Today, many brands and organizations rely on various forms of market research to guide their decision-making strategies. The problem is that the nature of how brands conduct this research often means most executive decisions are made on outdated information.
In other words, their marketing campaigns are created under the assumption that nothing will change in the weeks between when they collected their data and when they acted upon it.
Small as that gap may seem, it can have significant negative consequences on performance. As it stands, however, there are few ways to collect data using traditional methods and make use of it fast enough for all of it to be relevant.
Socialtrait, which develops AI behavioral simulation systems for enterprise decision-making, believes the solution is to predict outcomes as soon as information is available via consumer intelligence AI, making it possible for brands to form a pre-launch strategy before committing to an idea.
The 7% Problem
According to Socialtrait's research, only 7% of CMOs report having real-time insight into consumer behavior. In practice, that means most major marketing and business decisions are being made based on information that was accurate weeks ago, in market conditions that no longer exist.
When competitive dynamics are capable of shifting in a matter of days, that gap creates strategic vulnerabilities. To put those vulnerabilities into perspective, Gartner and WARC estimate that approximately 37% of marketing budgets are wasted on campaigns that fail to connect with audiences. Not only does this waste take away from available resources, but it may also reduce a brand's ability to appear relevant.
Speed as the Business Case
To showcase its solution for the gap between research and decision-making, Socialtrait delivered a comprehensive CEO-level strategic insights report in one week, a process that traditional research would have needed 10 weeks to complete. Importantly, this was done under the pressure of recruiting access to hard-to-reach executive audiences, revealing how Socialtrait's behavioral simulation platform navigates unique use cases.
In another instance, Socialtrait used AI-driven ad concept generation to complete the process 12.5x faster than conventional methods. The AI-recommended approach ultimately achieved 50% more engagement than an agency-produced alternative, pointing to a significant change in the relationship between research and decision-making when marketing decision-making speed is a priority.
These developments matter because they exemplify the importance of timing as a variable in research.
With studies from organizations like Accenture showing that using AI for predictive analytics may improve decision-making accuracy by 20% and increase operational efficiency by 30%, it becomes apparent that insights gained after operations begin contribute little in terms of strategic value, regardless of how accurate they are.
Through behavioral simulation, which allows organizations to accurately test certain strategies on specific simulated audiences, users can let insights shape their briefs, not the other way around. When markets are as fast-paced and competitive as they are today, having more accurate data quickly could make a real difference when devising high-impact marketing strategies.
