Nikki Quast of Microsoft on AI’s Future in Market Research

Karen Lynch sits down with Nikki Quast, Senior Market Research Manager at Microsoft and the creator behind “Data Driven Nikki,” to explore how research, content creation, and AI are reshaping the insights profession. Nikki shares career milestones from launching products at Kraft Heinz to simplifying insurance at American Family, and how those experiences fueled her passion for innovation and mentorship.

They unpack why she chose TikTok as a learning platform, what her audience is asking most, and how she distills complex research concepts into 30 seconds. Nikki also outlines practical ways AI is showing up in research workflows, from early prioritization and AI-moderated interviews to building stronger stimuli. The big takeaway: the future of insights is deeply human, with AI amplifying, not replacing, our craft.

Key Discussion Points:

• Nikki’s career milestones: from product launches to translating complex categories into human needs
• Why she started “Data Driven Nikki” and what the talent gap means for the industry
• Content strategy: four pillars (methods, strategy, careers, storytelling) and the 30-second clarity rule
• Where AI fits in research today: prioritization, AI-moderated qual, and stimulus creation
• Skills advice for breaking into insights now: focus on applying AI, not mastering one tool, and connect business objectives to methods

Resources & Links:

• Greenbook GRIT Report
• Nikki on YouTube: Data Driven Nikki
• Nikki on TikTok: @DataDrivenNikki

You can reach out to Nikki Quast on LinkedIn.

Many thanks to Nikki Quast for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.

Transcript

Karen: Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Greenbook Podcast. You probably know me by now. I’m Karen Lynch, Head of Content at Greenbook, and really excited to be hosting this episode today with Nikki Quast. I mean, when I tell you that I feel like I discovered Nikki on TikTok, it’s no joke. She’s a senior market research manager at Microsoft, so has this robust professional career and has also become an industry content creator, and I’m so glad she’s here. Before I have you introduce yourself to the world, Nikki, first of all, I just want to say thank you so much for joining us.

Nikki: I’m so excited to talk about everything that we’re going to talk about today. So, ready to go.

Karen: That’s great. That’s great. So, let’s get into it. I mean, you have, you know, over a decade of experience in Fortune 500 companies like Kraft Heinz, and American Family Insurance, and of course, now Microsoft, which is no small position, but—and you know, you have other, kind of, things to your credit, whether it’s mentorship and guest lectureship, you’re very involved and engaged within the industry. But first tell the audience a little bit more about yourself and your role at Microsoft. 

Nikki: Yeah, so how I would define my role as I help create the future of Windows computing in AI. So, that is leveraging research and strategy to help marketing engineering teams evolve the Windows platform, and which, now in the past few years, AI has been a core component of that, so now it’s trying to think through how does AI evolve, how does AI evolve in Windows, and then overall, just AI. And so, for me, that’s kind of my day-to-day. And then, you know, we’re going to dive into all my other passion projects that you mentioned. And so, I have found that I just have a love for research and a love for helping make the world better, and then combining those things, I’ve just found this love of helping people kind of achieve their goals with research and data.

Karen: I love that. Thank you. And you know, I’m sitting here, I’m always very curious about the milestones that people hit when they’re, you know, telling me the story of their career journey, and you know you’re uniquely positioned that, you know, you’re tackling AI partially because you’re here at Microsoft, but you were clearly ready for the disruption that it became. But tell me some other milestones along the way that equipped you to be where you are today.

Nikki: Yeah. I would say my first milestone that—I think of it as, like, three stages—my first milestone was the first product I launched from, like, pre-ideation to actual in-product, and that was I worked on walking tacos, which was trying to help the Lunchables brand reach teens. And so, for me, that was like a huge thing, where we identified the customer, we built the product, and for me, that was like a huge satisfaction point. The next, kind of, evolution was when I was at American Family Insurance, and we were trying to identify, how can we take insurance, which is something that people don’t understand, and make it understandable? And so, it was taking people’s individual behavior, whether it be how they drive, whether it be how many miles they drive, and translating that into different forms of insurance. And so, those two, kind of, instances kind of got my, like, the bug, of, like, I need research, I need innovation. And I was just like, sitting there so proud. And then, you know, with AI and helping to launch Copilot and Copilot+ PCs, like, that’s just been another milestone. But the last thing I will say as, like, a milestone was, I remember the first message I got from somebody with TikTok, or—it was from TikTok specifically, but where they were, like, “I just applied for a role. Thank you so much for your note.” And so, that also, I feel like it’s a huge milestone that I think about is, like, those small little moments where I was able to help somebody, like, understand research a little better, understand the industry. And so, for me, like, I have product, and then I have also, like, mentorship. And those are, I’d say, career milestones for me.

