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Welcome to our Thought Leadership Report, where we showcase the most captivating insights from our conversations with industry leaders, ensuring you don’t miss out on pivotal market research revelations. We delve into the future of research, featuring thought-provoking discussions and insights from top researchers.
Recently, we had the chance to speak with Vignesh Krishnan, the Founder and CEO of Research Defender. In this blog, we will share the insights from our conversation with Vignesh, exploring his remarkable journey, the pioneering contributions of Research Defender to the research landscape, and many intriguing market research trends and insights.
Meet the Maverick: Vignesh is the CEO and founder of Research Defender and an expert in market research. His experience, spanning nearly a decade, has led him to develop effective strategies for combating fraud and improving data quality in market research.
In our conversation, Vignesh was keen to discuss his background and insights into the market research space. Let’s dive in!
The Role of Data Quality
Opening the conversation, Vignesh mentions that he noticed how the data quality in research was deteriorating, which became his inspiration behind founding Research Defender.
“I decided that at some point, data quality was getting worse and worse across the ecosystem. Research and samples were evolving pretty significantly. And our goal was to fight against the fraud.”
Vignesh founded Research Defender, focusing on enhancing data quality in the market research industry. The company’s mission is to fight against the increasing levels of fraud that threaten the reliability of research data. Research Defender has successfully addressed this issue with a small, dedicated team over the past five years.
The Pervasiveness of Fraud
To combat fraud effectively, Vignesh suggests utilizing technology and API-based solutions. The main challenge explained is combating fraud on a scale, especially when dealing with many respondents. The goal is to identify and prevent fraudulent activities by leveraging technology. Here’s how he explained the approach:
“For example, if you have ten people in your panel or deal with ten respondents, it’s easy to tell who’s a fraudster. But if you have 100, if you then have 1000, if you have a million, then you start to have issues. And our goal is to help use technology to identify and fight against these issues.”
Layered Approaches for Fraud Prevention
When asked what technology they’re using to fight fraud at Research Defender, Vignesh emphasizes using a layered approach, multiple tools and approaches to address fraud. Here’s an example that Vignesh used to explain the layered approach for fraud detection:
“For example, you probably have to look at the machine types of details, right? So, if you have individuals not necessarily in the country they say they are in, that’s a good sign of fraud. A second sign of fraud is if they’re using some automation tools. Usually, um, if someone is using an automated tool, you can tell that they are copying and pasting, getting answers from somewhere else, and so on and so forth.”
“So that’s, you know, like a second approach to fight against it. A third approach to fight against fraud is to realize that many people who take these surveys they’re not fraud in the sense that, you know, they are trying to specifically or actively defraud something. What they’re trying to do is to earn points and money, right?”
Some tactics for layered fraud detection can include verifying respondent location, detecting automation tools, and managing survey takers’ motivations to earn rewards. A multi-faceted strategy is crucial in the fight against fraud.
Challenges in Different Stages
Vignesh outlines that different stages of the process present varying challenges.
“When we work with any given client across the ecosystem, um, we typically work with them on a product on a technology basis. So, anytime a transaction happens, that transaction has to be tested for validity. Whether this is on the survey platform side, whether this is on the supply side, whether this is on the exchange side, or, or some intermediate, uh, technology, our goal is to use APIs and product-based solutions to ensure that anyone going into a given survey is valid.”
For instance, when dealing with suppliers, their primary concern is fraud due to the open nature of internet-sourced lists and potential sources such as social media ads. On the other hand, as they approach data collection, the focus shifts more towards preventing duplication, although fraud remains a concern.
Varied Approaches for B2B and Consumer Studies
While discussing the measures to tackle challenges in different ecosystems, Vignesh highlights how B2B requires a different approach.
“B2B has different kinds of challenges. You may want to be more stringent or perhaps, you know, for the fact that. You are typically paying more money for a B to B survey.”
The approach for business-to-business (B2B) surveys involves stricter measures due to the higher cost per response, allowing for more stringent requirements such as geolocation sharing and specific validation information. In contrast, consumer studies, which are lower-paying and faster, have limited leeway for extensive requirements.
Basic Ground Rules
Vignesh’s insights highlight the complexity of managing data validity in the survey ecosystem. While the approach may vary, specific ground rules remain consistent, such as discouraging duplication and disapproving of third-party proxies or routing through different countries to access surveys.
“It is a canvas, and you gotta paint what you need to paint wherever you want. So there are many aspects, but those are some of the pieces.”
The focus on fraud prevention and duplication control demonstrates the necessity of tailored approaches based on the specific context of each project. Striking between stringent validation requirements and respondent convenience is crucial for effective data collection. The emphasis on fundamental rules underscores the significance of maintaining integrity in the data collection process, irrespective of the type of survey.
Challenges in the Market Research Space
Apart from fraud, there are other challenges in the research industry, including declining costs per interview (CPI) and the contrast between deterministic approaches on the client and probabilistic approaches on the supply side.
The Future of Market Research
Vignesh sees the market research industry as a critical player in shaping the future. With the ability to predict consumer preferences and behaviors, researchers are poised to offer invaluable insights that can benefit businesses across all sectors. Balancing the role of AI while addressing human needs is a significant challenge and opportunity for the industry.
“We are currently an underrated and undervalued industry in a way. I don’t care what happens tomorrow because changes are so fast. If you look at a Google or a chat GPT, these other unique technologies are, you really, at best, can get relevant data.
As of today, right as of this moment, we sit in a space where we can tell you the preferences for tomorrow, and I think that’s really powerful. It’s a new world out there, and we built many great products, services, and outcomes. And that’s really what I’ll be looking forward to.”
Conclusion
The market research landscape is evolving, with fraud detection and data quality at the forefront of the industry’s concerns. Companies like Research Defender are leveraging technology and multi-layered strategies to tackle these issues. Improving response rates remains a persistent challenge, but Voxco addresses this by using multi-modal tools to collect data, meeting respondents through online surveys, telephone, IVR, and face-to-face methods. This approach aims to incrementally increase response rates across different demographics.
Additionally, transforming collected data into actionable insights is crucial. Innovative methods are being explored, although they must be carefully balanced with data privacy considerations. With data privacy regulations on the horizon, the market research space continues to be a dynamic and promising field for budding researchers.