects on various industries including CPG. Online retail, not just Amazon, has leaped ahead 10 years in just 9 months! As traditional business has taken a big hit, and barriers to entry continue to erode, a new wave of online startups is set to take off. They have neither time nor money nor interest in traditional research. The age of market research is over. The age of Data Science and App Insights is here!” – Tom H. C. Anderson, Founder of OdinAnswers

 

MRX Will Continue To Have a Big Influence on Businesses

“2020 saw many Insights teams thrust to the front to guide leadership through never-been-seen-before times. We need to continue to be bold; express opinions; move beyond single-test-results and build holistic pictures using diverse data sources; leverage AI/ML to do the routine parts of our job to free us up; be creative & disruptive and focus on driving impact through deep, never-seen-before understanding placed at the heart of critical decisions.” – Richard Thorogood, Global Vice President Insights for Colgate Palmolive

“The ability for any tool and researcher to inspire Action & Driving Impact [will] be the single most important differentiator” – Stan Knoops, Global Head of Insights for IFF

“COVID saw the rate of change explode, but I believe 2021 will see this 10x change accelerate further to 100x change. We see this within the MR industry in the 800+ research technologies now available. The next year will require us to create connectors between this tech, the sample, and the methodologies to keep the research process seamless.” – Steve Mast, President & Chief Innovation Officer for Delvinia

“2021 will see an increased focus on combining research technology with expert research consultant support. Leading brands will be those who are empowered to leverage high-quality consumer insights in innovative ways to support business challenges.” – Johanna Azis, Head of Marketing – US for quantilope

 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Data Collection and Hiring/Promoting Practices

“My aspirational prediction is that research leaders will have used 2020 to honestly examine diversity and inclusion within their company and redesigned their systems and policies to practice equity. I see that Black, Indigenous, and other People of Colour are actively sought after, fairly paid, and equitably promoted. And, women, people who are disabled, and BIPOC will be more equitably represented as expert authors and speakers at our in-person (!) conferences.” – Annie Pettit, Ph.D. CAIP FCRIC, Research Methods Consultant

“Leveraging conversational, mobile-first methods makes it easier to bring unheard voices into the boardroom, providing fresh insight into the hearts and minds of audiences who are typically under-represented in the research process.”  – Matt Kleinschmit, CEO & Founder of Reach3 Insights

“Racial unrest led diversity, equity, and inclusion to rise in prominence as an organizational priority. For the insights industry, both events point to an imperative to more accurately capture the population. We must revisit and rethink legacy methodologies, from sample representation to research design to analytics to storytelling.” – Sam Herzing, Strategy & Implementation Lead for Gongos, Inc.

“In 2021, balancing “big data” with empathy will be more important than ever. We predict a renewed focus on the voice of consumers including methods and approaches that emphasize deep, rich understanding. There will also be dramatically increased efforts to ensure that ALL voices are heard and understood.” – Jeff Seltzer, Chief Executive Officer of Hypothesis

 

DIY is Here to Stay

“Foresight/trends research will increase, research tech (esp DIY and automated solutions) will accelerate even faster, sample quality and inclusion in research sample will remain hot topics and get more traction/awareness with corporate researchers, collaboration among both suppliers and corporations will increase.” – Michelle Gansle, Sr Director, Insights for Mars Wrigley

“1). More integrated technology, delivered at speed. 2)Extending use cases for data analysis and reporting reaching further into the organization via great data visualization. 3) Increased eyes on solving client business problems, made useful by experienced humans, listening, and delivering outcomes. Basically, I see growth in business-critical information into one platform, freeing clients up to make more informed decisions.” – Peter Harris, CEO of Potentiate

“In 2021 more MR clients will be asking for; integration of multiple text-based data sources e.g. answers to open ends, social listening, FGD transcripts, DIY access to tools for multiple types of end to end MR, transcribed call centre conversations as a data source for text analytics… capability to create their own machine learning models for data annotation in multiple languages” – Michalis Michael, CEO of DigitalMR Ltd.

