The Internet changed our lives forever. And now, the Internet of Things is transforming our lives yet again.

In recent years, we have seen several significant developments in technology. While these developments were already at play, the pandemic gave a big push and further accelerated the pace of adoption.

In today’s connected consumer world, the physical world meets the digital world,  and these two worlds cooperatively interact. Big data, analytics, and mobile technologies allow objects and devices to share and collect data over an interconnected network and with little human intervention. 

The benefits of using IoT are reduced costs, augmented productivity and efficiencies, and increased convenience. Ultimately, IoT is beneficial for brands and market researchers as it provides them with a wealth of information on consumer habits that they can utilize to increase their profitability.

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Definition of the Internet of Things (IoT)

According to Oracle, “the Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet.”

Simply, IoT is when the products we use every day connect to the Internet and each other. 

Internet of Things (IoT) goes beyond consumer products and permeates many other industries. 

In recent years, one of the most significant developments in the Industrial Revolution is Industry 4.0, and it all began in the manufacturing sector.

What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 focuses on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and real-time data in the manufacturing industry. 

It allows manufacturers to maximize production and improve distribution, transportation, and product development. 

Industry 4.0 is the convergence of state-of-the-art manufacturing processes with the Internet of Things, which results in innovative, interconnected techniques that can communicate, analyze, and employ data to improve decision-making. This ultimately leads to optimizing, connecting, and automating operations.

Industry 4.0 was mostly restricted to the manufacturing industry in its early days but has expanded to benefit other sectors, like warehousing, logistics, and distribution.

Let’s delve into the opportunities for connected tech in other industries:

Healthcare

According to 1Mordor, “the connected medical device market is expected to register a CAGR of 18.92% over the forecast period from 2022 to 2027.” The same report showed the Asia Pacific region as the fastest growing market and North America as the largest market. 

Connected tech in healthcare is known as Connected Care. It is defined as the real-time, electronic communication between a patient and a medical provider, using digital tools such as remote patient monitors, telehealth, wearable technology, secure messaging, and mobile apps, to name a few. 

It is estimated remote monitoring for healthcare could be worth USD 1.1 trillion by 2025. 

Wearable technologies hold a significant share of this market as they provide real-time data so health care providers can help patients in remote locations. They provide convenience and cost-effectiveness by reducing multiple visits to the doctor’s office. With cardiac-related devices expected to be worth USD 800 billion by 2030, there is a massive opportunity for healthcare brands in the cardiac segment for wearables.

COVID-19 has impacted and accelerated the growth of this market. The pandemic brought about new ways of interacting with doctors remotely due to the nature of the pandemic and pressure on health systems and infrastructure. 

While there are data security risks involved, wearables can detect cardiac arrhythmia conditions causing stroke and allow neurologists to diagnose seizures from remote locations; the benefits of these products far outweigh any risks. 

Agriculture

According to Statista, the global market size of smart agriculture is expected to grow to USD 34.1 billion by 2026.

Connected tech in farming utilizes sensors installed in plots or livestock farms. They help collect data, such as soil moisture and plant vigor, which is used to monitor the health of the crop or herd.

With environmental factors in play, the growing demand for food, constraints on the supply side, and changing consumption patterns, agriculture faces enormous challenges. While we have seen massive improvements in equipment and technology in the past five decades, a digital transformation using connected tech will lead us closer to sustainable solutions.

However, digitization in agriculture faces obstacles. In many regions of the world, connectivity is an issue. In areas where connectivity exists, the adoption of digital tools has been relatively slow. 

Therefore, we need to develop infrastructure to enable the use of connectivity. In areas where connectivity already exists, we must take the necessary steps to promote and encourage adoption. 

In addition to offering more effective production methods, higher quality food, and more transparency for consumers, smart agriculture can create sustainable production methods that save water, which lessens the impact on the environment and reduces production costs.

Inventory & Supply Chain Management

IoT devices help companies provide enhanced inventory monitoring capabilities and location tracking, leading to increased storage and distribution efficiencies. Companies can figure out where goods are delayed during transportation. 

With IoT data analytics at their fingertips, supply chain managers can plan better routes based on potential weather hazards, accidents, and road conditions.

Finance

IoT is the coolest kid on the finance block. It provides a network of internet-connected devices that collect and transmit data.

As banking goes digital, consumers enjoy more convenience in the usual banking processes. Banks can leverage technology to know the needs of their customers in real-time. IoT financial technology software can increasingly collect more data about transactions using built-in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), enhancing efficiencies, security, and fraud protection.

Retail

IoT technologies help brands track products throughout their supply chain by utilizing GPS and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). This allows brands to monitor and track where their products are at any given time and predict a more accurate delivery time. 

In a world of connected consumers, where they expect brands to be intuitive and relevant, IoT helps brands make deeper connections with their consumers by identifying unique behaviors and having the ability to offer what consumers want —when they want it.