Karen: Yeah, I love that so much. So, we have to, we just have to go there, like, right off, right out the gate, practically, right? So, if you don’t—if you’re not on TikTok, then I’m sorry, but this is going to, you know, skew the next portion of our conversation. But @DataDrivenNikki is her, you know, profile name on TikTok, and suddenly she’s before me, you know, one of my endless TikTok scrolling moments. And you know, we’re talking about it internally here at Greenbook and we’re thinking, look at this woman creating content in short form on TikTok. So yeah, and it’s all, you know, again, data driven, but it’s all very relevant to everything that we do as insights and analytics professionals. And I was like, good for her. Like, that was, you know, my very first thought was, you know, good for her. Somebody’s got to be doing it. I’m really glad—you know, empowerment—I’m really glad it’s a woman, by the way. And you know, of course, coming out of Microsoft, you have this kind of credibility to be talking in this space just instantly because you were hired by, you know, a tech and AI behemoth. So, good for you. Talk to me about that journey that led you to start putting content on TikTok.

Nikki: I will say, like, it was overcoming a big fear of mine to post. People may assume that I am naturally, like, I’m a natural posting on social media, I’m not. Actually, I looked back a few weeks ago. The last time I posted on Instagram was, like, a few years ago. I think I was pregnant with my daughter. And then, like, Facebook, I post a few times a year. And so, for me, I didn’t jump and say, I need to post on TikTok. It started with a need, and it started with, when I was wrapping up my MBA, I had an opportunity to choose a topic. And the topic was market research, how to evolve the industry. And that’s just because it was personal to me. I was working at Microsoft. I was like, hey, this is something I know, something I’m passionate about. And I was doing a bunch of industry research. I was, you know, leveraging just different trends and data, and actually came across one of your guys’s recent reports. And I remember this quote, and it was a quote from a hiring manager that shared that, “They can’t find talent that has the skills and the techniques that they need to be able to hire.” And so, I remember, like, that stuck with me. I also remember looking at census data that showed that the market research industry was going to be growing, and we also looked at dollars that were suddenly growing for the industry. And so, here I’m seeing, they’re anticipating dollars and actual employees is going to grow, but hiring managers still aren’t finding the candidates that they’re looking for. And then when I went to like, the third trifecta of, like, okay, well, who is going to solve this? How do you solve it? Where are people learning? Well, they’re learning on TikTok. They’re not able to—when I say ‘they,’ I mean people that are trying to get into the industry, or people that are students, or maybe just general people that already in the industry, but want to grow their skills, they may not have access to all the industry associations, whether it be with location or even awareness. And so, for me, I was thinking, like, how can I solve this gap? Because somebody took a chance on me. I had no idea about the research industry, and I did an informational interview with somebody and that, you know, put balls in motion that I ended up at Kraft Heinz out of my undergraduate degree. And so, for me, I was thinking, I don’t have as much time to have one-on-one interviews with all the people that I would love to help coach them and guide them, but what I can do is dedicate, you know, a little bit of time to build content and short methods that make, hopefully, getting into the industry a little bit easier, or at least growing your career in a data type of field.

Karen: I love that so much. I love, first of all, the triangulation also of, here’s this need gap and also kind of an understanding of the audience that you were, like, these are people who need it, and I can reach them this way. So super, you know, both creative and critical thinking shown in that example, so kudos to you. So, talk to us a little bit about, then, your audience. And sidebar, I’m pretty sure you were talking about the GRIT report, and actually, that was one of the things that flew around in our Slack channel was somebody said, “This woman is quoting, you know, the GRIT report or Greenbook on TikTok,” and we got really excited because we don’t have a presence on TikTok right now. And we were like, “That’s so cool,” so that kind of started us all internally down the rabbit hole of, who is this Nikki? Anyway, but talk to us a little bit about, kind of, your audience and what you’re learning from them and what questions are coming at you, or type of engagement you’re having.

Nikki: Yeah, so I will say the majority of my audience are individuals who want to be able to have a data type of career. And I say data as broad because there are individuals who want to be market researchers, there’s also individuals that may be in marketing or product, but know that they need to conduct research or partner with researchers, and then there is a another group that of individuals that may be wanting to go into other forms of careers that involve, like, data analytics. And so, I’m finding the people that are most resonating with my content is when it’s methods based, when I’m trying to help break down, like, what a method is, or whether it’s explaining a data principle and how it’s used in business. Because I think oftentimes in school we learn the theory, but then there’s this gap of experience. And so, I’m trying to manufacture that experience for individuals where they can leverage my experience and understand how to take something that’s very theoretical and apply it to a business objective.