 

Teams Will Turn To Agile to Meet Demands

“In 2021 business leaders must be able to respond quickly and appropriately to a fast-changing environment as they continue to question the dogma of yesterday to tactically adapt to today’s decision-making process. No CEO will have the luxury to take months to make a decision; they will need to act in days, if not hours. This ability will be fed by regular access to valuable in-the-moment and longitudinal insights.” – Frederic Charles Petit, CEO of Toluna

“The best opportunities will flow to those businesses that are fast and effective at adapting to new consumer behaviors, tastes, and needs. In order to adapt quickly and effectively, businesses will need to measure, test and learn, forecast, war game, and scenario plan for a fast-changing consumer dynamic.” – Nancy Smith, President  and CEO of Analytic Partners

“Qualitative research timelines will continue to stretch out during the first half of 2021 due to continued wide-spread recruitment delays and then revert back to normal in the back half of the year…some research firms will adapt and develop agile approaches to qualitative research recruitment. Those who adopt a new approach now will win a larger share of the qualitative research wallet next year and beyond.” – Christina Boris, Global Director of Coleman Research

“We’ll see more iterative, perpetual learning in 2021, as brands become accustomed to timely market visibility and movement. Demand for Agile Research has grown in the life science market lately. Advanced companies use it ubiquitously for short-term inquiry and iteratively for longer-term needs. COVID-19 accelerated this evolution with more companies needing real-time data and willing to iterate.” – Dan Fitzgerald CEO Apollo Intelligence, LLC.

“Momentum from 2020, in which insights has been asked to deliver extraordinarily more at record speed, will continue. Several new pressures, along with the exacerbation of preexisting ones, will be present. From heightened internal stakeholder expectations to the exponential rise of data, we will have to prioritize the areas of discovery, tools, and techniques that fuel the most strategic impact and reap the greatest ROI.” – David Robbins, Vice President, Client Consulting for Gongos, Inc.

 

(More) Changes for Retailers and eCommerce

“The increased time at home will result in consumers continuing to look for more ways to invest in home comfort and pride of ownership. Acquisition of faster internet speeds and new personal technology, buying more square footage, investing in home DIY projects to increase the value of, and repurpose their asset.” – Dan Weber, CEO of tracks

“In 2020, eCommerce grew 41%. That’s 10 years’ growth—in 6 months…[in 20201] Buyers will be in-store & online… 96% look online before they buy. You’ll be missing out on millions if you can’t collect eCommerce data., [and] You’ll need omnichannel insights. Data + surveys = full consumer insights.” – Catherine Gutierrez, VP of Marketing at MFour Mobile Research

“Amazon ad platform will grow significantly more and they will increase their share of ad revenue taking from FB, YT, and IG… More and more brands will be investing heavily in learning and winning on Amazon and other [e-commerce] sites.” – Jeff Bander, Chief Revenue Officer of eye square

 

AI is Taking Over and It’s Providing Great Insights

“The beginnings and 1st tentative steps of artificial intelligence and machine learning being leveraged for uncovering qualitative insights.” – Alejandro Rivas-Micoud, CEO of Userlytics Corporation

“People who take surveys are a specific subset of the population and do not necessarily reflect the views of the people they are meant to represent. I believe this finding will lead to further development into AI models that can better approximate respondent opinions than actual respondents.” – Mario Carrasco, Co-Founder & Principal of ThinkNow

“More AI-driven solutions trying to better understand the difference between what we say and how we actually feel.” – Peter Chopra, CEO of nuaxia

“Now that NLP, Facial Recognition, and AI are enabling unstructured data to be understood in a similar way to survey data, we can finally move away from abstract constructs in favor of more human forms of communication.” – Jamin Brazil, CEO of HubUX

 

Analysis Will Rely More on Automation

“Corporations will ramp up new products/services for the post-pandemic world. This will lead to a resurgence in MR spending! Not a V-Shaped Recovery, but a U-Shaped increase and a return to pre-pandemic spending levels. MR Departments that have been recently downsized will be looking for turnkey research support from potential partners that offer maximum value via cost-effective software & automation.” – Kevin Lonnie, CEO of KL Communications

“1) online will remain a major part of buyers’ portfolio of research selections. 2) automatic analysis will become a more natural part of research & design, especially during first iterations. 3) implicit measures are expected to grow in acceptance and use and will benefit by step 1+2” – Thomas Z. Ramsøy, CEO of Neurons Inc

 

We Will Continue to See Changes in Customer Behavior and MRX Will Need to Measure It

