Hansa Research Transforms Market Research with AI-Powered Consumer Insights

The global market research industry, valued at over $76 billion, stands at a fascinating crossroads where artificial intelligence meets human psychology. While many perceive market research as simply "making questionnaires and collecting data," the reality involves sophisticated consumer behavior analysis that drives billion-dollar business decisions.

Leading this transformation is Pravin Nijara, CEO of Hansa Research, India's largest homegrown market research company, who brings over three decades of industry expertise to decode how AI and human insight are reshaping consumer understanding.

This conversation reveals why the future of market research lies not in replacing human intelligence with AI, but in creating powerful synergies between technological efficiency and human strategic thinking.

The Perception Problem: Market Research's Hidden Complexity

"People don't know enough about market research for them to decide yes or no whether they want to make a career in market research," explains Nijara, reflecting on a persistent industry challenge.

Unlike the perceived glamour of advertising or brand management, market research has long suffered from misconceptions about its scope and impact. The reality extends far beyond basic data collection to encompass intricate client consultations, business problem analysis, sophisticated study design, and most critically, data interpretation that influences major corporate decisions.

"You give reports where clients then possibly make changes to add some new machinery worth 100 crores. All of that coming from feedback and surveys and research," Nijara emphasizes.

Hansa Research's Evolution

This complexity becomes evident when examining Hansa Research's evolution. Founded 40 years ago by Ashok Das in partnership with the Lowe Lintas group, the company gained prominence through the Indian Leadership Survey contract in 2003, which required establishing 16 field offices across India.

This infrastructure foundation enabled expansion into diverse research verticals, from traditional brand studies to cutting-edge customer experience analytics. Today, Hansa Research serves over 800 clients across 100+ countries, combining expertise and technology to help businesses make informed strategic decisions.

Technology's Transformation of Data Collection

The market research landscape has undergone dramatic technological evolution, fundamentally changing how consumer insights are gathered. Nijara identifies multiple disruption points across the data collection spectrum, each addressing traditional methodology limitations.

Traditional face-to-face interviews, while still utilized, now compete with Computer Assisted Telephonic Interviewing (CATI), which comprises 60% of Hansa Research's business. These brief 5-10 minute phone interviews provide rapid consumer feedback at scale.

Online Data Collection Revolution

However, the most significant advancement lies in online data collection methodologies.

"You get a database of customers of your clients and you send out surveys to the customers either through SMS where there's a link in the SMS and you click on the link and a questionnaire opens up," Nijara explains.

This direct-to-consumer approach eliminates intermediary delays and provides real-time access to target demographics. Consumer panel companies represent another technological leap forward, maintaining extensive databases of demographically diverse participants who can be precisely targeted based on specific criteria.

Need feedback from women who recently purchased financial products? Panel companies can identify and survey exactly that demographic within hours. Additionally, emerging technologies like QR codes enable instant feedback collection at physical touchpoints, creating seamless research integration into customer journeys.

AI-Powered Analysis: The Game Changer

While data collection improvements offer efficiency gains, artificial intelligence's impact on analysis represents a fundamental industry shift. Facial coding and eye-tracking technologies now provide unprecedented insight into consumer emotions and behaviors during product interactions.

Nijara describes a practical application: website and app user experience research.

"We use technology where there's software in the laptop and we're telling the respondent to go about the website. The software is capturing their expressions really quickly. Sometimes you find respondents getting upset with too much navigation - his expressions change, and it's capturing all of that."

Bridging the Claimed vs. Actual Behavior Gap

This technological approach addresses a critical research limitation: the gap between claimed responses and actual behavior. Previously, researchers relied solely on consumer self-reporting about their website experience. Now, facial expression analysis provides objective data about frustration, satisfaction, and engagement levels, creating a more complete picture when combined with verbal feedback.

The speed advantage is equally significant. "Clients don't need to wait for two or three months now to get an entire market research study done. Sometimes it can get done in a week's time and if it's a really small study they can get the feedback the very next day itself."

The Human Factor: Why AI Needs Human Intelligence

Despite technological advancement, Nijara maintains a balanced perspective on automation's role.

"Technology can make the operational part of the entire project journey much faster, smoother and possibly more accurate. But you still need a human being at the end of it to make sense of the data."

This human-AI collaboration model recognizes that while technology excels at pattern recognition and operational efficiency, strategic interpretation requires human expertise.

"We are overestimating what technology can do only because we don't know enough about it," Nijara observes, highlighting the importance of understanding technological limitations alongside capabilities.

The Strategic Decision-Making Component

The operational aspects of research - data collection, basic analysis, and pattern identification - increasingly benefit from automation. However, the critical decision-making component remains inherently human.

Should a company proceed with a product launch? How should marketing strategy evolve based on consumer insights? These strategic determinations require contextual understanding, industry knowledge, and business acumen that current AI capabilities cannot replicate.

Market Applications and Client Success Stories

Hansa Research's client portfolio demonstrates market research's broad applicability across industries and company sizes. The primary demand comes from FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) and BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) sectors, with additional significant activity in automotive, manufacturing, e-commerce, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals.

