by As a consumer researcher, I’m fascinated by the growing application of machine learning and automation to our industry, but a lot of it still seems very theoretical for the typical research generalist. I had the opportunity to attend the North America MRMW (Market Research in a Mobile World) Conference this month and was excited by all the examples that people shared of how they are applying AI and automation in their businesses today.
Below, I’ve captured just a few highlights of some tangible examples that inspired me and my non-technical take on the technology involved, as well as who shared the use case or capability at the conference. If this piques your interest, I encourage you to dig further into some of the companies below (capability provider names link to their websites), attend a future MRMW conference, and look for application opportunities in your own business.
| USE CASE | TECHNOLOGY | WHO’S DOING IT |
| Understand the “foot traffic journey”; where your customers go before and after your location and how your business fits in their day. | Mobile phone geolocation data | Foursquare |
| Understand real world product delighters and opportunities by connecting actions taken on an app with real time user feedback. | Native apps used to control a car (or any other smart device) with an embedded ‘feedback’ button | BMW |
| Uncover real human insights by identifying patterns and themes in social data via AI (beyond brand tracking and sentiment analysis). | Social data and AI algorithms | Black Swan Data |
| Behavioral recruitment for research (i.e. website visits, social media likes, etc.) instead of relying on claimed behavior from traditional screeners. | Social media data, website tracking, search engine data, etc. | Liveminds |
| Eliminate data from bots posing as respondents by planting questions in the survey script that are only visible to bots and terminate if answered (“Honeypot” questions). | Advanced survey programming | P&G |
| Capture behavioral data passively for in-home product testing or test markets via “smart labels” (e.g. when used, quantity used, amount left) | Smart consumer usage trackers embedded in product labels communicating via Bluetooth to a mobile app | Adrich |