Karen: Okay, and now, so you know my role here, I lead content at Greenbook, and you know, content takes many forms, of course, so I am always very curious about content creators and how they stay inspired. How do you come up with your ideas? Like, and then also, I know it is no small thing for a woman who is also full-time employed, it’s no small thing to be a content-creating machine, so to speak, because it requires a time commitment to not just ideate, but then also plan and execute. Just super curious, like, [laugh] spitball, tell me everything [laugh].

Nikki: I will say it’s something I’m still trying to figure out the right balance of. I’m not perfect. What I say is, like, my family and my job still come first. That is, I am very transparent with my employer, my management team. You know, they support me, but they also know that, like, my job, Microsoft comes first, but they’ve also given me the opportunity to present about it in front of the researchers at Microsoft, so they’re also very encouraging of me, empowering the industry to continue to grow. And so, that was my first step of, like, I need to make sure everybody’s on board before I even start to post because I never want to post something that would be against of who I am, like, personally and professionally. And so, I needed to get everybody on board. But once I have that established, it’s really trying to balance time. And the inspiration is always there. If you were to pull up my phone, I have so many screenshots of so many articles I want to talk about, so many data points. I have everything, and I made lists before I have so many ideas. It really comes down to time. And… I work full time. I have two little kids, and so usually the time is, like, when I am done with work before dinner, but usually my kids are home, and then it’s after the kids are in bed, and then I’m like, okay, well, can I film a quick video before I get to everything else I need to do? And so, I will say it’s it oftentimes is late at night or during nap time on the weekends, when I have time to kind of have my creative passion. And my husband’s super supportive. He knows I love doing it. It’s a creative outlet for me, and so I also am trying to learn, like, video editing, and trying to learn all these new skills. And it’s fun. And you know, I don’t have a plan to stop, so it’s just one of those things where I know it has to be sustainable.

Karen: Yeah, yeah. [laugh] That’s passion. By the way, for those of you listening, I’m sure you’re nodding the same way I am right now, which is that is passion, you know? And you can tell a passion project when it’s like, this is what’s happening. You know, you’re doing your job, and you’re taking care of your family, and then, you know, by the way, instead of, you know, just wanting to crash out on the couch on a weekend when someone’s napping or pick up a book or binge watch some TV, you’re like, but first, let me do my little [laugh]—let me do my side passion project. So, that’s true passion. So, thank you so much for sharing that. Is there something that you set out to achieve each time with each video that you create? Like, is there a—you know, it’s like—because anybody can talk about anything, but is there something else you set out to try to achieve? You know, is it ‘I just really want to be helpful,’ or, “I just want to make this simple?” Like, is there a mindset you go into that you’re like, “This is what I want to achieve with this particular video?”

Nikki: So, what I’ve been experimenting with is kind of like four pillars of content. And so, the first pillar is, like, research methods and data, like, analytics. And then it’s more trying to get, like, the fundamentals there. And so, that’s like survey design or that’s how to create out an outline for a survey. Or, what is sample size? Like, so that’s kind of one. And that is I found has been the most… I would say, getting—it’s the biggest driver of getting new viewers. And that was kind of surprising to me because the next pillar was other things I’m really passionate about, like, business strategy of how do you take data and inform business strategy? What are those case studies we can leverage? How are brands using it? And that I feel like I get, it’s more about engagement and less about new viewership. And then the other kind of two pillars are career tips, and you know, how to do resumes, how to interview prep. And then the last thing is more, I will say, like, storytelling and things of how to kind of build your career, so a little bit different, but they kind of fall together. But yeah, like, I think I’ve tried to balance that, and then what I found is the ideas are there. It’s just trying to package them into, like, one thought for each pillar, and then I try to separate that, like, throughout a week, and say, “Okay, I’m going to talk about methods one day a week.” The challenge is, what I found is there’s so much I want to share. And so, that’s why this past year, I’ve tried to do more long form videos on YouTube, and those are more of a time [laugh] intensive process. So, it’s something that I want to do more. I would love to do a video a month, just, I feel like that’s sustainable, and that’s where I could talk about, okay, let’s talk about research design, or I could interview somebody that explains sampling. And then you can pull those, like, one bite things into a TikTok video. Because what I found is it’s too much for somebody to learn everything in one TikTok video. That is best, probably, for YouTube.

Karen: Yeah, well, that was going to be one of my questions, right? I think it’s even on this thing is, how do you manage, you know, keeping it simple while still giving in-depth information. But it sounds like you’re experimenting with form to do that very thing. Is there more to it than that, I wonder? 

