Chatbots are programs based on artificial intelligence that mimic the human conversations of service and customer service that have existed for years.
They have multiple applications, and are currently being developed on almost all types of platforms.
Market research has always been developed through conversation, whether face to face or by phone. In recent decades, online and mobile market research came into play, with a self-administered model that looked similar to old pencil and paper surveys.
But chatbots offer the possibility to bring back to the table the the conversational element to the survey taking process, without losing automation.
These are very specific mechanisms, with very specific questions, such as those we are used to in online surveys. Online market research on the other hand, has become more extensive and complicated. A chatbot can simplify all that and acquires answers, data and immediate cooperation from customers.
Recently, the University of Michigan experimented with the use of Facebook Messenger chatbot to conduct a consumer electronics survey. The experiment used identical surveys with a Messenger bot and a traditional online survey. The questions in the chatbot had yes / no answer options.
At the end of the survey, those who responded through chatbot rated the experience as satisfactory, while those who answered the online survey in some cases had less positive impressions. This reveals the intuitive and less annoying nature of bots.
Of course, chatbots have certain limitations in data collection. Just as a mobile interface is not suitable for many of the basic types of market research questions, neither is chat.
But one area for which bots are perfectly designed is for massive qualitative studies. If used with natural language processing (NLP), bots can inquire into people's tastes and preferences, much like a human would.
In addition, AI-based bots learn by using the data and statistics collected to generate more intuitive probes. And, since bots do not get tired or fatigued like humans, they never miss the opportunity to ask the client prospect some follow-up questions at the end.
On the other hand, chatbots have many interesting applications for buyer marketing, daily studies and experimental research. This is how a chatbot can accompany the customer while in his shopping or service experience, and record in real time the emotions and motivations that the subject experiences while making the purchase or using the service. That is very high value information.
So, in effect, Chatbots for market research are one of the most effective, and especially not instrusive new mechanisms for acquiring information from prospects or users.
Market research is a method of collecting customer information to understand if a new product will work well with a target market or to determine what type of changes can be made to make it more adaptable to a market.
The objective of market research is to avoid commercial losses of an organization. Here are some examples and types of market research.
Are you thinking of doing a market research with a chatbot? Here are 5 examples of market research of the most used methodologies:
It is a research technique widely used to evaluate the opinions of a target audience.
It is very profitable and helps to understand if a particular market is suitable for a target audience or if a feature update will be successful and opinions on other similar topics can be collected.
You can create a survey to be used by a chatbot with the form component. Just as you would create a simple web form, you can also create a form based survey for a chatbot. For more information read how to design conversation scripts.
Everyone is on social networks, so they are excellent platforms for knowing what your target audience thinks.
Marketing specialists now prefer to conduct their business on Facebook, LinkedIn or even Instagram to get quick opinions on product launches or feature updates.
The biggest advantage of these channels is the speed with which the results are acquired. You can post a link for your social media page or messenger to get immediate results.
This methodology has been implemented since World War II and remains effective. Focus groups are groups made up of 6 to 10 individuals, usually 8, belonging to various demographic groups and whose opinions and comments are collected for market research.
It is a type of qualitative market research that involves bringing these people together and asking them questions about product launches or updates, new services, marketing ideas, etc.
You can filter, group and select specific individuals in a conversation by using conditions and options in your chatbot scripts. For example, depending on the answer for "How old are you?" or "How much did you make last year?", you can load a different survey for different age groups, income levels by filtering the response with simple conditions (age>21, or income>12.000).
This way you will be able to group and filter users being surveyed and direct them towards the focus group form or questionnaire.
It is one of the oldest and best known forms of market research. Systematic questions are asked in individual interviews. The procedure is the same as the focus groups only with one person.
These interviews can be conducted at any time and in any place and are recorded to analyze the content in the future. Not only the answers are analyzed, but also body tone, sentiment, etc.
In your chatbot conversation, you can ask your users for identifying information (such as name, phone, email etc.) and then load your survey. You can also call them with a phonebot to get their answers transcribed or recorded.
They are an extension for focus groups and individual interviews, which as indicated by the name are made through a phone call. These types of surveys are carried out when the feedback received from the other two sources needs to be verified.
It consists of calling a considerable number of customers / consumers and collecting opinions and comments about a product / service. The data obtained from the calls are used to improve the product or service. You can also use a phonebot to call your clients, transcribe their answers and record them in a database.
Quantitative and qualitative market research types and methods such as surveys, focus groups, online interviews and telephone surveys have become extremely popular, but are still expensive to perform. A chatbot or phonebot can automate many of these tasks and make market research available even for small companies.
