Market research has traditionally been a very manual process. There’s nothing wrong with this, but with advances in technology comes an opportunity for new strategies. Using AI software for market research is one way to take a once mundane task and transform it into a fun, productive experience!

Why is using AI software for market research a good idea? Well, just like any industry where AI is present, the benefit is that it allows people to scan large amounts of data (both qualitative and quantitative) to identify patterns in consumer behavior, and these patterns are what you can use to make profit changing decisions within your business!

Aside from the quality of data, you also don’t have to spend as much time cross-referencing data that you collect to identify the common themes, since AI does this for you. That means you spend more time taking productive action rather than researching. For example, creating a new marketing campaign based on the data collected.

Should you use AI software for market research?

Something that I learned over time in business is that not everything is applicable to all situations, even if it is good. Market research software is helpful, no doubt. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessary.

There are plenty of manual ways to go about market research. In fact, you should be doing these anyway, whether you decide to use software or not. Depending on how mature your market is, you might not need to bother with software at this time.

Your efforts will be better served getting close to prospective customers and doing content marketing. Find your angle-of-attack in the market and put your energy into owning that gap in the space.

I have found that most market research tools are for larger companies, with a few exceptions. GapScout is intended for the solopreneur and small business, but even our offering might not be a good fit for everyone. I can’t stress this enough: don’t underestimate the power of Google for market research. You already know how to use it, and there is a wealth of information available in it!

But let’s say you are interested in using AI software for market research (I assume you are because you’re reading this article). Let’s have a look at the advantages of using it, and how it can help make you more competitive in your industry.

AI helps you to better organize and manage your data, which allows you to discover meaningful insights.

The problem with market research for most people is that there is just so much data to organize and manage across many sources. In the context of looking at reviews, you would have to analyze customer reviews left on several websites, and across a variety of dates & star ratings.

Yes, you can make tags and try to organize this data, but it can become a burden quickly. This is where AI thrives. It can automatically tag the reviews by categories (that you specify), and filter it according to preset parameters, letting you focus on what matters most.

AI is also helpful in creating standards for the data that you collect. This way, if a data piece doesn’t meet your preferred standard, it can be disregarded entirely from the dataset so that the information isn’t skewing your findings. When working with hundreds of customer feedback points, this is a huge time-saver!

Using AI software for market research makes it easier to discover market insights from massive amounts of data.

Once your data has been aggregated, AI software can start to do its job in finding insights about your market. You know, key takeaways that you can leverage for getting a competitive advantage, or better understanding the needs of customers.

In some cases (depending on the AI being used), you can receive recommendations on actions you should take from the AI. Over time these suggestions become more useful since AI is constantly learning based on its previous activities. It’s important to keep this in mind as you get your recommendations.

When it comes to market research AI, you can expect to receive suggestions on actions you can take around your marketing efforts and common identified themes from customers. What is most exciting is that it can discover possible new customer segments based on the data collected and analyzed. Areas that your competition may currently be ignoring, just waiting for you!

AI can be used to obtain both quantitative and qualitative assessments.

Unlike traditional quantitative research methods, which uses numbers and figures to make predictions, AI can be applied to qualitative research methods.

Specifically, it can identify patterns and connections in the qualitative data. This is essential to any AI market research software that analyzes personal opinions of the market (which is what we do at GapScout). With qualitative data analysis, the AI can detect positive and negative emotion in writing. For example, if the person leaving the review is angry, happy, sad, etc., and what that possibly means for your business.

Of course, AI is a great tool for quantitative research as well. It is strong at organizing data, preparing the data, and for prepping it to be analyzed. It stores the data and structures it for optimal use. For example, it could store the reviews left for your business or product in a way that makes it faster to find patterns and connections via a qualitative analysis.

The combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis is where AI really starts to flex its muscles. Can humans do this on their own? Sure, but it’ll take months to crunch all that data and to pinpoint the key takeaways. With AI, that entire process takes hours instead.

Don’t make the mistake of depending entirely on AI software for market research.

Sometimes AI recommended actions won’t be 100% applicable to your situation, and that’s fine. The real power is in how you interpret that data in relation to your market.

The initial findings that AI discovers can be insightful, but it does take some critical thinking to best interpret the results. That’s where you have to put in a little work, applying your understanding of the market to really extract the golden information buried in the reviews.

As is the case with any market research project, try to avoid the temptation of jumping to conclusions. Getting a wealth of data at your fingertips in minutes is exciting, if not overwhelming to some degree. Take your time and prioritize your efforts. Find the common themes that matter most to you and take action based on those.