Nikki: I think the simple thing is, if I can get it down to 30 seconds, that is my goal. And the challenge to myself is, if I can’t get it down to 30 seconds, then I don’t understand it enough.

Karen: Mmm, cool.

Nikki: And so, for me, like, I need to take these complex ideas and distill it down where anybody can understand it in 30 seconds. And that’s—it’s a challenge. I find myself getting to a minute and I’m like, “Okay, well, how would I do this differently next time?” I can’t always—don’t have time to refilm [laugh] and redo things, so I’m like, “Well, this is what it’s going to be, and just next time I need to understand it better so I can explain it easier.” 

Karen: What a discipline that is, though, that can be applied to many, many areas in our lives. I mean, I think about how many of our listeners are, you know, they’re in sales or business development, and we talk about that elevator pitch. Like, have it down, and if you can’t, you know, nail it, then you probably don’t know what you do for a living [laugh]. So, it’s such a great discipline to say, “Come on, let’s get it to 30 seconds,” to just hone your understanding and your own knowledge of something that you’re doing. So, I love that. It’s like a pro tip that can be applied in other areas.

Nikki: Absolutely, yeah, and it’s challenging. And so, I feel like everybody needs to figure out, like, what that right time is. I think I had some videos that are, like, 15 seconds, and they’ve done well, and I’m like, okay, like, can I do 15 seconds in the future? But I think with research, you do have to have that right balance of finding enough value for the time.

Karen: Well, certainly we’ve heard studies about people’s attention span, right? It’s, like, just getting shorter and shorter and shorter. So especially, you know, on a platform where they’ll decide very quickly. I feel like I was just hearing from somebody that people decide, like, just, really, it takes seconds—split seconds, practically—to decide whether they’re going to keep going versus stop and watch the video. So, no small feat that you are accomplishing. Talk to me about some of the comments that you’re getting. Are you getting questions from the audience? Like, are you getting that kind of feedback loop in what you’re sharing?

Nikki: So, there’s a few comments that consistently come up. I think one is around, like, research methods. Like, I’ve had people reach out either messages or in comments and say, “I need to do XYZ for my company. What should I be thinking about?” And so, sometimes it’s like, objective focused. Other times it’s, “Well, how do I choose the right sample size? Or how do I know to do an IDI versus an online bulletin board?” And so, sometimes it’s like helping people choose between those. Other times, it’s, “What is the future of this industry?” There’s a comment that I want to respond to today or tomorrow around what is the future of our industry with AI? Because I think there are people that are thinking about it. They’re saying, “With AI evolving, like, what does that mean for me and my job?” And so, those are the ones that I want to think about and make sure I am pulling the data together. And so, those are the ones that I am a little more careful making sure I’m aligning all of the data around. But oftentimes at the quick responses I can do really quick. Like, I’ve had somebody be like, “I have an interview tomorrow. I need some help.” And they’ll kind of share, and then I get on, and I’m like, “Here are some interview tips.” And so, those are the ones that I can do really quick because it’s time sensitive, but also I know it. It’s easier for me to just kind of pull that off.

Karen: As opposed to something where you want to—again, you’re data-driven, so you want to have some data to back up the information that you’re giving to somebody. That makes total sense to me. It’s very logical, actually. And I do really want to talk about, kind of, AI and evolving skill sets. I really want to get there, but in all of this conversation, the concept of data literacy and being not just data-driven in decision-making, but really understanding the data, talk to me about that because I think it’s key, I think it’s important, and I think AI or no AI, we’ll get there next, but first, talk to me about the importance of these data-driven business decisions, right, and data literacy? 

Nikki: Yeah, I think that is one of the key things I think people could try to prioritize in their life is, like, just being able to make data-driven decisions. And I think some people may take that in meaning you need to have a data point for every decision. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying you need to be able to have an understanding of something that is data-based, and then you can use your strategic brain or your intuition to start making decisions. One of the things that I have found—and again, we’ll get into AI—but I think about our behaviors, was, when I was in school, like, we would have to source everything, and we knew what a good source was or a bad source was. That’s kind of how we were taught. And I think sometimes we don’t have that when we get to adulthood. We don’t know what is a good source of data, what is a bad source of data. And I think the next level is, how was the data collected? And so, I think for me, like, I would love to be able to identify, like, what are the good sources of data for my audience and for people to make those decisions, and then if you are also in a role where you can go collect data, this is how to go best do it in a way that can make it accurate and usable by other people. And I think it comes down to is—I am an optimist [laugh]. That’s a weird transition, but I’m an optimist. Like, I want to make the world better, and I really believe that if people are leveraging data, we can find the right solution to better, really, everybody, or, you know, better than audiences.

