The Future • January 2022
Blog Post
listening247 Predictions for 2022 and beyond
Every January, we like to make predictions about the market research industry (MRX) for the year ahead and beyond. Up to now, our predictions revolved around the future of market research, but this time around, things are dramatically different for us.
Having expanded our AI capabilities to include CX measurement, customer journey optimisation, and alternative data, in 2021 we:
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1. changed our company name from DigitalMR to DMR
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2. replaced the market research reference in our logo tagline with “AI driven Insights”
Consequently, our predictions this year are more skewed to data analytics and CX or CXM rather than MRX.
In previous predictions I would say we got it right 60%-70% of the time; not too shabby of a track record if I may say so myself!
Here are our three predictions for 2022 and beyond:
Prediction #1
“Unstructured data analytics is claiming its rightful place on the insights and analytics table and as a result, adoption of machine learning is accelerated (think exponential). Since more than 95% of all humanity’s data (no proof about the number but it sounds right) are unstructured, how could it be any different?”
Prediction #2
“First, greater focus on actionable information and less on the elusive “insights”, which continue to be a buzzword misused for every finding in a research project. Second, the fact that some market research associations/blogs are not calling it the market research industry aligns with previous predictions that the industry’s name is outdated, and everyone needs to accept that it will further renew itself whether market researchers like it or not.”
Prediction #3
“CXM, which used to be CX which used to be CEM or CRM, or EFM is claiming more and more of the traditional market research pie. Of course, market research pretends to embrace the CXM industry and wants to own it, but that game seems lost to the tech companies.”
I still like the Superforecaster definition in the book of Tetlock & Gardner (2015), originally referenced in our 2017 predictions:
A. Outside View
B. Inside View
C. Unpack the questions
Let’s look at prediction #3 through the superforcaster perspective:
A. Outside View - Big CX players: Zendesk, InMoment, Qualtrics, Medallia have all acquired MRX players and they invest heavily in basic MRX functionality without calling it that.
B. Inside View - The listening247 clients: The biggest, longest and highest value contracts of DMR are for CXM programmes. We were a market research tech company for 10 years and here we are focussing on CX moving away from traditional MRX… not by design but driven by client needs.
C. Unpack the questions:
1. How big is the CX market? According to fortune business insights it was US$ 9 Billion in 2019 and it will be over US$ 70 Billion by 2030
2. What part of MRX was it before and now? ESOMAR included CXM as a MRX sector for the first time in its 2020 MRX market size report, but calls it Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM). It is shown to be 1.7% of total MRX (US$ 1.6 Billion). This is a head in the sand situation if you compare the market size with Fortune Business Insights estimates; a classic ESOMAR move: when another industry is eating up the MRX market size, it is labelled as MRX. This is how the market size increased from US$ 39 billion to US$ 78 billion in 2017.
3. How many acquisitions in the space in the last 12 months? 60 CX and MRX related acquisitions in the last 5 years, 20 of them in 2021.
….ergo: Prediction #3
Nielsen, Ipsos, GfK etc. will be surpassed in size by the likes of Qualtrics, Zendesk and Medallia.