WHITEPAPER

The Future of
Consumer Intelligence

July 2023
 4.8 Billion people now
using the internet
With over 4.8 billion people (61% of the global population) now
using the internet, the shift towards an interconnected world
has become undeniable1. 87% of consumers prefer to research
products online before making a purchase, highlighting the
increasing importance of digital touchpoints in the consumer
journey2. And the typical social media user now spends roughly
87% of consumers prefer to 2 hours and 24 minutes per day using social channels3.
research products online before
making a purchase

Welcome to the era of

Consumer Intelligence
2 h and 24 min. social media
user now spends roughly per day
using social channels

1 - Source: Statista.
2 - Source: Salesforce
3 - Source: Datareportal

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Contents 5
7
The role of Consumer Intelligence
Defining ‘Consumer Intelligence’
8 Keys to a Successful transition from
Passive Social Listening to Active Consumer Insights
1. Separating the signal from the noise
2. Transitioning to Consumer Intelligence
3. Aligning data to your key business drivers
4. Not all data is equal

15 The outcomes of great Consumer Intelligence

1. Data-driven Decision Making
2. Holistic Understanding of Consumer Behavior
3. Speed, Agility, and Democratization of Data
4. Collaboration and Integration
5. Actionable Insights and Recommendations
6. Unified Consumer Feedback Stream
7. Innovation and Future Trends
8. Looking to the future

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 ABOUT

This paper explores the “As the demand for digital insights has risen and market
conditions have worsened, companies have had to adapt by

future of Consumer tightening budgets, streamlining resources, and eliminating

redundant tools. This has paved the way for a dual strategy.

Intelligence.
On one front, insights departments are bolstered, breaking
down data silos, and fostering data democratization within
Looking at how the changing dynamics of social the organization.
and customer channels provide opportunities
and challenges for organizations who need to
make sense of data, and where innovation can On the other hand, AI-powered Consumer Intelligence is on
the rise. Analyzing data at scale to make decisions in
take us next.
real-time, blending external sources such as social media,
blogs, reviews, SEO and forums with internal sources like
surveys, emails, and care.”

Cara Buscaglia
Chief Innovation Officer

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The role of
Consumer Intelligence
At Talkwalker, we think of online data* as the world’s largest It enables the integration of unsolicited and solicited feedback
focus group. One that operates in real-time. into a single platform, eliminating redundancy and breaking down
data silos across your organization.
Access to this diverse source of consumer opinion represents
a tremendous opportunity for brands and agencies looking to Social data is already powerful. However, you can enrich this data
create relevant content, products that speak to customer needs, by triangulating it with other sources, both internal and external.
and solutions that solve real world problems… but only if you can Helping you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your
make sense of it! opportunity areas and ultimately make more confident business
decisions.
Consumer Intelligence is a powerful practice that combines
text analysis, data segmentation, Artificial Intelligence (AI),
and other sources of data to understand your customers and
consumers. It also provides vital insights to shape and drive your
communications, marketing and product development strategies.

*(including, but not limited to social data)

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Defining
Consumer Intelligence
In the past, social listening primarily served as a reactive tool, Consumer Intelligence empowers you to go a step further by Traditional social listening
allowing organizations to understand reactions to campaigns, combining social data and consumer insights with other data
initiatives, products, and services, as well as benchmark against sources like surveys, customer care centers, or reviews.
+
Incorporate diverse data sources
competitors through basic keyword monitoring. (customer care interactions, SEO analytics, reviews, surveys)

This allows you to deliver insights at scale across your +

However, with the evolution of the industry, AI-powered organization by leveraging AI and Natural Language Processing Apply AI for deeper insights
Consumer Intelligence has revolutionized how organizations (NLP) technologies. By bringing these different platforms together,
(prescriptive and predictive)

harness data. It enables you to go beyond traditional social we can work faster and reduce redundancies in our tools.
listening by incorporating data from diverse sources like customer Empower informed decision-making
and strategic actions in real-time
care interactions, SEO analytics, reviews, and surveys. Traditionally departments have operated in silos, but organizations
are becoming smarter and more aware of the need to examine Deliver insights at scale using AI
By applying AI, you can extract deeper insights, prescriptive and data holistically. They benefit from understanding the various and NLP technologies
predictive, that directly influence outcomes. This shift empowers segmentations associated with different use cases and
businesses to proactively leverage AI-powered Consumer departments, all while utilizing nuanced data platforms. This is the Examine data holistically
Intelligence, driving informed decision-making and strategic
(Break down departmental silos)

evolution we’re witnessing in this field and is one Talkwalker is

actions in real-time. proud to be a market leader in.

