In this blog, we explore consumer intelligence and the core features you should expect from a Consumer Intelligence platform in 2023. Topics include;
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What is consumer intelligence?
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What are the key challenges in gathering consumer intelligence?
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How to choose the best Consumer Intelligence Platform for your needs
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What key features should you look out for in a consumer intelligence platform in 2023
What is Consumer Intelligence?
Consumer intelligence is the gathering, analysing, and understanding of information about consumers, their behaviours, preferences, and needs. It involves collecting data from various sources, such as surveys, social media, online reviews, customer feedback, and market research, and transforming it into actionable insights that businesses can use to make informed decisions.
It is crucial for businesses to gain a comprehensive understanding of their target market, make informed decisions, develop effective strategies, and stay competitive in today's dynamic business environment. By harnessing consumer insights, companies can build stronger customer relationships, drive innovation, and achieve long-term success.
But often gathering consumer intelligence can be a real challenge with many people having concerns about how to use the technology they’re presented with or about how their data is being used and stored.
When selecting a platform, it’s really important to consider the options and make a great choice. Here we’ve highlighted a few of the best the market has to offer and delved into their product features.
What are the key challenges in gathering consumer intelligence?
Gathering consumer intelligence can present a number of challenges for your research and insight teams. With increasing concerns around data privacy and regulations like GDPR, businesses need to ensure that they collect and handle consumer data in a legal and ethical manner. Obtaining informed consent, anonymizing data, and maintaining data security are crucial considerations, as is maintaining accuracy and quality; essential for meaningful insights. Challenges such as respondent bias, incomplete or inaccurate information, and reliance on self-reported data can impact the quality of the data collected.
Ensuring a representative sample is also crucial to obtaining reliable consumer intelligence. Employing appropriate sampling methodologies and reaching out through multiple channels can help address this challenge. This will also lead to higher participation. Factors like survey fatigue, low response rates, and lack of motivation can affect the quantity and quality of the data collected. Designing engaging surveys, offering incentives, and maintaining clear communication with participants can help improve respondent engagement.
With the increasing number of channels and touchpoints, gathering consumer intelligence across multiple platforms can be complex. Ensuring consistency in data collection methods, integrating data from different sources, and managing data across channels can be challenging. Adopting tools and technologies that facilitate data integration and analysis can help overcome these challenges.Making sense of large datasets, identifying patterns, and drawing actionable insights can be complex. Employing data analysis techniques, data visualisation tools, and involving experienced analysts can help extract meaningful insights from consumer intelligence.
Gathering consumer intelligence can be resource-intensive in terms of time, budget, and personnel. Limited resources may restrict the scale and scope of research initiatives. It is important to allocate resources effectively, prioritise research objectives, and leverage technology and automation where possible to optimise resource utilisation. Overcoming these challenges requires careful planning, robust research methodologies, adherence to ethical standards, and leveraging appropriate technologies and tools. Regular monitoring and evaluation of research processes can help identify and address any challenges that arise, ensuring the collection of accurate and meaningful consumer intelligence.
How to choose the best Consumer Intelligence Platform for your needs
Choosing the best Consumer Intelligence Platform (CIP) for your needs requires careful consideration of various factors. Here are some steps to help you make an informed decision:
1. Define your objectives: Start by clearly understanding your business goals and what you aim to achieve with a CIP. Identify the specific insights and analytics you need to gather from consumer data to drive your decision-making process effectively.
2. Evaluate data sources: Consider the types of data sources the CIP can integrate with or access. Look for platforms that offer comprehensive coverage, including social media, web analytics, market research data, customer surveys, and any other relevant sources for your industry.
3. Analytical capabilities: Assess the platform's analytical capabilities and the range of insights it can provide. Look for features such as advanced segmentation, trend analysis, sentiment analysis, predictive modelling, and data visualisation tools. The platform should offer specific analysis methods that align with your objectives.