Karen: So, this is the part where I segue completely off the guide that we have, the, you know, the discussion, you know, potential guide of things to talk about. I was recently at the annual QRCA conference, and I was actually moderating a roundtable discussion on thought leadership. And as we were having the conversation, we shifted to people’s intrinsic motivations and people’s extrinsic motivations, like, why we do the things we do when it comes to being a thought leader. And we were acknowledging that when people have some sort of an intrinsic motivation, that’s just not all about getting likes or followers, or, you know, shares or whatever, or applause, like, when it’s not about that, but it’s about something else, then those are the people that rise to the top of being a thought leader and, kind of, become examples for everyone else because people are drawn to somebody like that. Anyway, that was the conversation I had. And as you’re talking, you’re talking about I want to make a difference in the world. You’re talking about mentorship and wanting to help others. Tell me more about that intrinsic motivator, which is a differentiator for you, and not that it can be taught, but I think it can be pondered.

Nikki: I think you hit it. Like, what I—you hit on a point that I had to figure out and I use it as a checkpoint in decisions I make. Because I—and I’ll explain what that means is, I had to make the decision to make sure anything I am talking about, it needs to help somebody. It can’t help myself. And I think that people could argue, well, Nikki, if you’re posting, you’re going to get more opportunities and more career, so it’s going to help you. Because I am not a natural at posted on social media, that’s just not something I’m used to, it was really uncomfortable for me to do it. It was really uncomfortable for me to say, well, why am I going to talk about my job at Microsoft? Why am I going to talk about this? And so, how I, like, settled it in my brain was, this is a way to help somebody become the best self that they want to be. And so, for me, like, that is the driving factor. Every video I do, the goal is to help somebody. And so, that is intrinsic. I ho—I think you hit it right on, like, that is what I am striving to do. It keeps me motivated. It keeps me confident when I go talk to leaders at Microsoft or other people about this because I’m not trying to promote myself, I’m trying to promote the need in the industry that we can help other people grow, and then also, like, this is what I’m doing. And so, because of that lens, it’s made me more comfortable talking about it and becoming not as, like, cringy and be like, “Oh, yes, I do this thing on the side.” And so, I’ve had to kind of have that, you know, come to, like, realization internally. So, thank you, yeah, for talking about it because I think it’s so important that we all need to figure out, like, what’s driving us, and then we can figure out how to kind of plan our future from that.

Karen: Yeah, you know it. And again, staying on our little sidebar for a moment, you know, it resonates with me personally because, you know, I had a long career executing qualitative research, like, many, many, many, many years, which I talked about pretty openly, and I’m not really afraid to say it. But you know, it was great when I was executing research, and when I came to Greenbook, it was this moment where I was like, I can not only do something different, but I can reach people and I can influence and help people with their careers, right? I can help people grow their businesses. I can help people grow their skill set. I can help people develop by, you know, giving them opportunities to be on stage. You know, I can offer a platform to somebody who maybe hasn’t had those types of opportunities before. So, I took this role very much motivated intrinsically by the ability that I will have to make a difference in the lives of people in this industry. And so, you know, I think that’s one of the things that I’m so pleased to hear you say because I’m like, oh, we have a shared value here that I didn’t know we were going to have, but I should have known. It’s what makes perfect sense to me [laugh].

Nikki: Yeah, and I think that is what, again, I know, when I talk to people, they’re like, “Nikki, how do you do it all?” And I think it is, once you find something you’re passionate about, once you find, kind of, your why, it’s easier to make it happen. Like, it’s easier for me to tell my husband, “Okay, the kids are met. I’m going to go film a video really quick. I’ll see you in, like, 20 minutes. Just give me a minute to film it, edit it, post it, and then be done.” And because I’m thinking about the people that I want to help, and I’m thinking about, well, this is what I can be doing to help somebody. If I’ve had a bad day at work, it’s like, well, I can go help somebody, and you know, maybe help them grow, or find a job or something. 

Karen: Somebody’s going to get a new job, somebody’s going to, you know, get you know, even like, you know, kind of a pat on the back from their manager that they’ve chosen a good methodology, or that they’ve explained something better. You know, you don’t know the individual lives that you are touching, but you are touching individual lives. 

Nikki: It’s so cool [laugh]. 

