Traditional vs. Agile Market Research: Which One is Right for Your Project?

You know that feeling when you have a list of project requests from various stakeholders that looks a mile long and you have no clue how you're going to get it all done on time and within budget?

Maybe in the past, you'd automatically farm it out to a full-service market research firm. But times have changed. Priorities have shifted and purse strings have tightened.

Now, before making a move, you need to decide if that traditional MR firm can deliver the project in a timely fashion and do it cost-effectively. Most often, they can't.

The good news is, where full-service research firms fail, agile suppliers can pick up the slack. With agile research, you can get from idea to market much faster. 

But don’t just take our word for it, let’s go through each stage of your next research project and see how full-service stacks up against agile. 

Survey Design & Programming

Designing and programming your survey can take more than two weeks with a traditional market research firm. You hand off the work to someone else and have to trust that they’ll do it the right way. Yeah, it's more convenient for you, but the world is changing at a rapid pace; who has time to wait for insights?

With agile research studies, you can quickly create the survey yourself. You don't need previous programming experience to use a modern platform with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Depending on the complexity of your survey, it should be ready for launch within 24 to 72 hours.

Survey Fielding/Data Collection

Traditional MR firms can take one to two weeks to collect your data. By now, nearly a month has passed, and consumer mindsets have shifted. 

On the flip side, by partnering with a provider with an integrated panel of more than 100 million global respondents, you can connect with consumers quickly. How quickly, you ask? Expect to have your data within 24 to 48 hours, depending on the project.

Survey Reporting & Analysis

Got another one to two weeks to wait around? That's how long it will take for a traditional MR firm to analyze your data. When you finally get your report, it’ll have been more than a month since the client asked for the research.

Delays like this can have a negative effect on your credibility with stakeholders and jeopardize your chance to gain a seat at the table.

With agile insights, you get your results in real-time. You can instantly analyze, export, and share your findings using data visualizations that your colleagues can easily understand. 

Survey Cost

It's been 4-6 weeks, and your traditional MR firm has finally gotten around to delivering your final report. And although it's a bit stale, you may be able to salvage a couple of useful insights from it. But you’ll have ended up paying between $10,000 and $25,000, with some studies costing more than $50,000.

In comparison, an agile research solution like aytm would save you upwards of 30% compared to traditional MR firms, with studies usually costing between $2,000 and $5,000. 

And because of the time and cost savings involved, you're able to run more studies, more often, staying in lockstep with the changing behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes of consumers today. This leads to fresher, more relevant insights for your brand and greater influence for you.

With agile market research, you’ll get more work done in less time and with less money, but when you partner with the right supplier, you’ll still receive the high-quality, sophisticated research capabilities you're used to. 

Ready to give agile market research a go? Contact us.