6 ways contact centers can assist with market research

Customer preferences, competitor trends, and evolving needs - these are some market research data points that fuel smart choices and drive success.

As you can imagine, gathering this information from the right audience is a time-consuming and resource-intensive hassle. 

One way to efficiently go about collecting market research information is using a contact center.

Read on to learn how contact centers can help you with market research and why you should use one. 

• What is a contact center and why should you use one for market research?
• Six ways contact centers help with market research
• Four advantages of using contact centers for market research

What is a contact center and why should you use one for market research?

A contact center is a central hub that handles all your customer interactions across various channels, such as voice, messaging, email, and WhatsApp. 

Contact centers have tools and systems in place, such as customer relationship management (CRM) features, sentiment analysis tools, and feedback tracking systems, to manage conversations, monitor feedback, and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. 

When you use one for market research, you gather consumer insights from a large pool of customers while keeping all the information well-organized.

Another reason to use a contact center for market research is that it lets you reach out to customers proactively. Instead of waiting for them to come to you, you can actively send surveys or make calls to ask for feedback.

Six ways contact centers help with market research

How exactly does a contact center help with market research? Here are six important ways:

1. Targeted follow-up calls

Contact centers help you keep tabs on customer satisfaction for various industries like hospitals, hotels, booking companies, and airlines.

These calls are not random - they're targeted. Contact centers store the contact information of the customers who have recently engaged with your service to ensure that the feedback gathered is relevant and timely.

Since these calls happen soon after an experience, customers are more likely to remember the details clearly and provide detailed and more accurate feedback.  

2. Automated outbound campaigns 

Contact centers allow you to execute automated outbound campaigns, which help you proactively contact customers and save time. They reach key prospects by smart dialing, where their algorithm dials phone numbers from a database based on factors like customer availability and likelihood of engagement, ensuring that the right people are contacted at the right time.

In addition, contact centers have automated dynamic scripting systems in place. Dynamic scripting uses pre-populated data and real-time customer information to personalize the script for each market research interaction. It helps agents ask the right questions in the right way to keep conversations focused and informative. 

Many contact centers also offer automation features to handle repetitive tasks like scheduling appointments and data entry. 

What’s more, for customers who prefer a self-service approach, speech-enabled interactive voice response systems can automatically collect responses through voice prompts. These automated phone systems use voice recognition technology to interact with callers and allow respondents to provide feedback or answer survey questions verbally. This reduces the need for human intervention and speeds up the research process. 

3. Inbound questionnaires during calls

Customers calling for purchases or information are already engaged with your company. This makes them ideal candidates for a quick, targeted questionnaire. 

When customers reach out for inquiries, contact center agents can integrate brief, conversational questionnaires into the interaction. The key is to keep it friendly and brief, not overwhelming with queries.

4. Social media feedback analysis

Contact center teams monitor various social media channels for mentions of their brand. Using social media monitoring platforms, sentiment analysis tools, and keyword tracking techniques, they analyze social media feedback to look for trends, common themes, and issues. 

This is a great way to identify emerging trends and hot topics relevant to your market research.

5. Omnichannel customer service

Customers prefer to communicate in different ways, like by phone, email, live chat, texting, or social media. 

Using an omnichannel contact center platform and bringing all these channels in one place makes it easier for you to keep track of what people are saying. 

You can see the big picture of what customers are happy about or where they're running into problems. It can help you spot trends and figure out what changes or improvements you need to make.

6. Generative AI 

Salesforce’s Generative AI Snapshot survey reveals that 55% of marketing professionals are currently using generative AI. Marketers anticipate that generative AI will reduce their workload by an average of five hours per week.

Contact centers use AI to take some of the load off your agents by handling repetitive tasks, like transcribing calls automatically. Agents can dedicate their newfound time to conducting in-depth market research during customer calls and gauging customer behavior, preferences, and engagement levels.

Generative AI can also analyze customer calls and churn out summaries quickly. This means you can get a quick overview of what's going on without having to listen to hours of recordings. Plus, AI analysis of vast amounts of call data helps you identify patterns and trends that humans might miss. These hidden insights are invaluable for market research. 

Four advantages of using contact centers for market research

There are four main advantages of using contact centers for market research:

Objectivity

Objectivity is a big advantage of using contact centers for customer listening and market research. That’s because when people call or message an outsourced contact center, they're talking to someone who doesn't have a personal stake in the company. 

Contact centers also collect data consistently and accurately. They use standardized processes - like quality assurance (QA) evaluations and adherence to call scripts - to record and analyze customer interactions. This helps ensure that everyone's feedback is treated the same way.

A direct line to customers

Contact centers directly connect you with a broad spectrum of customers. You're not limited to a specific demographic or pre-selected group, and the diversity ensures you hear a range of viewpoints and customer needs, and produce well-rounded market research.

Low-cost solution

Traditional market research methods like focus groups and surveys require hiring external specialists and recruiting participants, which can quickly drain your budget. 

Because contact centers handle a lot of interactions via cost-effective online solutions, they spread the cost of collecting feedback across many customers. This makes it cheaper per interaction compared to other methods of gathering feedback. 

You also don't need expensive equipment to set up a contact center for market research. Most contact center software is cloud-based and can be accessed via any computer with an internet connection.

Faster set up and data collection 

Gartner predicts the rise in automation rate of agent interactions to reach 10% by 2026, compared to just 1.8% in 2022. 

Many contact center tools today come with features like automated call routing, email templates, and chatbots, which help streamline communication with customers. This automation also saves time and makes it easier to collect data more quickly. 

Final words

Contact centers offer a range of tools and techniques to help you get the data you need. Examples include automation tools, the ability to consolidate customer interactions via different channels into one place, and social media analysis capabilities.

Plus, the ability to connect directly with customers without geographical restrictions ensures you hear a variety of first-hand perspectives and produce well-rounded market research. 

Ready to commence your next market research project? Go ace it with a contact center!