The misplaced emphasis on Acquisition Marketing vs. Loyalty Marketing will start to crumble under the weight of evidence favoring Occasion-driven Marketing. (i.e., The reasons people try are the reasons people buy – over-and-over again.) The assumptions of zero-order (stateless) consumer choice models (and NBD-Dirichlet’s perceived status as a law of marketing) will be proven false. Instead, we will see them for what they are: the emergent properties (in aggregate only) of a complex system. – Jared Schrieber, Board Director & Research Scientist at Numerator

In 2021, researchers will be engaging consumers where they are and what they need to sustain and enjoy their smaller world…From homes or the area around their homes that these consumers frequent, we figure out what they need in that space and use targeting and fencing to get actionable messages to people who are likely to respond. The research conversation should hear these terms getting louder and more frequent as the tool pushes to the forefront of MR. This is our 2021 prediction. – Kim Harrison CEO of Focus Forward

“2020 showed us that the marketing research industry can no longer ignore Gen Z’s increasing influence. From the Black Lives Matter movement to the divisive US presidential elections, these young consumers did not shy away from making their voices heard. And there’s a lot that marketers can gain from engaging with Gen Zs on an ongoing basis—all you have to do is to look at TikTok to see the creativity and resourcefulness of this generation in action. In 2021, the biggest brands in the world will realize that Gen Z is no longer a niche. I predict that forward-looking companies will increase their Gen Z market research budget by 50% or more in the next year.” – Andrew Reid CEO & Founder of Rival Technologies

“By summer 2021, the New Normal will be here and consumers will look nothing like themselves from years prior. Brands will increase their demand for solutions to have as close to a 24/7, high-quality, pulse on their consumers as possible.” – Peter Aschmoneit, CEO & Co-Founder of quantilope

 

Data Privacy and Security Will Be a Top Consideration

“On the legislative front, 2021 is shaping up to be a most consequential year for the Insights Industry. The legislative agenda includes the potential for deepening data and privacy restrictions, the hope for a Federal Privacy law, the adoption of sweeping labor laws aimed at research participants and the use of incentives, progress on how the government will view dialers, the potential for additional help for businesses financially hurt by the pandemic, and reactions to the decennial census results.” – Melanie Courtright, CEO of Insights Association

“Privacy and security considerations will be at the forefront of decision making. The “chain of custody” when it comes to storing and retaining data for at-home workers will be scrutinized at an increasing degree, putting more emphasis on service partners to provide robust solutions that protect participants, customers and clients like never before.” – Dan Weber, CEO of tracks

 

Suppliers Will Pay More Attention to Data Quality

“Integrating different data sources into business decision making will become the norm whether that’s in fully enclosed data lakes, data warehouses, or other data solutions. However, corporates and brands will come to fully appreciate that market research data is more complex than other data, and therefore needs specialized solutions to navigate these complexities.” – Horst Feldhaeuser, Group Services Director of Infotools

“In Hollywood in particular, research orgs are consolidating and while it can be a tough process this is going to push the envelope for innovation in creative research as thought leaders from previously siloed teams can champion new ways of capturing insights to the executive team in a more effective manner. Most importantly, their data is consolidating enabling data trending and analysis in new and exciting ways.” – James Norman, CEO  and co-founder of Pilotly

“Winners in the year ahead will work model-based vs. model-free: Model-free = endlessly analyzing data, trying to identify a signal based simply on the info itself. Model-based = mapping data back to an established framework to make sense and reveal the signals.” – Hunter Thurman, President of Alpha-Diver

“Respondent data quality continues to decline due to too much demand for online sample. This will cause panels to open their recruitment sourcing to questionable traffic, which will increase the risk of bots and survey farms entering into client-side surveys.” – Patrick Stokes, Founder & CEO of Rep Data

“2021 will see the “return of brand” – shifting dollars from performance to brand budgets… brands want to be part of timely but sensitive conversations and can’t afford a misstep. This is driving the need for precise insights to improve brand metrics. CMOs want this in real-time with specific direction to optimize campaigns.” – Chris Kelly, CEO of Upwave

“Data scarcity grows, endangering high-quality data, and elevating its importance. Lastly, knowing which trends are short-term pandemic effects, longer-term, or permanent changes will challenge brands as they seek to understand their effect on consumers.” – Gary S. Laben, Chief Executive Officer of Dynata

 

