The insights and data industry in 2023

What does this year hold? We look into our crystal ball to pick out some of the likely features of 2023.

Blending data from different sources will become increasingly important in 2023. By blending we mean combining analysis of existing data (sales and CRM, publicly available data from ratings & review sites and social media) with survey research. Blending achieves a much deeper view of business performance in a way survey research on its own never can.

The primary driver for this will be the realisation that businesses already sit on a huge amount of insight that can be readily extracted using data analytics and text analytics. Savvy businesses will only commission primary research to fill any gaps in existing data. 

With a likely prolonged recession and the resultant hit on consumer spending, 2023 will be a tough year for the insights industry. We are likely to see cutbacks in research budgets leading to fewer contracts, a squeeze on profits and ultimately job losses.

Of course, agencies will fight hard to retain clients by upping their client servicing game and promoting innovation but money talks and when revenue drops, jobs go. It would be no surprise to see a well-known agency go under and, if past trends are anything to go by, redundancies at senior level and recruitment freezes at junior levels. 

Job cuts are, however, terribly counter productive because they lead to trouble further down the line. Expect to see a future deficit of experienced directors who understand a clients business and a shortfall of good SREs and RMs in a few years time. 

Remember how industry sages told us how blockchain would revolutionise market research? This year those same sages are telling us it's all about the metaverse. 

The metaverse is another one of those things that wise heads say will be important but few understand what it is and even fewer have any idea how to use it.

The simplest definition of the metaverse is that is a network of virtual worlds. People are immersed into the metaverse using virtual reality headsets or augmented reality technology. We are not saying that the idea doesn't have potential but in an industry which is very traditional in its outlook, the metaverse is not arriving in the market research world anytime soon.

In the dash for speed quality has taken a hit. With so many survey providers having little or no control over who actually answers their questionnaires and, more importantly, whether people are actually who they say they are, it is little wonder that many surveys are unreliable. A client might be able to get hundreds of responses within a few hours of coming up with their questions but what is the point if the results are rubbish?

The market research industry really needs to act on bad samples. Survey fraud, inattentive respondents and 'Walter Mitty' panellists are more common than the industry cares (or dares) to admit. 

Let's hope that in 2023 it addresses the problem.

Qualitative research will have a good year. It can be very effectively used to get the detail on why people behave and act the way they do. Behavioural research will continue to be a big topic in 2023 and qualitative research can untap a rich seam of behavioural insights.

It's not cheap but it represents value for the insight it provides. There are also a lot of seriously good freelancers and micro suppliers giving a first class service at an affordable price.