Some tech M R Xplored

I've been having fun testing today’s market research tools and finding those that are priced for solopreneurs and small businesses.

So far, my one big takeaway is this: I keep finding that either these tools do the front end well or the back end well, but both? Not so much.

What do I mean? Well, I’m finding tools that have great survey building tools, and awesome survey experiences for people taking the surveys - but the analysis piece? Eh to meh.

I’m also finding tools that have cool analytic and reporting capabilities, but the survey or question-writing or respondent experience portion? Again, eh to meh. And no, I don’t recommend just throwing your research objective into an LLM and using whatever it generates, because I have yet to get output that didn’t require cleaning and rewriting to adhere to survey writing best practices. And no, I haven’t tried ChatGPT 5, because I really, really don’t like their lack of data privacy.

So, while I find the tech interesting and helpful, I’m still finding that, at the end of it all, you need a tech stack and not just a single tech solution that could handle everything well. And that just means that when you’re out shopping for tech, you must be absolutely aware of and test for that tech’s ability to integrate with the other tools you’re currently using so you don’t create inefficiencies in your processes.

Pollfish: You can create an account for free, you can even program surveys for free to play around with the platform, but some of the advanced question types are locked unless you pay for an account. They have an AI survey generator, but your mileage may vary when using it. I’ve only used it on the free version of the tool, and it keeps the surveys short, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it creates questions that get at everything you want to gather that you put in your prompt. You can use their built-in access to sample, and you can get rapid results, but you’ll want to do your own quality check on those results. You can also use it to program a survey and then run the survey on another panel. Roughly $1 per respondent if you use general population via their sample; it’s all pay per response collected. If you go “Elite” to unlock the conjoint and maxdiff options, you’ll need to chat with their sales team.

inca: I was very impressed by the question types available with this tool and the conversational way the survey is delivered to the survey-takers. Finally, a survey that doesn’t feel like a survey! But you do need to do the programming yourself, which could be a drawback if you’re a small business that is new to market research and unfamiliar with how these tools work. And the analytics side is still getting developed. It’s functional, but be aware that the analytics isn’t going to be as slick as the participant UI, so you may want to export and send to a data analyst. It’s clear that the lion's share of development has gone into the underlying technology for data collection and survey UI for the participant while the analytics is still playing a little catch-up. But definitely worth a look. A pilot project is $1,500. After that a single project is $2,500 per project but if you buy in bulk, a package of 5 projects is $5,500 (or $1,100/project) with larger packages available which can bring down the per project pricing even more. The packages are valid for one year.

Meaningful.app: This is an AI moderated text qual tool that has AI throughout the experience. You put your research objective in, it parses out what it can about your audience and industry, then asks you to fill in the rest so it can generate questions to get you started. All of the questions are open-end text questions here. So that’s something to keep in mind when working with this. The analysis is what’s coolest about this; it is geared towards the business recommendation mindset and pulls what it can from responses to generate actual actions for you to take based on the data. Pricing is dependent on the audience you need for your study. They also have a secondary research tool that operates a bit like a deep research but more focused on developing outputs that read like a consulting report. You input your research objective and information about your organization and hit go, and in about an hour, you’ll have a report that gives you a starting point for further research. Pricing here is around $50-$100 per report.

Vista Research Services: If you need assistance with getting your data in a format ready for analysis, visualizations, etc., you can work with a team that specializes in this service. You decide what metrics and summaries you want, or they can use industry standards. This is a comprehensive solution - all of your survey data would be ready for analysis. This is a fantastic option for those tools that have that cool front end but might be lacking a bit on the back-end analysis capabilities. Great add to your service stack while some of these tools are developing their analytics functionality!

Curator Video: This is a company that helps qualitative researchers with video interviews. They provide the tech hardware and software for this at an hourly rate that won’t break the bank. It’s a platform that allows you to schedule interviews from the tool itself, conduct the interviews and record, send the videos for transcription, and edit the videos to create clips for your meetings. They provide all of this sans subscription model. You can do the video recordings in person or remotely, and they encrypt the data for security. Is it AI? No. But it turns out they can help qual researchers in a pinch who find that they need a solution to record their focus groups or in-depth interviews. $160/hr.

I’ll be making my way through more tech and other research solutions and talking about it here as I get familiar with it. I’m aiming for the solutions that small businesses and solopreneur researchers could use. That means ad hoc pricing options, not subscriptions, and prices that are accessible to small organizations with small budgets.

Coming up soon: Quillit and Flowres.io - two qualitative study tools that allow for recording interviews and analyzing with AI. Also coming up is Trust.io, another quantitative tool that is working on that tie between data and recommendations you can take to your stakeholders. Livepanel is also on my list as a non-LLM tool that uses machine learning for augmenting data.

If you have tools you’re curious about that you’d like me to test, let me know! My next step is sharing a scorecard view of these tools based on the scorecard I’ve developed for organizations to use in their own testing. My scoring will be focused on the applicability and usability for small business and solopreneurs. More to come!

Here’s the anatomy of a prompt I have used to review a draft of a survey I’ve developed:

Act as an expert market researcher in [define the area of expertise you want it to draw from]. I want to talk to…[define your target audience] about [define the topic]. I want to know…[research objectives]. I’m trying to decide…[business question or decision being made using the data]. Below are the questions I have drafted for a research study to address this. Identify any gaps and questions I may want to consider adding to make sure I’m collecting the data I need to make an informed decision.

Be aware: you don’t have to take all of its suggestions, but it has been helpful so far!

A recent customer told me I helped them “navigate the murky water” of market research in this digitally dynamic world we’re in with tons of tools and little guidance on which to use when. If you’re needing to do research (or know a business that’s feeling stuck), I have 5 pilot program spots open through September. To qualify, you need a market research study you need to run. For $3600, you’ll get 12 hours of 1:1 training on how to do market research and coaching through your research study (including connecting you to the tools and services that would best support your objectives).

Contact me today for a free initial consultation to see if this program would work for you!

If you’re a parent or know someone who is a parent, you know the school year is upon us. For some, it might even be here. Be patient as your family adjusts to the school schedule again. The stress of homework, school pick-up times, after-school activities, and catching the bus on time can be a lot to deal with, and the ramp-up to all of it is short. Humans are incredibly adaptable creatures, but it’s still okay to be flustered those first few days of getting back to school. If you are watching a parent go through this, just know they might be looking a little more harried than usual in that morning meeting after being confused why their child thought having an open backpack, no shoes on, and no jacket ready was “ready to go.” Or why their child can’t seem to remember to brush their teeth in the morning no matter how many times you’ve said, “Remember to brush your teeth!” Or why their child couldn’t remember the “yes, we read the classroom rules and talked it over with our student” signatures last night when you asked if there was anything they needed to hand in today, and instead remembered literally as they opened the door to leave when they were already cutting it close to late to catch the bus.

So…..yeah, breathe. And take a moment to hit pause before switching gears from parent mode to employee mode. You’ve got this.