This December, Highlight’s Carly Shira, Head of Customer Development, had the pleasure of moderating TMRE 2024’s panel: Harnessing the Power of DIY Research Tools with AI. The panel featured market research experts from across industries, including:
There’s no doubt that DIY research has grown in popularity over the past decade as the software and now the AI revolution have given in-house researchers more powerful tools than ever. Those with market research and consumer insights expertise have been able to leverage such tools to access insights at previously unheard of speeds and lower costs, without the massive teams of humans that once powered this type of data mining.
As panelist Gabriel Dorosz of the New York Times explained, “You can be faster to market. You can do more with less.”
This technology revolution has led to new successes, attainable on leaner budgets and teams on faster timelines.
Panelist Tim Hall, co-founder at Simporter AI, also pointed out a less tangible but impactful result of empowering brands through DIY research tools.
“ The teams that we work with that really engage with the platform on a DIY basis, that really own the insights, [have] an actionability that comes from that,” explained Tim.
When DIY research “end users” can jump into a platform and use it as their personal data playground to slice and dice their data, scour scorecards, filter by their desired parameters and more, they also feel an ownership of those insights that inspires action. Taking insights you found (with the help of technology) and using them to make a difference in your work or your team’s work satisfies an itch many market researchers feel to be as impactful in their role as possible.
Despite the successes and new possibilities unlocked by using modern DIY consumer research technology, there are simply use cases that demand a rigorous approach–without the risk that trying to “go it alone” can introduce.
As panelist Corey Lommel of Cargill explained, “ I didn't want research to be only big, foundational strategic studies… I wanted to be able to answer and provide input into some of those low rigor questions and issues for internal stakeholders and our customers.”
Many DIY tools are revolutionary. But they’re also still a tool, and it’s rare that technology can fully replace the expertise of a real human. Even the best research tools should provide human data expertise to act as stewards when a partner is needed to support.
As Corey went on to advise, “There's a lot of tech firms that don't know research. I want a DIY tool that has experienced expert researchers behind it… What differentiates ultimately is the people.”
If you'd like to watch the panel in full, check out the recording below: