6 Critical Insights Survey Trends to Be Aware of in 2022

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Insights survey trends you should bear in mind for your 2022 research projects

Market and insights research has evolved exponentially over the last century. Our marketing and insights research experts at OnePulse have collated their knowledge and experience in the sector to make the following predictions for insight survey trends in 2022 and beyond, in order to help you prepare! 

1. Mobile app surveys will overtake web surveys

According to WARC, 5.5 billion people will be using mobile devices by 2022. What’s more, recent research shows that 90% of mobile time is spent in apps, and only 10% browsing the rest of the internet – and this is only expected to increase.  

This is thought to be due to how quick they are to use, and the optimal user experience they provide. 

Apps have also been found to harness a number of benefits, including the following: 

• Customer efficiency – completing surveys quickly and easily without the need for an internet connection 
• Customer-centricity – addressing your audience directly as an individual, and placing them right at the heart of your brand philosophy and development 
• Cost-effectiveness – using a mobile app is typically far less expensive than hiring a market research team. 

We would therefore recommend that you consider the use of a specialist mobile survey app such as OnePulse to conduct consumer opinion and insights surveys in 2022. 

2. Whole-team involvement will be more essential  

Traditionally, market and insights research has stayed in the brand’s market research division. However, as the customer voice has continued to grow exponentially – particularly thanks to the coronavirus pandemic – teams across organizations are now looking to get involved as well. 

In 2022, we can therefore expect DIY market research surveys to be created and reviewed in a more holistic and collaborative way.  

We would therefore recommend choosing a survey solution that can be accessed by your entire team, and not just the research department, in order to achieve the best success with your projects next year!

3. Shorter and simpler surveys will prevail over longer ones

Today’s consumers are busy people; however, as noted above, they want their individual opinions to be heard more than ever before. 

Human attention spans have also markedly decreased over the years, and as the use of technology continues to grow into next year, attention spans are predicted to decrease even further. 

With all the above in mind – and knowing that shorter surveys have higher completion rates – we can conclude that surveys that are shorter and more straightforward, whilst focusing on consumer needs, will be more commonplace in 2022 than longer ones. 

Many of the available survey solutions out there offer an unlimited number of questions. However, we would recommend choosing a solution that will only enable you to send out shorter surveys to combat survey fatigue. 

This will help your team to resist the temptation of writing longer surveys and encourage a greater focus on the quality of the questions you send out, rather than the quantity. The OnePulse solution, for example, allows for only three questions per Pulse survey for maximum impact.  

4. Gamification will be key to success

As well as surveys getting shorter to increase completion rates, we also predict that gamification as a means of encouraging respondent engagement will also increase. 

Gamification elements include aspects such as changing how questions are worded to be more creative, including a survey completion bar, and providing rewards.  

For example, the OnePulse app gamifies the experience for survey respondents by offering “experience points” (XP) for each survey they complete. These experience points accumulate as more surveys are completed so that participants “level up;” the greater the level respondents get to, the more cents they then earn per survey. 

5. There will be a greater focus on a mix of survey question types 

From ranking choice, sliders and multiple select options, here are numerous question types that brands can use as part of their surveys. 

As we venture into the new year, brands will need to think about the variety of question types they use in order to accommodate for the consumers who want to connect with them and share their thoughts and feelings on their products and services. 

For example, it is likely that, with individualism at the forefront and people wanting to share their unique thoughts more than ever before, open-ended questions in surveys will be just as prominent as closed-ended ones.  

We’d therefore recommend that, whichever survey solution you choose to use in 2022, it includes a wide scope of question types that can provide both qualitative and quantitative data for analysis. You can learn more about the different survey question types in the OnePulse guide to DIY surveys.

6. Real-time data collection and reporting will play a much larger role

Real-time data is becoming more important in business development than ever before. 

In a world of connectivity and instantaneous communications, real-time data can give brands a powerful understanding of how their customers are living, thinking and feeling in the moment, and better respond to those needs. 

As explored by our CEO Mike Billingsley in this article: 

“When collecting information and insights from consumers, the first thing you need to remember is that they are human […] insights are gathered in a robotic way instead of considering how people are actually living their lives,” and “Customer centricity begins during the data collection phase.” 

It’s therefore likely that, as we move forward into 2022, there will be a greater need for brands and businesses to collect and analyze data in real-time, rather than retrospectively. 

Choosing the right survey tool is the first step to success. 

Thankfully, the OnePulse solution ticks the boxes to meet all the upcoming trends shared above, including and not limited to the following: 

• Offering an intuitive, fast and customer-centric mobile app that delivers surveys right into the hands of respondents. 
• Granting access to your wider team, and not just your research department for a holistic approach. 
• Limiting questions to just three per survey (with the option to re-engage respondents with a follow-up survey for even deeper insights). 
• Enticing respondents to complete surveys again and again through gamification and rewards. 

For more information about the OnePulse solution and how it can support your brand’s insights research endeavors in the year ahead, arrange your free demonstration with our team today!