Capturing the attention of today’s consumers requires knowing exactly what they want. And the creation of the new pink doesn’t happen without getting an audience pulse-check to ensure it’s effective out in the wild. Although how brands measure data has significantly changed in recent history, there has always been one missing piece to the insights puzzle—real-time, post-purchase consumption metrics. 

Strolling Down Consumer Insights Memory Lane 

A time hop back to the early 20th century re-affirms that industry trailblazers pioneered several systems that laid the groundwork for the insights industry in the years to come.

• The Nielsen Radio Index was launched in the United States in 1942 in the form of a device that was attached to a radio, recorded when it was on, and to which station it was tuned. 
• Nielsen’s TV audience measurement in 1950 standardized ratings and gave media leadership a deeper understanding of what American households were watching on the tube. 
• IRI’s computer-based system developed in 1979, addressed consumption patterns by tracking purchases and media behavior.
• Comscore, founded in 1999, tackled digital behavioral measurement by leveraging the explosion of the internet. 

These companies’ groundbreaking innovations paved the way for consumer insights. And it’s safe to say that as the digital landscape continues to develop and evolve, the demand for integrated data solutions will only keep growing. 

A Missing Piece To The Puzzle 

These core innovations have acted as the foundational building blocks for research and data, providing companies with savvy information for more-informed brand decisions.  Even with these powerful tools at their disposal, there has always been a missing piece. Marketers never know for certain what happens after a physical product is purchased. Could a 360-view of how and when consumers use products, paired with existing data help companies fill in the gap to improve their products and customer relationships and to understand product consumption behavior better than ever before? The answer is an emphatic yes. 

Because consumers spend more than five trillion dollars annually on consumer packaged goods (CPG) goods, there is great value in capturing what happens between purchase and repurchase. Customer insights are increasingly valuable as purchasing behavior continues to shift. Marketers and insight leaders have historically relied only on claimed behavior data, which is often unreliable due to a lack of accurate recall, human bias, and other variables. Post-purchase consumption and behavior address the final frontier of insights innovation. This segment is teeming with rich data that has never before been fully understood or available Until now.  

QualSights’ team knew its clients were seeking this type of precise and robust usage data to make better business decisions spanning packaging, design, and even product, so it developed a product consumption intelligence solution. 

How Does Product Consumption Intelligence Work? 

Companies large and small now have the opportunity to measure how their customers use their products with cloud-connected coasters that capture what, when, where, and how much of something is used after it is purchased. This technology is used in tailored studies and works well with CPG products, including household goods, food and beverages, wine and spirits, beauty, and more.  

When paired with any given product, the Product Consumption Intelligence Platform (smart coaster) autonomously captures every usage occasion, including where it happens, when it happens, down to the SKU, gram, and second, all in real-time. It ushers in a new era of Precision Innovation in the CPG industry. Intuitive dashboards display the data with powerful metrics that allow study leaders to view the habits and patterns of an individual and explore detailed summaries for entire segments.  

Currently, in-home usage testing or post-purchase insights like this are being used in studies with companies like Procter and Gamble, as reported by AdAge, with more companies announcing they’re opting in in the coming year. Now, instead of guessing how customers interact with their products, teams are learning exactly how products are being used, and in real-time. 

From Nielsen To Now, Brands Re-Asses The Value Of Consumer Behavior 

Coming full circle, Mitch Barns, former CEO of Nielsen, and Gian Fulgoni, former CEO of ComScore, recently joined the QualSights board. The dynamic duo brings their industry expertise to this new era of insights innovation and behavioral understanding.  

What excites me the most about Product Consumption Intelligence is the ability to answer old questions in new ways. Questions that have been important for a long time, but it just hasn’t been possible to answer them in a high quality and economically feasible way. QualSights is finally making it possible to not just know approximately or roughly how buyers consume products, but to know precisely.

Mitch Barns, former CEO of Nielsen

With the final piece of the insights puzzle in place, today’s brand leaders don’t need to sift through endless data to see the big picture. Post-purchase research makes decision-making simpler and cuts through the noise, reclaiming the consumer voice in a time when they have frequently been lost in the shuffle. 

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