Customer Insights 2021 Predictions: Evolution And Collaboration

CI leaders will shift 10% of their budgets to emotion analytics. Emotions are a more important driver of consumer decisions than rational thought and thus are the largest factor in brand energy, customer experience, and marketing effectiveness. But for the past decade, CI professionals have leaned into the precision of big data analytics instead of the traditionally unquantifiable territory of emotion. New techniques change this dynamic: AI-based text analytics tools such as Clarabridge and IBM Watson improve the precision of cruder sentiment analysis tools, while firms such as Nielsen and Realeyes bring biometric and facial analysis methodologies from the lab to the business world. As data analytics becomes commoditized, firms will shift 10% of the insights budget to emotion analytics to pilot new techniques in search of competitive advantage in the "why" behind consumer behavior, not just the "what" that data analytics addresses. Companies will reorganize to ensure CX and CI collaboration.