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“We transitioned from reactive social monitoring to a more

proactive social listening approach. Now, AI-powered
Consumer Intelligence is the next frontier”

Christophe Folschette
Partner & Founder

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

Keys to a Successful transition

from Passive Social Listening
to Active Consumer Insights
The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“We’ve been working with a major CPG company where the

insights team collects business needs from innovation, product,
communication, and even HR teams. They aggregate these needs
to establish an infrastructure that covers the entire company,
meeting goals and objectives for each brand and product portfolio.
Planning this aspect is critical.”

Yan Levieil
SVP EMEA

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 CLARITY

Separating the signal

from the noise
“Our approach to social listening data includes two key areas: When considering different capabilities and platforms, there are • Clear objectives and governance are necessary, along with
Voice of the Consumer and Voice of the Brand” - says Thomas several factors to take into account. robust support for global rollouts. More on this later.
Earl, Leading voice of Consumer Analytics. Adidas monitors core
company values like Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainability across
A flexible and agile platform capable of meeting local,
The reliability of your data is crucial. It forms the foundation
•
different sport categories, engaging as an active player in the •
regional, and global needs is vital. A platform built with
conversation in real time. “We democratize the data of Talkwalker for accurate insights and informed decision-making. It enables
flexibility, ease of use, and data quality as pillars of innovation
dashboards with key senior stakeholders within the business” efficient resource allocation, reduces unnecessary costs
is critical if it is to be successful in transforming consumer
associated with ineffective campaigns, and maximizes return
data into insights.
on investment.

The right partners. In the social listening space, there is a

Complex data sources often require a human component,
•
•
growing trend of specialized AI companies focused on specific
making fully automated solutions challenging. Therefore
use cases or industries. This has led to the development of
strong customer service and professional service teams
partner ecosystems to support these niche areas. AI-powered
are of great importance to organizations when selecting
Consumer Intelligence aims to provide a single source of
platforms. It’s important to be cautious of promises that seem
truth, but no single tool can fulfill all needs. So choosing
too good to be true, such as one-click solutions or complete
the right partner is crucial, one with a robust system that
automation.
supports multiple integrations and specific niche use cases.

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 EVOLUTION

Transitioning to
Consumer Intelligence
Historically social listening has predominantly been used by Understanding your organization’s digital maturity, data literacy Five examples of objectives that our customer
marketing, communications and insights teams. and overall company objectives is essential. Global alignment
have set:
is necessary to access and collaborate on data across different
departments. Accessing tools, such as audience data or
Today, transitioning to Consumer Intelligence platforms drives
salesforce care data, requires alignment and collaboration. Gain deeper consumer insights for our marketing strategies
enterprise wide decision-making across a range of roles and areas.
This includes customer experience (CX), customer engagement Improve customer engagement and experience
(including customer care), customer insights (including market The evolution of insights and data democratization often begins
Accelerate innovation
research), marketing, innovation, sales, HR, product development with small-scale implementations to introduce people and
and management. gradually expands to incorporate more data sources and leverage Build and protect our reputation
AI and data segmentation capabilities for ingesting unstructured
Enhance decision-making with data-driven Insights by
data.
Given the breadth of application here, the first and most creating a center of excellence within our organization
challenging step when transitioning to Consumer Intelligence is to
define your objectives.

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 DYNAMIC

Aligning data to your

key business drivers
The key is aligning with your primary business drivers and This shift enables teams to operate within tighter budgets and
breaking down data silos within your organization. frees them from time-consuming manual tasks to focus on
strategic initiatives. While this transformation has already taken
place in some fields, it presents an exciting opportunity to fully
By doing so, you can expedite the generation of valuable
embrace the power of Consumer Intelligence.
insights and enable critical business decisions based on similar

Data Silos
information. This ability to deliver at scale across your organization
Descriptive
is essential. So, the next significant step in the world of reporting will be Analysis
a shift away from static descriptive reports to active dynamic
AI plays a crucial role in ensuring both data reliability and prescribed outputs. Essentially AI will help you associate insights
relevance. The team at Talkwalker continues to refine our own AI. with specific use cases, provide guidance during crises and other
For example, we have created a large language model using our business-critical situations.
own dataset, and will soon be launching a digital assistant and

AI-powered automation
copilot, called Yeti, to surface qualitative and quantitative insights
Taking a crisis communications situation as an example, AI will
instantly.
go further. It will suggest alternative messaging if your current
Dynamic
message is not landing. It will even provide tailored messages
Currently, most reports in our industry, whether from agencies for key audience segments. Ultimately, AI in this context Prescribed
or social listening providers, focus on descriptive analysis, simply becomes a much more proactive partner in responding to your Outputs
presenting what has occurred. So, as AI-powered automation strategic objectives.
continues to advance, descriptive analysis, typically carried out
by human analysts, will be seamlessly integrated into automated
reports, greatly enhancing the speed, frequency, and depth of
insights provided in your brand reports, competitive reports,
Insights
and more.

