2026市场研究趋势：科技与情感的融合（英）

TTEEDDRRSSNN‘26M A R K E T R E S E A R C HIntroductionPage 2Market Research Trends 2026A billion-dollar industryat a crossroadsMarket research is having a moment—a big one. The global insights economyjust topped $150 billion USD, according toEsomar’s latest Global Market ResearchReport. The biggest driver of growth? Therapid rise of research software, whichsurged 11.5% year over year to exceed $62billion USD.Greenbook’s 2025 GRIT Insights PracticeReport tells a similar story: full-servicefirms are finding their footing again. Thereal standouts, though, are the onescombining technology and humanconnection to deliver insights that arefaster, richer and more relevant.Meanwhile, WARC’s 2025 ConsumerTrends Report and Reach3’s Trade Windsboth show a world of consumers caughtbetween caution and fatigue. People wantbrands that see and understand them.And marketers? They’re asking forinsights that feel more human, moreemotional and more grounded in real life.A new chapter for insightsThis combination oftechnological accelerationand emotional expectationis reshaping what “goodresearch” looks like. Sometraditions are beingreimagined. Others are provingtheir staying power.2026 is not just about usingmore AI or collecting moredata. It’s about redefiningquality: how insights aregenerated, shared and actedupon.The following seven trendshighlight how leading insightteams are balancing innovationwith intention, moving theindustry forward while stayingtrue to what makes researchvaluable in the first place.TREND 1Market Research Trends 2026From hype to habitAI has officially moved from an industry headline to an everyday habit. Accordingto Greenbook’s 2025 GRIT Insights Practice Report, high-performing suppliers nowautomate an average of 5.1 project functions using AI.Research teams are using AI to draft reports, transcribe interviews, clusterqualitative themes, and uncover patterns that would have taken weeks to findmanually. But for others, it’s also a strategic thinking partner. “As insights leaders, we aim to take a holistic view of the business because our workunderpins the organization’s key objectives,” explains Teresa Correa-Pavlat,Insights & Analytics Lead and AI Agile Capabilities at Haleon, in The Next Era ofInsights Report. “This is why AI fits so naturally. It allows us to connect the dotsacross a wider set of data and even illuminate the need for data ecosystems to helpus. With it, we can stretch our curiosity further, move faster, and still stay groundedin the signals and truths that matter.”Page 3AI: Full steam ahead(with a healthy dose of skepticism)Researchers are finding ways to let AI handlethe heavy lifting while they focus oninterpretation, creativity and storytelling.Kerry Sette, Vice President and Head ofConsumer Insights & Research at VoyaFinancial, sees this evolution as anopportunity to make research more accessibleand actionable across organizations. Shesays: “Artificial intelligence is transformingdata gathering—accelerating speed, red