Karen: So, it’s so commendable. It’s so good. It’s great. Really, really good stuff. So, now we’re going to go to the question of the hour, right because, you know, I have to keep watching the clock, and I’m like, you are uniquely positioned again because we all know, just Microsoft in the tech world, but also, of course, Copilot and the AI tools that are solidly in place, probably—how long have you been there? You’ve been at Microsoft for how long? 

Nikki: Four-and-a-half years. A little bit more than that. Around there.

Karen: Yeah. So, you were on this curve, you know, this AI journey, you know, before many of us were, so let’s talk about the influence of AI on the industry, specifically with your lens because I think it’s a really important and well-informed one.

Nikki: Yeah, so it’s a great question. So, I started researching generative AI before ChatGPT launched, before all this. And it was, I was seeing what this technology can do. And I think my first instinct is to look at possibilities, and so I think for me, that was the lens that I was taking. And then I was—the second thing was, okay, well, then how do we take this possibility and envision it in a way that can be tangible, like, functional and emotional benefits for everybody. And so, for me, it was, early on because we didn’t have the tools yet, we didn’t have what AI can do, we had to associate what that value is. And so, for me, I came to, kind of, terms pretty early on that the value for me was increasing my potential. It was a way for me to continue to grow. It’s a way for me to be creative. And so, I think that’s one of the things early on, as we think about in our industry, is like everybody will need to kind of come to that point or decide where they’re at. I think the industry, we need to leverage it and evolve it, just like we now used calculators when we used to do math by hand, we’ve now solving better problems. We are now able to create other innovations. And so, I think I come from an optimistic lens, and I think trying to translate that to others is probably the challenge of, how can we add value? And so, I do see a potential so much with industry.

Karen: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I agree with you, and I don’t have the knowledgebase that you have. I have a different one, informed from other sources, but I agree that this is a huge opportunity for the industry and for the individuals in the industry to realize their full potential, whatever that full potential might be. It might look very different from what it was a year ago, right? It might look very different from what it is right now for the industry and for the players in the industry and the individuals, too. So, for you as a researcher, so you know, aside from the fact that, like, yes, you have, you know, kind of, the tools you might be using, Copilot every day, helps with your email or your internal documentation, all that stuff—like, I get it, I do that too—but as a researcher, what are you seeing in terms of, kind of, AI methodologies or AI workflows in the projects that we work on? How are you integrating it there? Because I think that would be indicative for others to say, like, well, if it’s there, it’s going to be in my organization, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Nikki: Yeah, I think there’s three use cases, I think, that I think I’m excited about what I’m kind of using it for right now, that I think can change how we think about research, and I think expand it. I think the first one is probably more quant-based. I think right now, in Microsoft, we have a—we’re not calling it synthetic audiences because they’re built based on transcripts and thousands of data—[laugh] thousands of interviews, but we have audiences that we can pre-test and we can get further feedback from. And so, what I been able to do is I’ve been able to take potentially and remove—or I should say, I’ve been able to remove the constraints of the typical, like, MaxDiff exercise, and pre-test features or claims or something, and kind of narrow down a broader list into what I want to put into a MaxDiff. And I think for us, that has been really powerful because we were able to test more things. In the past, we wouldn’t have been able to do multiple quant studies to prioritize our features, but I’ve been able to leverage AI to get all the ideas from all the stakeholders, and then we can slim it down into what do we think the best of the best is, and then test it. Because, A, I get more engagement from engineering and marketing because their ideas do get tested. I also get that collaboration where people are talking about the research before we actually field the study. They’re starting to see, well, this one did rise to the top, but what about this feature is potentially having an issue? Do we need to revise it before we even do the study? And so, some of that is great where I can help teams narrow in on the roadmap quicker. The second piece is, I think, able to potentially expand qualitative work a little bit in the form of AI-moderated interviews. I don’t feel it will ever replace an in-home ethnography. I can’t, like, conceptualize that at this mo—I mean, I’m not saying they can’t ever. Like, maybe we can create the technology that it can do it, but for me, like, I think an AI-moderated interview is a way that potentially we can get more scale to some qualitative learnings or quantitative learnings. And so, I think that’s something I’m looking into, and I’ve been playing with finding the right projects for. And what I’ve been able to find is it does add more granularity to a typical quantitative study because you maybe didn’t have time for focus groups or one-on-one interviews, but you can do a quick AI-moderated session with—or AI-moderated interviews, and then go into your quant, so I’m able to get qualitative feedback when I normally wouldn’t. The third use case that I’ve been really excited about, but I’m still, like, hesitant if it’s going to work, is, how can we use AI to build out our stimuli a little bit better? I think about, like, co-creation sessions. Can we vibe code in co-creation sessions? Can we use AI to generate images more for research, if we’re maybe showing images to individuals? So, I think there is this way of using AI to create stimuli and help our users understand what we’re trying to build, or help our users come to a consensus, if you’re working in maybe a focus group setting, having individuals come together to build something. I think that has a lot of possibilities because we know images can spark emotions, it can kind of reaffirm that. And so, I’m still, like, trying to figure out that a little bit, but I do see a lot of potential for that as well.

Karen: Yeah. By the way, thank you. Three solid, solid examples, and I could talk about all of them, but of course, I’m going to just say yes to the ethnography [laugh]. I’m literally sitting here thinking, like, this is the first time we’re talking and I shouldn’t be surprised, but I agree with you a hundred percent. I don’t think AI is going to get to the level of expertise that not only can it handle asking, you know, open-ended questions, which I think it can do so say there’s a, you know, a little robot in somebody’s room or something, at some point, it can ask the questions, but will it also observe their behavior and/or see what’s on their bookshelf and/or see the other dynamics that might be happening in the next room that a real observational interview can kind of bring to light like that fully, fully in-depth understanding. I just don’t think it can touch the in-home interview experience or ethnographic research experience. So, my advice to people at QRCA was, please double down on that skill set [laugh].

Nikki: One hundred percent. I am, like, all on board with that because that’s what I’m seeing, is like, there is this skill set of us understanding our consumers behaviorally, but also culturally, but also, like, leaning in and becoming a part of their, you know, I don’t say, part of their family, but just living in their moment for a few hours. I think some of that is where I’m excited about. If AI can help do some of this other work, and then I can go in the field more, or I can have more one-on-one time with [laugh] our consumers, like that is where I would be so excited for.

Karen: Because you’re going to have more intimate knowledge of maybe fewer customers, right, but that level of intimacy that you can then free yourself up for will help you bring to life all of the other things that AI can help you with, right? So, it’s going to allow you to achieve a different result as a researcher. That is where I believe we are headed also, is just that the researcher skill set to level up you, if you can lean into the opportunities that AI, just its existence and its, kind of, productivity usage, but also the creative uses, then you can be a sharper researcher because your brain is freed up to do those things. Anyway, that’s the bandwagon I will stand on any day [laugh].

Nikki: And one thing I will add on that is, I think the other thing is, we can leverage AI to take people along with us on the journey because we know what [audio break 00:36:02] knows, you only can have one or two, couple people along with you on that journey, but thinking about how we can leverage AI to take more video clips of that moment and be able to quickly share it with people that are back home in the office and be able to have that shared experience, so when you debrief, potentially you’re giving them more of that context. And so, I think that’s where I want to kind of evolve. I want to make us more human, leveraging AI. 

Karen: Yeah. Yeah, I know. Well, it’s excellent, though, right? Yes. Yes and. I’m all for this. So, here’s the kind of a next question, as I really keep watching the clock because I made a promise that, you know, we’d wrap on time for you today, so I have to keep watching the clock—I say that more for myself than for you, by the way, Nikki—but if somebody wants to kind of break into data and analytics, and they’re like, “You know what”—and this is people that you’ve thought about when you’re creating video content for them as well, especially knowing where we are with AI in this world, right? So, that’s the caveat to all of this is, this is, you know, February of 2026, and that’s when we’re recording this, at least, what is your advice for them right now? What’s the biggest—we’ll—you could probably give a lot of advice, but the biggest piece of advice you’d have for somebody who wants to break into this industry right now? What would that be?

Nikki: I would say, don’t focus as much on the tools of AI. Just try them. Don’t focus on a specific tool. Don’t try to figure out what is the right tool I should be learning. I think the tools are going to be changing so rapidly that if you are even entering the workforce in a month or even two years, it’s going to be so different. And so, more focus on figuring out how you want to use AI because I think I started to see that there are jobs posting—I was looking for somebody the other day, and they were looking for AI methods. And again, this was a early-in-career role. And I think that is something where if people are, if they’re a student or they’re early in their career, and they’re able to have that skill, like that could differentiate them from somebody that potentially has been in the industry longer, that hasn’t tried AI. So, that is, I think, an advantage of people that are learning and growing in the age of AI right now. I think the second thing I would help them and try to coach them on, is identifying how different methods can solve different business objectives. I think you don’t need to be an expert at a sampling plan. You need to understand how you can translate a business objective down to a research objective, down to a research method, get the data, and then be able to shoot it out with, like, recommendations from, like, research insights, but also how to inform business decisions. And so, that is a different toolkit than just understanding methods. It makes you be able to understand how you can have influence and purpose in an organization. And so, that is where I would say, start working on those soft skills. Start working on your elevator pitch to help you grow your career in that sense.