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 FILTER

Not all data is equal

analysis of While these advances underpinned by AI are encouraging, we When analyzing data, it’s essential to break it down according
Social Data must stay mindful that not all data is equal. to these lenses and further segment them based on relevant
stakeholder groups.

Let’s look at social data as an example. Social data can be

Creators viewed through three distinct lenses: creators, consumers, and For creators, this might involve categorizing social influencers,
(e.g., influencers, media publishers, politicians) customers. businesses, media publishers, politicians,
and NGOs. Consumers can be segmented by demographics
like foodies, millennials, and Gen Z. For customers, their
Produce content Creators refer to individuals such as media publishers, segmentation will align with your existing customer segmentation
influencers, and politicians who generate content with wide practices.
reach and influence in their respective industries. For these
creators, AI, such as Gpt, could play a significant role in
Consumers generating appropriate responses or content. To avoid feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data, it’s
(e.g., social media users)
Consumers, on the other hand, are individuals like you and us vital to leverage a platform - like Talkwalker’s -
who post on social media platforms. Although not everyone so you can view data through these different lenses
actively posts, their engagement with creator content leaves and apply filters based on your specific business objectives and
valuable clues about their interests and preferences. These use cases. This way, you can effectively leverage the information
Customers engagement signals act as context clues for understanding available and align it with your desired outcomes.
(e.g., feedback channels, surveys)
consumer behavior.

Engage with content Lastly, customers represent the traditional feedback channels,
such as surveys, used to gather insights from your core customer
base.

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“Shifting the perspective to Consumer Intelligence, the focus is not

solely on accumulating more data; it’s about effectively utilizing
the data you have.”

Cara Buscaglia
Chief Innovation Officer

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

The outcomes of great

Consumer Intelligence
 EVIDENCE-BASED

Data-driven
Decision Making
Consumer Intelligence platforms drive enterprise wide decision- Data-driven decisions give you objective, evidence-based insights that help you better understand your target audiences,
making across a range of roles and areas, including customer market trends, and competitive landscape.
experience (CX), customer engagement (including customer
care), customer insights (including market research), marketing, Key benefits include:
innovation, sales, HR and product development and management.

Accurate insights: Helping you access accurate and Competitive advantage: Valuable insights into
up-to-date information about consumer preferences, competitor activities, market trends, and customer
behaviors, and sentiments sentiment.

Improved strategic planning: Identify patterns, Risk mitigation: Reduce the element of uncertainty
correlations, and trends that drive more effective and minimize risk.
strategies.

Cost optimization: Optimize your resources by

Enhanced customer understanding: Deep identifying areas of inefficiency and streamlining
understanding of customer needs, preferences, and operations.
pain points.

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“Talkwalker helps give us an understanding of the data that we

then have to answer… Talkwalker doesn’t tell us exactly what to
do, but it gives us a baseline for it.”

Director of Social Media Community

Square Enix

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 STRENGTHEN ESSENTIAL

Holistic Understanding Speed, Agility, and

of Consumer Behavior Democratization of Data
A true view of how your consumers behave, helps you understand Speed, agility, and democratization of data are essential facets of
the motivations, preferences, and actions of your audiences. great Consumer Intelligence.

Leading to more informed decisions, better personalized Speed means rapid access to data enables organizations to make
marketing efforts, enhanced customer experiences, and staying quick adjustments to marketing campaigns, product features, and
ahead in a rapidly evolving market. customer experiences.

By putting the consumer at the center of your strategies, you can Being agile allows you to adapt to changing trends, preferences
build stronger relationships, drive customer loyalty, and achieve and market conditions. It helps you embrace a culture of
sustainable growth. continuous learning and improvement. It lets you pivot quickly by
identifying early warning signs, seizing emerging opportunities,
and adjusting your strategies when necessary.

Democratization leads to inclusive decision making, empowering

employees and teams across departments to contribute their
perspectives based on consumer behavior data. It also encourages
creativity by fostering a culture of curiosity and exploration.

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“To find out which product category to target and how to set
Rimmel apart from competitors, we looked at competing brands and
consumer insights using Talkwalker. As an example, we discovered
that fans loved the Rimmel foundation. Given this, and what we
know about what drives the category, we chose to mainly focus
on the face and eye categories. As a result, we saw an increase in
branded search and share-of-voice, and gained around 3x of our
initial market share target within the first year of launch.”

Cheska Teresa
Managing Director for Lion & Lion

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 PROMOTE TRUST

Collaboration and Actionable Insights

Integration and Recommendations
Great Consumer Intelligence paves the way for collaboration and Data trust is vital.
integration within your business.

