Beyond the Market Research Report: Driving Commercial Impact in the AI Era

For years, the market research industry has been pronounced dead based on a series of threats. Social listening, DIY platforms, big data, predictive analytics were all the next MR-ender. Yet, primary market research has proven remarkably resilient. Today, we face a new disruptor: AI. While we are currently at the "peak of inflated expectations" on the Gartner hype cycle, AI will be a massive disruptor.

To thrive in this disrupted landscape, The MR industry (that I have worked in for over 20 years) must pivot. The future success of market research will not be measured by the sophistication of its methods, but by its ability to drive measurable commercial impact.

Impact as the "Dependent Variable"

In the traditional model, market research often ends with a final report handed over to a marketing team or creative agency. But our insights have no inherent value unless they live on in marketing tactics or strategy that make it to market. As Steve Jobs famously said: “Artists ship” (which means that the only things that matter in business are those that make it to market). If an insight is strong in a research setting but becomes diluted by the time it reaches tactical execution, it has failed.

Moving forward, market researchers must view commercial impact as our "dependent variable," with AI and behavioral science being inputs helping to achieve that end. In doing so our role requires us to be the chaperones and protectors of insights, ensuring they live throughout the entire commercial process.

The Power of Behavioral Science

If impact is the destination, behavioral science is the map. Mainstreaming behavioral science is essential to identifying insights that drive behavior. Over the past decades, it has become clear that the vast majority of human decision-making operates at the non-conscious level - a fast, intuitive, and automatic process, versus the slow, thoughtful, rational approach that we traditionally associate with decision-making.

Understanding the physician or the patient is just as important as how they understand the product. In a BEESY case study involving a multi-billion dollar mature product in a sluggish market, we were able to help change its sales trajectory by identifying  how to create a new inflexion point. We leveraged behavioral science to identify entirely new insights into how customers make decisions. We worked hand-in-hand with the marketing team, creative agency, sales leadership, and sales training to ensure the depth of the insights were reflected in communications tactics and salesforce details.

What started off as a small primary market research project morphed into a year-long engagement spanning 5 departments and more than 25 different individual initiatives. Not only did our client exceed what was characterized as a “very stretch target” for the brand, but this sequence of initiatives has been the catalyst for a cultural shift that is changing the way our clients’ marketers think about marketing and salespeople think about selling.

AI: A Tool for Scaling and Implementation

AI should be viewed as a collaborator to the researcher, providing a vehicle for scaling insights and helping pull them through to implementation. The concept is called “being a Centaur” – half human, half …

Key tools are already transforming the workflow:

• Automated Analytics: Models, supervised and trained by behavioral scientists, can perform behavioral coding on qualitative transcripts faster and often more consistently than human scientists.
• Synthetic Segments: AI models can act as a customer in the room, trained on foundational behavioral science, the principles of persuasive messaging, clinical literature and specific primary market research findings, such as segmentations, drivers and barriers, etc. These models allows teams not only to brainstorm with the customer, but to test messages and tactics against specific segments in real-time, based on behavioral-science training to ensure reactions reflect physicians’ behavioral biases.
• Dynamic Training & Implementation Supprot: AI-generated podcast series can be used to train sales reps on the go, teaching them how to identify a doctor’s underlying biases—such as "ambiguity aversion," and reframe messages to bypass mental roadblocks. Or can be used to capture the attention of senior management if they weren’t able to attend the readout.

A New Golden Era for Market Research

The future of the market research industry lies in its impact. When researchers earn the right to be involved throughout the implementation/creative process, we prevent insight dilution that often occurs after the research is done. This is particularly true of nuanced insights like those based on behavioral-science. The power of an insight should be measured by its quality, its durability and its impact.

Ultimately, the message is simple: focus on impact, not method. Great methodology is just a means to an end. By ensuring our insights work harder and live longer, we don't just provide reports—we drive the commercial success of the brands we serve. And who doesn’t like improved performance?