Suppliers ‘trailing buyers’ on new techniques
More clients than agencies report plans to use social media analytics ( 52% versus 39%), online communities ( 52% versus 46%) and data mining ( 41% versus 31%).
The report notes that with suppliers “lagging behind” in their adoption of the sorts of techniques clients plan to use, “this indicates that possibly buyers will be centring their relationships around vendors who can offer these methods, and it is likely that in many cases that means they will be working with non-traditional suppliers”.
However, suppliers are leading buyers on plans to use mobile surveys ( 41% versus 37%), mobile qual ( 28% versus 22%), mobile ethnography ( 24% versus 20%), webcam-based interviews ( 26% versus 22%), virtual environments ( 12% versus 8%) and “serious games” ( 6% versus 1%).
Research providers have also shown themselves to be ahead of their customers in expecting or experiencing growth in research spend ( 58% to 38%) with almost 50% of client respondents saying they expect spending to remain at current levels, compared to just one third of agencies.
The full report can be downloaded here. Results are based on a survey of 1,008 researchers, 43% working on the supplyside of the industry, 23% as academics and 16% as clients. Just over two thirds of respondents came from the US.
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2 Comments
Anon
14 years ago
A quick read of the paper suggests that the headline here is slightly disingenuous, for a few reasons: - 'social media analytics' is a distinctly broad phrase, the kind of catchall that clients can say they want but have no idea what it means in practical terms. - it's not even necessarily a core focus for 'traditional' research companies. Instead it's very popular among media agencies as a tool they offer to their clients. - ...and, let's face it, its actual research value beyond more standard techniques has yet to be proven. The fact that clients say they think they want it doesn't mean that a) it has any value or b) it's the right approach. A more accurate title might be "clients asking for social-buzzword-driven numbers; vendors not yet certain of value"
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Anon
14 years ago
The sample size for this report is small too small-- especially on the client side to make any declarations. When the research industry supports and endorses bad research, the entire industry suffers.
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