Digital Transformation Will Affect Everything

“As every sector undergoes accelerated digital transformation, we’ll realize that user experience research will soon eclipse the size of the market research industry.” – Rick Kelly, Chief Product Officer of Fuel Cycle

“2021 will be a year of accelerated transformation. New business models, increased technology adoption, and a focus on optimizing operations via new and creative partnerships. Be more creative and unafraid to break the status quo.” – Gary S. Laben, Chief Executive Officer for Dynata

“Your digital presence is now your only business card. In the next year I think that insight companies will invest in more effective digital communications with clear messaging that grabs attention and cuts to the chase.” – Lucy Davison, Founder, and managing director of Keen as Mustard Marketing

 

Emerging Tech

“Innovation in immersion. AR and VR technologies will gain increasing application and adoption in the insights profession as we work to help business decision-makers build and activate empathy for consumers. The rising prominence of these technologies within manufacturing companies in the face of the pandemic allowed them to zoom in on problems and troubleshoot.” – Sarah Phillips, Vice President, Client Consulting for Gongos, Inc.

“Technology solutions that enable qualitative at scale will pull share from traditional data collection techniques including surveys and focus groups. Why? If you think about it, a survey is just a conversation at scale. But, nobody talks in Likert scales. ” – Jamin Brazil, CEO of HubUX

“COVID accelerated the move to online everything from e-commerce to groceries to research. I expect all those trends to not only continue but to accelerate as the investments companies made in 2020 in technology start to bear fruit. 2021 is positioned to be a tremendous growth year for ResTech companies. Onward!” – Patrick Comer, Founder and CEO of LUCID

 

Humanization Will Take Center Stage

“More focus on TRUTH, less focus on completes! Disintermediation and Transparency will continue to be driving factors of the industry.” – Keith Rinzler, Founder and CEO of 1Q

“2021 will deliver success for those who embrace…a behavioral lens as an anchor point for interpreting human decision making in a period of upheaval, and a willingness to embrace the uncertainty of the moment in a way that’s instinctively uncomfortable for researchers!” – Alex Hunt, CEO of PRS IN VIVO

“I am hopeful that the renovated sense of community and kindness within insights will stick. Seeing how people have come together in whatever way they can has been inspiring. People have learnt to communicate with honesty and compassion. I think it will continue.” – Lucy Davison, Founder, and managing director of Keen as Mustard Marketing

“We are only consumers for a small percentage of the day, but we are humans 100% of the time and the events of 2020 will leave us forever changed. Helping executives understand consumers as human beings have always been critical to the role our profession plays, but it’s never been more important. In 2021, we will need to increase our commitment to finding meaningful ways to immerse business stakeholders in the needs and aspirations of consumers as real people.” – Camille Nicita, President & CEO of Gongos, Inc.

 

More Thought Towards UX and Mobile Research

“I believe that the biggest discussion in insights in 2021 will center around the respondent experience, in particular creating meaningful surveys people want to answer – especially the mobile-first world. More and more researchers are realizing that there’s more to it than forcing grids and tiny buttons on mobile screens. What’s needed is a complete re-imagining of all aspects of the experience, from the language and tone of our questions to the channels we use to reach people.” – Jennifer Reid, President & Chief Methodologist of Rival Technologies

“In 2021, the quest for capturing deeper, richer insights (at scale) that can drive better business outcomes will be found through…the mobile phone. it’ll be even more imperative for [researchers] to engage consumers in-the-moment using remote-yet-immersive approaches—something that mobile techniques naturally excel at.” – Matt Kleinschmit, Founder and CEO of Reach3 Insights

 

Online Research Will Be a Fixture

“We’ve seen that the proliferation of research engagements from afar has uncovered insights just as impactfully as legacy approaches while introducing unique value. In 2021, virtual work will go from fringe to mainstream, and insights professionals will be charged with further evolving tools and techniques to ratchet up its potential.” – Greg Heist, Chief Innovation Officer for Gongos, Inc.

“How we interact with research participants however will finally shift to predominantly online. [COVID] will not lead to the death of the high street, just a reinvention. [COVID]has taught us as much about what we have missed as what we can do without.” – Quentin Ashby, Managing Partner and Head of People Services for InSites Consulting

“Marketing Research will be more Software / IT-based drawing respondents from Online Research Panels / Community Boards” – Sibghatullah Husaini, CEO of The Dynamics – Research Consultants