The tool, called Focus Groups, is based on StatSocial’s PeopleGraph and Knowledge tool, which uses behavioural data from around 150 million US adults to provide responses to questions from researchers.

Focus Groups uses digital twins to allow users to converse with the data, with the information from each study cohort used to create personas that can be questioned by research teams, weighted to allow users to know how many buyers each persona speaks for.

Users can pose a question to multiple cohorts or talk to a persona one-on-one, with opportunities to examine the data the persona is basing its answers on.

The company said the tool could also help with research with niche audiences. 

David Barker, chief executive at StatSocial, said: “Brands have always deserved a qualitative read grounded in real behaviour and weighted so you know whether a voice speaks for hundreds of your buyers or just one. That has never been easy to get.”