Which market research tasks are likely to be taken over by AI?
MarketingCharts staff
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of articles from MarketingCharts, which provides up-to-the-minute data and research to marketers
Nine in 10 market research decision-makers believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will have a significant impact on the industry within five years, but most don’t know what that impact will look like, according to a report from Qualtrics.
On the one hand, more respondents feel that AI will reduce (35 percent) the number of market research jobs than create more (26 percent). On the other hand, they are more likely to believe the market research industry will expand (52 percent) than contract (11 percent) as a result of AI. Perhaps market researchers feel that the number of jobs will decline, but that projects will carry a higher price.
They certainly seem to think that AI has the potential to increase the quality of market research: three-quarters of the 250 market research decision-makers surveyed believe that the data produced through AI will be more accurate than it is today.
The tasks that AI was seen as most likely to take over:
- Determining sample sizes (72 percent believing within 5 years; 77 percent within 10 years);
- Reading open-ended responses (62 percent and 72 percent, respectfully);
- Running surveys (55 percent and 70 percent, respectively);
- Statistical analysis (48 percent and 63 percent, respectively); and
- Finding insights in feedback data (35 percent and 55 percent, respectively).
Respondents estimate that close to one-quarter of surveys (currently in text) could be spoken to a digital assistant within five years. There is some skepticism as to their near-term quality, though: only one-third feel they will be a better experience for respondents than typed surveys, and just one-quarter feel they’ll yield higher data quality.
On the upside, fully 93 percent believe AI is an opportunity for the market-research industry as opposed to a threat (7 percent).
The top five technologies expected to have the most impact on market research were:
- Advanced data analysis (95 percent);
- Automated stats analysis (94 percent);
- Natural language processing (73 percent);
- Text analysis (71 percent); and
- Internet of Things (54 percent).Which Market Research Tasks Are Likely to Be Taken Over by AI? - MarketingCharts