The future of research
With Schibsted’s web panel we are able to mirror opinions of all swedes. This is a new way of conducting research and it has created quite an international attention. Data from the research can also be connected to other data in our eco system to develop the business and products, says Karin Nelsson.
In 2014, the Swedish super election year, Schibsted commissioned the analysis company Inizio to gather together a panel for opinion and market research based on the audience Schibsted Sweden reaches through its channels. The remit was clear: it had to be World Class.
We had four months at our disposal. Today we have a panel consisting of 30 000 panelists in Sweden. We conduct monthly political opinion polls and running opinion polls. We do brand tracking that is linked to traffic measurements and digital follow-up of campaigns.We are on our way to become a full service research company.
The Schibsted/Inizio opinion panel and Sverige Tycker (Swedish Views) have been internationally introduced as some of the most innovative projects when itcomes to gauging people’s opinions. Several media houses, academic research institutions and other opinion researchers have taken a great interest in what we have succeeded in doing.
“What is so exciting?” one may ask. Well, the fact that a single media house, using a web panel based on its own audience, is able to mirror a whole country at a cost that is a fraction of what is common in the research trade is one reason. And not least; with this one can connect data from the research to traffic data and other data available in the eco system of the media house.
At the same time a new kind of Customer Intelligence* is emerging with sophisticated tools that connect various sorts of data sources and establishing a system with algorithms making it possible to make decisions in real time. Facebook, Google and Twitter have come a long way, constantly updating their platforms with new services. For Schibsted, as a media group with a strong digital presence outside or beside these giants there are good opportunities to use all the traffic data, transaction data and market research that is being created in an own eco system to the benefit of advertisers, cooperating partners, the internal business development and the users.
Another piece of good news is that never have the consumers given away so much information. They are also willing to engage in brands they care about. By creating conditions for dialogue and involve the consumers in the development of offers and products one can build strong relations with the consumers.
It is a new way of working for businesses but it is also a completely new role for us as market researcher and analysts.
In reality it is about inviting the customers to participate in communities or panels and make sure there is interactivity. Today it is easy to show a film or pictures, create a chat forum and put ordinary questions within the new research tools. That way companies can make use of the engagement shown by the customers, supplementing with traffic data and other relevant digital sources following the development in real time on dashboards.
Here are four observation-based predictions about the market analysis in the future:
- Micro research and short questionnaires will replace long, dull forms.
- Insights will grow also by making use of the customers’ engagement on chats, dialogues and comment boxes.
- Analysis and processing of traffic data and digital behavioural data will contribute to the building of insights in real time and will be the core of future market analysis
- More than ever it is about analytic competence. The systems are the pot and the data the ingredients. It will take clever cooks to create insights.
* Customer Intelligence can be described as a key to understanding the customers and includes different data sources as references (for example geo location and traffic data), transaction data (financial information) and market research. As these are combined and put in the right context together with trends and information about competitors Customer Intelligence is created and is the hub in understanding the market.