Giving you insights that serve as a basis for making informed

It promotes a shared understanding of consumers, breaks down decisions, whether it’s refining marketing strategies, optimizing
silos, enables integrated decision making, coordinates marketing product offerings, or improving customer experiences. Your
efforts, drives customer-centric innovation, supports continuous data uncovers patterns, trends, and correlations that inform real
improvement, and enhances customer service. decisions.

By leveraging Consumer Intelligence as a foundation for

collaboration, you not only align efforts but also maximize the It also helps you understand audiences at a granular level -
value you deliver to your customers. segmenting consumers based on demographics, preferences,
behavior, or other relevant factors that influence your marketing
efforts.

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“At HelloFresh, data is at the center of everything we do. It was

only natural for us to turn to social listening to improve the
performance and efficiency of our marketing and communications
teams. Talkwalker has allowed us to unlock access to a much larger
conversation around our brand than ever before.”

Jordan Schultz
Social Media Manager, HelloFresh

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 SINGLE SYSTEM STAY PROACTIVE

Unified Consumer Innovation and

Feedback Stream Future Trends
Consolidation and integration of feedback and insights from various sources and channels into a single, cohesive By applying advanced analytics techniques to historical and
system brings significant benefits: current data, you can make accurate predictions about future
outcomes.

Comprehensive view of customer sentiment Enhanced customer-centric decision making These predictions enable proactive decision making, such as
adjusting production levels, optimizing inventory, or planning
marketing campaigns well in advance to capitalize on anticipated
Holistic understanding of customer preferences Real-time monitoring and response
trends.

Centralized data for analysis and reporting Integration with other systems and processes
This can help drive better feedback-driven innovation, iterative
product development and better prediction and anticipation.

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“In a dynamic work environment it is vital for us to identify

and understand customer opinions and trends early in order to
enhance product development. Its easy-to-use platform and a
range of useful tools make Talkwalker very valuable in our
daily work.“

Markus Czanta
Director Global Technical Marketing, Merck

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 RAPID CHANGE

Looking to
the future
As we conclude this paper, we think it’s also important to stay However, the next step for Yeti is to go beyond mere information Over the next 12 months and even further into the next 3 to 5
mindful that the tools and platforms you use must be run by a about the platform and delve into the story behind the data. It years, AI will play a crucial role in providing descriptive analysis
team of passionate and skilled people who have a well-defined should be able to answer questions like “How do consumers followed by prescription and recommendations. It will help
and achievable innovation strategy. perceive my brand?” This represents the second phase of its democratize data within organizations, making it more accessible
development. to everyone.

While we’re still in the information age, the pace of change will
likely continue to accelerate. A symbiotic relationship between While we already have prototypes of this functionality, it is Rather than focusing solely on insights by specific channels, in
the needs of organizations and the competitive landscape of expected to become fully integrated in the near future. As the the future we will seek a holistic view of consumer and market
Consumer Intelligence specialists is vital for success. industry evolves in this direction, it will be important to address insights across different channels. While many talk about it,
potential biases within the models. implementation remains a significant hurdle in creating a singular
consumer feedback stream - something Talkwalker and our
As such our focus on the future is a crucial part of our mission partners are striving for.
here at Talkwalker. We must acknowledge that data can be complex and challenging
to comprehend. So it’s essential to recognize that humans need
to guide AI and define its purpose. Although AI has tremendous
For example Yeti is our digital assistant that’s launching soon. It potential, it will never fully replace human involvement in certain
excels at describing the capabilities of our platform and enhancing areas.
its usability. It helps users understand metrics like engagement
and guides them in constructing effective search queries.

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The Future of Consumer Intelligence

“Another significant shift is the need “Moving forward, the ultimate goal is for
to move beyond analyzing data by Yeti to provide recommendations on the
individual channels. While that is still right insights to drive action across the
important, the future lies in creating a organization.
unified consumer feedback stream.
This will involve understanding
Businesses aim to gather solicited and consumer sentiments and preferences,
unsolicited customer feedback across all and then translating that knowledge
channels, aligning it with their specific into targeted messaging.”
business units and objectives.”

Cara Buscaglia Alberto Hernando

Chief Innovation Officer Director, Product Management

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Thanks for reading

Special thanks goes to Cara Buscaglia - Chief

Innovation Officer at Talkwalker for providing the key
insights and thinking for this paper.

We hope you found the thinking useful and

welcome questions or feedback should you wish
to discuss any of the topics covered in this report
in more detail.

Contact us

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Ready to dive deeper into the future
of Consumer Intelligence?
Explore the best Consumer Intelligence platform
available. Unlock the potential of your data and gain a
competitive edge in the digital landscape.

Visit [Link]

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