In 2024, Tropicana faced harsh consumer backlash like never before. The company had released a new bottle design — a smaller, PET-material jug. Tropicana assumed consumers would love the bottle’s ease of storage and environmentally-friendly packaging. 

Instead, shoppers accused the brand of shrinkflation. 

Tropicana’s year-over-year sales declined sharply in the months following the redesign, underscoring how even blue-chip brands can flop when market research fails to capture granular, emotional attachment early in the product design process.

This mishap is reflected in the modern research landscape overall, which now faces what Harvard Business Review professor Clayton Christensen calls a 95% product launch failure rate. Driven largely by inadequate and ineffective data collection, the issue is even more complicated by an average online survey response of just 44%.

Despite this lack of consumer engagement with product feedback, a transformation is underway. Wharton professors Jeremy Korst and Stefano Puntoni have argued that generative AI offers organizations like Tropicana unprecedented opportunities to understand customers through cutting-edge consumer insights software offering scale and conversational depth. 

This change means traditional surveys just won’t cut it anymore.

Essential Features of Modern Consumer Insights Software 

Many traditional surveys promise an all-in-one solution—but that monolithic methodology doesn’t work for a modern insights team. Instead, researchers need modern consumer insights software that’s flexible and interoperable tech, connecting tools across collection, synthesis, collaboration, and reuse. With cutting-edge consumer insights software, researchers can become both the architect and the integrator. 

Modern customer insights software should be a part of a sustainable quality system that grows and changes with each team’s needs. Not just allowing teams to conduct research faster, but operationalizing qualitative intelligence across the entire insights lifecycle.

Beyond static surveys and delayed reporting, the best consumer insights software is designed for speed, intelligence, and connection. The features below are essential to accomplishing those tasks:

‍

• Fast. Instead of waiting days to wait for survey responses, the best consumer insights software enables on-demand recruiting and live conversations with hundreds or even thousands of participants – live.
  
  • Industry Fact: Up to 85% of new CPG products fail, according to Quirks. Real-time feedback enables brands to pivot mid-launch rather than after failure.
    
    
• AI-powered. Instead of spending weeks categorizing open-ended responses, modern insights software uses AI (like natural language processing) to identify patterns like customer segments and behavioral insights.
  
  • Industry Fact: In 2025, Greenbook found that 47% of market researchers use AI in their daily work to automate tasks like rapid analysis of qualitative data.
    
    
• Conversational. Consumers perceive conversational interfaces more warmly than rigid surveys. Advanced software or platforms facilitate genuine dialogue and allow follow-through on interesting threads in one sitting.
  
  • Industry Fact: The global market for social media listening, for example, is projected to nearly double from $8.5 billion to $16.9 billion by 2030, reflecting strong industry investment in tools that analyze real exchanges between people.

Consumer Insights Software Buying Guide

Choosing the right consumer insights software means evaluating tools that go beyond basic data collection. 

From large-scale-conversational features to in-store tracking capabilities, this buying guide lays out the primary methods, features, and price considerations of the best consumer insights software on the market to help research teams and stakeholders confidently choose the right tool.
‍

‍

Best Brand & Marketing Team Use Cases for Innovative Consumer Insights Software 

When the Natural Diamond Council faced a pressing audience insights challenge, they knew it was time to re-evaluate their research strategy. The goal: to create a fresh brand identity that would resonate with a younger, aspirational audience. 

To do this, the Council spoke with 100 consumers in a live, conversational research session. After being presented multiple creative concepts, consumers reacted in their own words to print and video ads. The research method allowed the team to understand not just which ideas resonated with consumers, but why. With such rapid feedback, the team also finalized a new brand identity and campaign in just a few weeks.

When pursuing urgent or timely projects, using a strategy similar to the National Diamond Council’s can speed up a project. By directly connecting with consumers as individuals, not numbers in a survey questionnaire, consumers are more likely to be vulnerable — allowing researchers to reduce probing overall and get direct answers more quickly. 

Here are how the best customer insights software stack up to such a project.

Best CPG Use Cases for Innovative Consumer Insights Software

Like most companies, Nestlé is no stranger to the complexities and risks of collecting consumer insights. For large CPG brands like this food and beverage giant, a research approach must quickly and directly transform decision-making, reduce risk, and drive more effective marketing outcomes.

In a recent project, Nestlé hoped to gather early feedback on multiple ad campaign concepts. Instead of relying solely on internal instincts, Nestlé assessed both quantitative ratings and the qualitative reasons behind consumer preferences. This revealed not only which ideas resonated most but also why they connected. 

By testing concepts early, Nestlé reduced research cycles, increased confidence in campaign direction, and strengthened alignment between marketing strategy and consumer expectations. 

The result was a campaign more likely to perform in-market, and grounded in authentic consumer feedback. When selecting consumer insights software for such a project, here are some tools to consider and the use cases they’re best suited for.

‍

Take Your Research Further

Surveys aren’t the right fit for everyone. Discover how Remesh's AI-powered conversational research platform can transform your understanding of customers, markets, and opportunities.

Request a demo and see how leading brands are conducting research that combines qualitative depth with quantitative scale.

‍

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the best SurveyMonkey alternatives for professional researchers?

There are many alternatives to SurveyMonkey! For example, Remesh offers live, large-scale qualitative discussions with AI-organized synthesis of themes and insights. Tools like Suzy and Pollfish offer on-demand consumer panels and polls, while Upsiide uses mobile-first swipe tasks to mimic real-world decision-making. 

‍

What are the best alternatives to traditional tools like SurveyMonkey for marketers and brand teams?

Remesh leads this category by enabling live dialogue with large audiences. For marketers, this can inform campaign adjustments, product positioning, and messaging refinements. Other strong options include Alchemer for teams requiring API-driven flexibility.

‍

Which consumer insights software provides real-time dashboards and reporting?

Qualtrics and Medallia offer sophisticated dashboards suited to enterprise CX programs tracking metrics across channels and customer touchpoints. Remesh provides live analytics with AI-generated summaries, sentiment analysis, and theme identification. 

‍

What types of customer feedback can consumer insights software capture automatically?

In-product customer feedback tools can trigger contextual surveys based on user behavior, capturing sentiment without manual deployment. Live consumer insights software and platforms, however, focus on deliberate, high-quality conversations rather than passive collection. Live platforms are excellent for concept testing, message refinement, brand perception studies, and idea validation.

‍