4. Data visualisation and reporting: Consider the platform's reporting capabilities and the ease of interpreting and sharing the insights it generates. Look for features like customizable dashboards, interactive visualisations, automated reporting, and the ability to export data in various formats for further analysis.
5. Integration and scalability: Determine whether the CIP can seamlessly integrate with your existing systems and tools, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, marketing automation platforms, or data warehouses. Additionally, consider the scalability of the platform to accommodate your growing data needs as your business expands.
6. Data privacy and security: Ensure that the CIP follows robust data privacy and security practices. Look for platforms that comply with relevant regulations, have data encryption protocols, offer role-based access controls, and have a track record of maintaining data confidentiality.
7. User interface and ease of use: Evaluate the user interface and overall user experience of the CIP. The platform should be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing your team to navigate and extract insights without significant technical expertise or extensive training.
8. Customer support and training: Consider the level of customer support and training provided by the CIP vendor. Ensure that they offer sufficient onboarding assistance, access to documentation and tutorials, and responsive technical support to address any issues or questions that may arise.
9. Pricing and ROI: Compare the pricing models of different CIP solutions, considering factors such as subscription costs, data usage fees, and additional services. Balance the pricing with the potential return on investment (ROI) the platform can deliver based on the insights and value it provides to your business.
10. Industry expertise and references: Assess the vendor's industry expertise and reputation. Look for customer reviews, case studies, and references from businesses in your industry or similar use cases to understand their experience with the platform.
By following these steps, you can evaluate different Consumer Intelligence Platforms and select the one that aligns best with your specific business needs and goals.
What key features should you look out for in a consumer intelligence platform in 2023?
It goes without saying we might have some strong and specific opinions on this topic. Regardless of what we think, it is important to look for key features that align with the evolving needs of your business and your insights team. Our top 5 features to consider include:
]Easy flow of data with your API
Having a robust API is critical to ensure that data can be moved quickly and easily through our systems. The platform should have the capability to integrate and centralise data from various sources, including online surveys, social media, customer feedback, and other relevant channels. This allows for a comprehensive view of consumer behaviour and preferences. Most importantly it’ll make things very efficient and save loads of time for your insights team.
Easy to understand and share Analytics
The platform should offer a suite of analytical capabilities. These features help in deriving actionable insights, identifying patterns, and making data-driven decisions. Data visualisation tools should also be available to present findings in a clear and visually appealing manner. Where the analytics come to an end, your API should give you the ability to pipe this data easily into other systems for deeper analysis. The platform should also facilitate collaboration among team members, allowing for seamless sharing and collaboration on consumer intelligence projects.
A user experience that your cat could understand
A user-friendly interface and intuitive user experience are essential for maximising productivity and adoption. The platform should be easy to navigate, with clear workflows and accessible features that do not require extensive technical expertise. It should be mobile first and adaptable to all screen sizes. It should also support multichannel data collection and analysis, encompassing online, offline, and mobile channels to capture a comprehensive view of consumer behaviour.
Slice and dice your data with ease
Look for a platform that provides tools for customer segmentation. This will allow you to identify distinct consumer groups based on behaviour, demographics, and preferences. It enables targeted campaigns and personalised experiences to enhance customer engagement and loyalty. It should help you slice and dice your data easily to gain deep understanding of specific segments and enable you to go back to these customers with further questions to enrich tier profile
‘Future proof’ and ‘bullet proof’
Data Privacy and Security: Given the growing importance of data privacy and security, the platform should have robust measures in place to ensure the protection of consumer data. Compliance with relevant data protection regulations should be a priority. It should also be able to scale and be capable of handling growing data volumes and evolving research needs. It should be adaptable to changing business requirements and enable customization based on specific industry or organisational needs.
To understand more about the Brand Jar’ platform and the key features it offers, speak to the Brand Jar customer success team. They will offer you an honest and objective viewpoint on this topic.
Drop them an email on hello@brandjar.co.uk