NLP + Human Expertise: The New Power Duo in CPG Research

While many in the CPG space, including us, are buzzing about the potential of generative AI, don’t forget the game-changer that is Natural Language Processing (NLP) – the technology that helps us understand and analyze what consumers are telling us at scale.

As CPG innovators, we know how valuable consumer feedback is to unlocking possibilities. That's why Mission Field is constantly exploring how and when to integrate NLP into our research toolkit. We're doing this while maintaining the same rigorous data privacy and security standards any large CPG client would expect, especially when handling sensitive innovation ideas and consumer information.

Why NLP is a Research Game-Changer

If you've ever spent weeks analyzing open-ended survey responses (I know I have!), you'll appreciate this: NLP can help uncover patterns, sentiments, and themes in hours rather than days or weeks. NLP lets you work not just faster – but gives you the ability to process more data and uncover insights that might have been missed before.  It also helps us avoid our own inherent & subconscious biases when analyzing qualitative responses.

For example, we recently conducted 30-50 ethnographies for a project, allowing us to dive deep with multiple sub-target audiences and identify differences in their needs and problems that our client could solve, and got results within days.  Days!  Previously, it would have been both cost and time prohibitive to conduct that many ethnos for almost any project.

The real magic happens when we combine NLP with our human expertise. Think of it as having a brilliant research assistant who can quickly spot patterns across thousands of responses, freeing up our time to dig deeper into the "why" behind these patterns.

For example, imagine launching a new skincare product. NLP could analyze thousands of online reviews, quickly showing us that customers love your natural ingredients but struggle with the packaging. Armed with these insights, our research team can then design targeted follow-up studies to understand exactly what packaging changes would resonate with your consumers.

Real and Responsible: Human Expertise Matters

Those of you who've worked with us know that good research is about more than just data analysis. While NLP is fantastic at processing large amounts of information, it can't completely replace the strategic thinking that comes from years of CPG experience – understanding market dynamics, anticipating consumer needs, and designing research that gets to the heart of what matters. We see NLP as a powerful tool in our research toolkit. It's about using technology smartly to give you better insights, faster. That way we can focus more of our time building on those insights and marrying them up with the strategic thinking needed to drive real innovation.

Looking to unlock better consumer insights? Reach out to us at hello@mission-field.com.