How the IoT is Impacting Market Research

As discussed above, IoT is important to both consumers and businesses in almost every industry. 

So what does this goldmine of data mean for market research? 

Big Data has daily implications for consumers, businesses, and market researchers. The application of data plays a massive role in market research surveys, and so do data processing and analysis. With market research becoming more digital in data collection and analysis, traditional methods are not enough anymore. Therefore, IoT helps market researchers stay abreast of consumer habits and behavior. 

Furthermore, IoT data is more accurate, reliable, and valuable to market researchers. 

It is estimated that, by 2030, roughly 125 billion devices will be connected to the Internet and used daily. Moreover, 5G connections enable the usage of connected devices more than ever before. 
Since there is a growing market for IoT, wearables, and smart technology, consumer feedback is a critical resource to help brands adopt the most compelling business, sales, and marketing strategies to maximize their return on investment.

Ultimately, the winning brands will not be the ones with the best, most innovative technology but the ones that have the perfect combination of innovation and ongoing customer behavior analysis. This is where the role of market research cannot be ignored.

Four Ways IoT Impacts Market ResearchTracking consumer behavior 

  1. Tracking consumer behavior 
    IoT is a network of smart, connected devices that work through the Internet. The data is no longer just available on smartphones and computers but encompasses smart appliances, wearable technology, automobiles, and smart, interconnected devices. In a hyperconnected, digital-first world, the data provides a wealth of sights into consumer habits and behaviors.
  2. Analyzing consumer behavior
    The business world is changing at warp speed, with older forms of consumer engagement becoming obsolete. Companies need to move with digitally empowered consumers and adopt digital data collection and analysis. IoT is an invaluable and more accurate tool for monitoring a product’s performance and consumer behavior, preference, and attitude toward a product. IoT can inform brands on how and where they can improve their product and message.
  3. Predicting behavior analysis to sell when consumers are ready
    IoT enables brands to know when consumers need something, benefiting brands and researchers. For instance, a smart car can predict when the oil change is due on a vehicle, carrying essential consumer data and information. This can be used to advertise locations that offer the service. Therefore, it boosts sales.
  4. Offering tailored experiences
    By integrating data analytics into their operations, brands can offer more tailored experiences and obtain information on consumer behavior. Market research is beneficial here. For instance, in 2013, Disney World introduced the MagicBand. These wearable devices collect a wealth of data from hotel bookings, restaurants, and popular rides. Disney World can enable tailored offers using this data on behavior by utilizing predictive analytics. 

Technology and consumer behavior have drastically transformed in the last two decades. IoT provides data that can help market researchers understand consumers and their habits better than ever before, thereby enabling them to provide reports and analyses to brands that contain accurate, unbiased, action-oriented information free from human error. 

As soon as you think you understand market research, something brand new comes along to challenge everything you thought you knew. With the rapid evolution of technology, those moments seem to be happening more than ever.

Today’s market research campaign looks very different from how it would ten or even five years ago, and technology is one of the major driving forces behind the evolution of market research. Every year brings a slew of new tools, techniques, and platforms built to make research more accessible and more effective.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most important things that have changed in market research due to technology, and we’ll also explore what new changes could be lying in wait in the near future.

Market research technology: what has changed?

Over the last several years, there have been several significant technological changes that have impacted market research. 

Technology has changed how industries operate, and market research is no exception. Advancements in technology have seen a rise in the self-service model, where brands can implement their own short surveys. But perhaps the most significant impact technology has had on the market research industry is agility. Market research technology allows researchers to quickly test, measure, and pivot projects.

Technology allows traditional research briefs to move past online surveys. For example, eye-tracking technology enables researchers to observe shoppers exhibiting their natural behaviors while walking around a real or virtual store, making note of fixation and gaze points. This can be highly revealing in usability studies, product and package testing, and shopping research.

Here are some of the main forces driving the evolution of market research.

Social media

It’s hard to believe that social media has only been around since the early 2000s. In the two decades since its inception, social media has transformed our lives, and market research is no exception.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more offer unique insights into your market and customers. These platforms are home to enormous reservoirs of data on your audience, providing unfiltered and direct feedback around how they’re feeling, what they want, their pain points, and hopes and desires. It’s also easier than ever to share surveys and questionnaires, collect attendees for focus groups, and much more.

Another benefit of social media is more accessible competitor analysis, allowing you to gain an easy glimpse into what other companies in your space are doing and saying, what marketing techniques they are using, and what’s working.

Observing customer behavior

The explosion in personal technology devices like smartphones, IoT gadgets, Alexa, smart cars, and wearables make it far easier to observe the behavior of your audience members and collect valuable insights in real-time. Even mobile apps can collect customer data and establish behavior patterns.

Wearable technology is one of the most recent developments in this area. Gadgets like the Oura Ring, Fitbit, Apple Watch, Rayban stories, and much more allow researchers to observe customer behavior as it takes place naturally in the real world. This gives a unique insight into how customers behave that can never be truly replicated in experimental conditions and can pick up on responses that customers themselves might not even notice.

