New Kids on the Blog – Elias Veris

RW Connect has scoured the globe for a group of young researchers that will share their thoughts and journeys as they begin their careers in market research. In the first post of an on-going series, say hello to Elias Veris of InSites Consulting in Belgium.

I’m Elias and I work in Market Research

Some days ago, I was contacted by the alumni of the management school where I did my masters in marketing, and was asked to give a testimonial on what work in market research is. The message I gave there was quite straightforward: it’s awesome! You can find the slideshow embedded here. For clarity’s sake, I’ll recap some of the key conclusions. These explain not only what I think market research is currently, but also what market research should be (more).

1.       People are curious; our clients are curious. When we are asked to answer some of their questions, we (should) do so in an inspiring way. Market researchers are inspiring guys, not those guys that knock their audience to sleep with endless tables and graphs.

2.       Being an inspirational guy is damn hard work. As one of my colleagues would say, we are dj’s. Mixing the method with the result into an interpretation that gets people dancing around the floor. And while we might be on the right track, there is still a lot to accomplish…

3.       Technological changes are one large driver. Most people now have their own research tool in their pockets (the mobile phone). Let’s use that to the fullest! Other things where large leaps forward are possible is the participant experience (gamification, anyone?) and how the final output looks like (infographics or black-and-white tables?).

4.       A lot of people in market research are very versatile beings. The great companies of the future are companies that acknowledge this, and use it. Companies that let their employees blog along with their work for instance. And that let people do research in a plethora of different sectors to diversify their knowledge. That give researchers the chance to do both quantitative and qualitative research, and everything that lies in-between (textmining for one). And finally, that have their people meet lots of other people, because that is truly inspirational.

In very short, this is the vision on market research that I developed over the past year and a half. I’m always eager to get the conversation started, so don’t hesitate to contact me, via @eliasveris on twitter for instance…

Elias Veris is a research consultant at InSites Consulting