Geographic scope typically spans pan-India coverage, reflecting the country's diversity.

"What happens in Punjab doesn't happen in Tamil Nadu and what happens in Tamil Nadu doesn't happen in Orissa or Gujarat," Nijara notes.

This complexity requires research across 6-25 cities depending on the study's objectives, making India both an interesting and challenging market for consumer research.

Post-COVID Digital Transformation

The variety of applications extends from traditional brand research and advertising testing to modern customer experience optimization. Post-COVID digital transformation has particularly increased demand for app and website user experience studies, as companies prioritize digital customer touchpoints over traditional call centers and branch visits.

Synthetic Data and the Future Landscape

Looking ahead, Nijara identifies synthetic data as a potentially transformative development. This technology creates additional data points from existing consumer interviews, potentially expanding 100 consumer responses into 300 meaningful data points through sophisticated algorithms.

"It's not fabricated data. It's data that still makes sense to very accurate algorithms," Nijara clarifies.

This approach could significantly reduce client costs while maintaining research quality, eliminating the need for larger sample sizes in certain study types.

Economic Factors in Technology Adoption

However, India's position as one of the world's cheapest research markets may delay synthetic data adoption.

"The tendency will still be oh let me go and do 300 interviews because data collection is not that expensive yet in India."

This economic factor suggests that technological adoption patterns may vary significantly across global markets.

Industry Evolution: Multiple Research Methodologies Coexisting

Rather than complete replacement of traditional methods, Nijara envisions an ecosystem where multiple research approaches find their respective niches.

"Earlier it was just through market research agencies. Today it's through your own data, through AI, through technology, all of that. Everything will find its space."

This perspective draws parallels to entertainment industry evolution, where streaming platforms didn't eliminate cinema but forced traditional venues to adapt and find new positioning. Similarly, market research agencies must evolve their value propositions while maintaining core competencies in data interpretation and strategic guidance.

The Data Abundance Challenge

Companies increasingly analyze their own transaction data and customer feedback through automated systems. However, this internal capability often generates data abundance without corresponding analysis expertise.

"They'll have a system set up where they're collecting constant feedback from customers on a daily basis. But one year, two years down the line, they don't know what to do with so much data that's coming in."

Key Takeaways for Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders

The evolution of market research offers several critical insights for business leaders navigating today's data-rich environment:

1. Embrace Technology Without Abandoning Human Insight

The Strategy: The most successful research strategies combine technological efficiency with human analytical capabilities.

The Reality: Automation handles operational tasks while human expertise drives strategic interpretation.

Your Action: Invest in both AI tools and skilled analysts who can translate data into actionable business strategies.

2. Understand Market Research's True Scope

The Strategy: Beyond basic data collection, modern market research provides sophisticated consumer behavior analysis.

The Reality: Research insights can justify significant business investments and prevent costly mistakes.

Your Action: Allocate appropriate budget and resources to research as a strategic business function, not just a data collection exercise.

3. Speed is the New Competitive Advantage

The Strategy: Technology-enabled research can deliver insights in days rather than months.

The Reality: Faster insights enable quicker business decision-making and market responsiveness.

Your Action: Partner with research providers who leverage technology for rapid turnaround without sacrificing quality.

4. Data Quality Matters More Than Quantity

The Strategy: With synthetic data and panel technologies, focus shifts from sample size to insight accuracy.

The Reality: Strategic targeting becomes more valuable than broad data collection.

Your Action: Prioritize precision in research design and participant selection over large sample sizes.

5. Prepare for Continued Evolution

The Strategy: The research landscape will continue evolving rapidly.

The Reality: Adaptation to new methodologies while maintaining focus on actionable insights is crucial.

Your Action: Build flexibility into your research processes and partnerships to accommodate emerging technologies.

For entrepreneurs building companies in today's environment, market research represents both a competitive advantage and a necessary investment. Understanding consumer behavior through sophisticated analysis methods can prevent costly product failures and identify untapped market opportunities.

As Nijara's experience demonstrates, the field offers substantial personal and professional satisfaction while driving significant business impact. The future belongs to organizations that effectively combine technological capabilities with human wisdom, leveraging the best of both worlds to understand and serve their customers better.

About the Guest

Pravin Nijara serves as CEO of Hansa Research, India's largest homegrown market research company. With over three decades of experience in market research, Nijara has witnessed and led the industry's transformation from traditional methodologies to AI-powered consumer insights. He graduated from NMIMS in marketing in 1996 and spent significant time at IMRB (later Kantar) before joining Hansa Research in 2019.

Under his leadership, Hansa Research has expanded its technological capabilities while maintaining focus on human-centered analysis. The company serves over 800 clients across 100+ countries, combining deep expertise with proprietary technology to provide strategic solutions for business growth.

Hansa Research is a global consumer insight company that combines expertise and technology to help businesses understand and serve their customers better. Founded 40 years ago, the company has evolved from traditional market research to become a leader in AI-powered consumer insights, serving clients across FMCG, BFSI, automotive, healthcare, and technology sectors.