Karen: Thank you so much, Nikki. So, before we wrap, talk to me a little bit. Is there something that you wish we had gotten to in our time together that we haven’t had a chance to get to yet?

Nikki: I would just say, like, I think my ask for the industry, or my wish, is what I’m trying to build out is to almost build out a map of, like, resources, from across the different organizations, across different companies of, these are the all the different organizations and companies that you could be learning from. I’ve started to try to pull this together, but I think what I’m looking for is, how can I maybe build a framework and then have other people chime in with their experience. And maybe this already exists, but I have just found, I think for me, this is a need in the industry. So, I don’t know if it’s really a topic for us to discuss, but I think it’s just, it’s something that I’m thinking about, and I think that partnering with Greenbook or partnering with somebody else, like, we can kind of start to build out that framework for audiences.

Karen: I love it. I love it. So, here’s a typical qualitative question because what would that do? What would that do for others?

Nikki: I think what I have found, is when I’ve shared in the past, like, these are different companies that work in research, and the first question I get is, well, what do they do? And I think, while for me, it’s like, oh, I’ll just Google them. I think some people, when they’re trying to get into an industry, there’s so much knowledge out there and there’s so much things that they could just Google, or they could just Bing search. And so, for us, like, if we could almost categorize it into, like, a segmentation for these are the organizations or methods if you want to grow your quantitative research methods, or if you want to understand how to do a segmentation, or even understanding, like, industry lingo, I think some of this is just showing people the map and helping direct them where they need to go. Because even sharing that Greenbook is somebody that you could even go look at, they’re like, “Oh, great, I’m going to go take a look,” or, “I’m going to go watch the podcast.” And so, I think just helping people be aware that those resources are available, I think, is kind of the first step. And then the second step is trying to help them continue to grow. But the first step is always awareness.

Karen: Yeah, it always surprises me when—you know, because you end up with blinders on, right, and it always surprises me when there are people in the industry that you know have not really heard of Greenbook and what we do. And I’m always like, oh. Like, I take for granted, how many people do, and then I come across somebody who’s, like, “No, I’ve never heard of you.” And it’s like, oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry that we haven’t reached you. Because I really do take it seriously that we’re in the business of helping people. And I feel bad. I’m like, I’m so sorry that these resources exist and that they can’t get into your hands yet. So anyway, hats off to you for doing what you are doing for the industry. This is the portion of the program where I have to say, so how do people reach you and find you and discover you? 

Nikki: [laugh].

Karen: But it’s like, there’s that at sign, right?

Nikki: So, on TikTok, I am at @DataDrivenNikki, and I’m also at @DataDrivenNikki on YouTube. YouTube, I’m trying to create more longer-form content, where I would take a topic and maybe spend 20 minutes or so, or sometimes even ten minutes explaining it. And so, it just depends on your learning style. If you want, kind of, short elements, I do post those also on YouTube, I just have more engagement with comments and things on TikTok.

Karen: Yeah, of course you do. Of course you do. So, final question for you—and by the way, we’ll link to all of that in the show notes so people will be able to find you—here’s the question to put you on the spot. Our tagline at Greenbook is, “The Future of Insights.” So, I ask you, as not just an insights professional, but a content creator, what do you think the future of insights is all about?

Nikki: I think the future of insights is very human. I think we are at this, like, diverging point where AI might handle the middle stuff, but we will need a human to go really deep and understand human emotions, or we’ll need to start coming up with complex strategic theories, and then AI can help fill the gaps. And so, I would say I truly believe, like, in my career and in where I want to grow my career, like, I’m going to have more human interactions, and that’s where I want to continue to grow my career.

Karen: Yeah. I love that. Thank you so much. I don’t disagree, and I just want to say, like, I have so much gratitude for everything that you’re doing and also that you joined us today on this podcast. Thank you so much, Nikki.

Nikki: Of course. Any time. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Karen: Just an absolute pleasure. And we could probably keep on talking, but again, as I said, like, I want to let you go and be mindful of the meeting that you’re about to start. So, with that, I will say goodbye. Thank you. Thank you. And to our audience, thank you so much for listening tuning in week after week. We really just appreciate you so much. To our editor, Big Bad Audio. Thank you for editing out the part that I know you’re going to edit out that, hopefully, by the time people are hearing this, they have no idea what I’m talking about [laugh]. So, I appreciate that, and of course, Brigette, for all you do to help us produce this show week after week. Thank you, everybody. Until the next time that’s our episode for today. Bye-bye.