Along with this potential, however, the digital revolution has also resulted in there being so much data and information out there, that it has become litter in some respects, because so much of it is of little use. Data which lacks insight is not useful and often by the time you look at it, it is already old. These days it is important to receive actionable insights almost, if not, immediately.

Using market research to deliver insights to companies and decision makers in real-time is definitely the future. Research houses need to embrace real-time research right now and offer it to their clients. It enables a decision maker in a business to access data that tells them how a market segment has reacted to something as it happens and allows them to make a decision right there and then. The companies who can do this will be the ones who win. It is the job of market researchers to make meaningful insights available to these decision makers from the mass of data collected.

The opportunities technology provides for collecting information in real-time include methodologies of which consumers are both aware and unaware. Consumers can use their own tech devices to respond to a survey in-store. Sometimes, consumers don’t know that their behaviour is being recorded to make business decisions. Consumer behaviour can be captured using software in-store to extrapolate meaningful data, for example, electronic barcode scanning information is collected when a consumer goes through a till point and is sent to a database in real time. This can help retailers keep track of what is selling, when and where. With loyalty cards, individual customer purchase behaviour can be collected. This is now more than just a data dump, suppliers with the help of professional research analysts, are using this data to help businesses make strategic, actionable decisions.

Mobile devices can be used to capture consumer response to anything in real-time. Advertisements can lead customers to a page through their mobile devices through which they can transact and make a purchase and the response can be measured.

Feedback through a mobile device that is based on fresh recall provides quality data that is much cleaner and more accurate. Real-time surveys can also be sent to samples for media research, we know that immediate recall of audience experience is much more accurate 30 seconds or a minute after an advertisement has flighted on television, for example.

Real-time research is rapidly transforming traditional research methodologies, the entire process from recruiting participants right through to final reporting has to be reassessed. Traditionally, creating a sample, recruiting participants, collecting and capturing data has been the most time consuming and expensive part of the research process, and it adds no value to the end result. The purpose of research is to provide actionable strategic insights that enable a business decision. Everything else is a means to an end.

Real-time and rapid-time methodologies streamline research processes. For qualitative research processes focus groups in the past required the recruitment of a group of people who had to meet at a pre-assigned venue at a specific time. This takes time and money, to pay the recruiters, for the venue, for refreshments, printed questionnaires and often the participants. With real-time and rapid-time research this focus group can be replaced by an online panel. People of different profiles and knowledge bases can be recruited as a sample and then called upon and put together to participate in an online focus group almost immediately.

Another advantage is the quality and variety of focus group participants which now become available. Not only can one put together a focus group of participants from varied geographic regions, but higher level executives who may not have had the time, inclination or need for reimbursement can more easily be recruited. There is even scope for participants to log in at a time that suits them. In-depth interviews can be recorded through audio and video and the responses will be delivered to a central database for analysts to collate and to deliver actionable insights to clients.

Traditionally, clients have had to wait for a report to be presented before being able to use research insights to make decisions. With real-time, they can make a decision at any time FGI sets up customised online dashboards on behalf of our clients showing just the critical information that they are looking for. Computers still can’t do everything and the human element is very important. Through technology, this process can, however, be done in real-time with research analysts also logging into the dashboard.

Writing in the current issue of Admap, as quoted on the warc website, Tricia Benn, MD (USA) of Northstar, argues that, “Real-time research is raising the bar substantially on the insights we deliver to our clients and creating opportunities that wouldn't have been possible just a few years ago. Despite the undoubted advantages that real-time research makes possible, many clients, agencies and researchers remain reluctant to embrace the new, whether for reasons of habit, fear of failure or a simple lack of trust. A risk-averse stance is no longer an option.”

For more information, visit www.fgi.co.za.