Jon Hutson and his team kept running into a big problem when they were conducting research for their clients.
While everyone agreed research is important, they didn’t always agree on the price tag or timeline.
“It’s often the first thing to get cut from a project budget because people often figure, ‘well I guess I’ll just go with my intuition,’” Hutson told Hypepotamus. “Traditional in-depth qualitative research yields great insights but requires highly-trained, high-cost professionals, typically takes weeks or months to field…But we really thought there might be a way to have both speed and cost effectiveness combined with actual in-depth qualitative research.”
That thought has grown into ResearchGOAT, a newly-launched AI platform for qualitative research.
Atlanta-based ResearchGOAT looks to expand how businesses do research on their customers. The platform goes well beyond the traditional surveys and Net Promoter Score questionnaires that are the cornerstone of the industry today. Instead, Hutson said ResearchGOAT creates “extensive in-person conversations where follow-up questions depend on the previous responses.”
ResearchGOAT uses its AI to conduct live 1:1 interviews and then create automated, customized analysis on each interview and project. Leveraging its large language model ensures that respondents aren’t just following the same, generic discussion guide that can lead to generic answers.
The platform also helps eliminate recruitment and scheduling problems that plague qualitative research projects today.
“Since ResearchGOAT never tires and can interview any time, any place, that mitigates many of the traditional barriers to conducting interviews expeditiously. We can field research within days — if not hours for those with their own interview subjects — and have final analysis of the interviews on both an individual and aggregate level shortly thereafter,” Hutson added. “Before AI, qualitative ethnographies have been off limits to all but the very largest and well-resourced organizations. ResearchGOAT changes all this and lets anyone with questions find nuanced answers at a cost savings of 90%+ compared to conventional qualitative research.”
Potential customers include CPG brands, FORTUNE 100 companies, professional services, and agencies looking for a leg up in their customer research journeys. But Hutson added that startups, non-profits, grass roots organizations, and even individuals can benefit from setting up projects within ResearchGOAT.
ResearchGOAT, which launched this month, has a project-by-project business model and also offers a subscription service for businesses looking to up the number of qualitative research studies they have.
ResearchGOAT is one of the early products launched by the parent company Synthetic Acumen. Hutson said the plan is for Synthetic Acumen to roll out more platforms, products, and services as generative AI’s capabilities advance and new business cases arise.