Automation

It’s never been easier to analyze data and draw valuable conclusions, thanks to the vast leaps made in automation technology in recent years. The growing amount of audience data available to marketers can now be processed and analyzed much more efficiently, allowing you to gain valuable insights and learn as much as possible about your customers and how they behave.

Chatbots are another example of the power of automation in market research. These tools can ask questions and conduct basic surveys from social media apps and websites, allowing you to communicate with customers and collect valuable information in seconds without relying on time-consuming manual work by human staff.

Increased reliance on video and remote collaboration

Spurred on by the pandemic, video collaboration tools, and remote meetings have skyrocketed in popularity and ease of access. There are many advantages to this for market research, such as a shift away from in-person focus groups. 

Researchers no longer need to hire a venue, convince large numbers of people to take the time out of their day to attend, employ multiple staff on the ground, and do all the other logistical tasks involved in a physical interview. Instead, the whole thing can occur via a Zoom call, saving enormous amounts of time and resources for both interviewer and interviewees. This also allows you to contact a much broader sample of participants without being bound by geographic location.

Reach much larger and more diverse audiences 

Not so long ago, market researchers were confined to methods like postal surveys, local interview sessions, and phone calls. Technology — specifically the internet — has allowed researchers to radically expand their horizons, reaching audiences in far-flung parts of the country and even distant parts of the world.

It’s now easy to conduct real-time interviews and focus groups with people several timezones away, allowing companies to gain a much bigger and richer picture of their audiences. This is especially important for international market research but is also helpful to achieve a complete understanding of your audience as a whole.

Build richer buyer personas

As it becomes increasingly easier to collect data from your audience and analyze it in vast amounts, it becomes possible to build much richer and more detailed profiles for your audience members.

The buyer personas of the past were often vague, two-dimensional things, often built around vague generalizations and assumptions. The small amount of data available to researchers decades ago made it challenging to construct genuinely accurate and useful personas.

Today, with the enormous amount of data made available by technology and the internet, you can learn a lot about the people in your audience and build genuinely valuable and richly detailed buyer personas to inform your marketing decisions, product development, and much more.

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What the future holds for market research technology

As time goes on, market research will likely continue to evolve, driven by entirely new advancements in technology. Some of these developments will come as a surprise and may be unexpected side-effects of existing or planned technology. We can also predict some future trends based on what we already know.

Tools like AR and VR

Virtual reality and augmented reality open up a whole host of exciting new possibilities for market research. Both tools allow for much more interactive research where participants can use products and experience services in a completely immersive way without leaving their homes.

This makes it much easier to gauge responses, observe behavior, and collect meaningful feedback without shipping large amounts of physical products to participants’ homes or asking them to travel to a research site.

One example is how Kadence worked with Asahi, using augmented reality to research a new packaging design. Participants used AR to generate models of beer bottles, allowing them to visualize what the bottle would look like in their own homes and provide more accurate and detailed feedback around specific details.

More use of voice assistants

Today, voice assistants are already popular, with tools like Siri and Alexa quickly becoming a central part of people’s everyday lives. These voice tools allow a unique insight into customers’ daily experience and behavior, and if this data can be collected ethically, it has excellent value for market researchers.

More agility

Increased agility is a fascinating prospect for market researchers as technology advances. In the past, researchers were forced to take risky gambles instead of using a more flexible approach and making adjustments as needed.

With the ubiquity of data in today’s world, businesses can now take a more agile approach to market research, making quick and frequent changes and course corrections in response to the feedback they get from various channels. This trend could mark one of the most significant changes in how we conduct research over the coming years and suggests a step away from over-reliance on guesswork and individual opinion.

Technology has had an enormous impact on how businesses conduct market research, and as time goes on, that impact is likely to increase. The best thing market researchers and companies can do is be open-minded and prepared to embrace new technologies as they evolve.

At Kadence, we can help you harness all the newest and future technologies to conduct market research most productively and effectively, gaining valuable insights into your audience and getting ahead of the competition. Find out more.

Concept and pack testing is an area that’s ripe for innovation – a need made ever more pressing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Watch this 15 minute video to hear how we worked with Asahi UK to pilot the use of augmented reality for this purpose, testing pack designs for Fuller’s London Pride.

We’ll share our key findings, focusing specifically on what we discovered about the value of using AR versus static 2D images. These insights will have value to any researcher looking to broaden their toolkit and harness new technologies in the “new normal”.

This is is the first of Kadence International’s Micro Masterclasses, 15 minute videos designed to provide fresh thinking and a new perspective on research methodologies.

We partnered with our friends at Measure Protocol to take part in a first-of-its-kind trial to harness blockchain for market research. Watch the video to discover what we learnt about the potential for this new technology.

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