Innovation in MRX Requires Consistency

We are very proud to be included in the 2021 GRIT top 50 innovative insights companies! This is our 7th straight year on the list thanks to customers and partners voting us in (again). We were a finalist for the inaugural IIEX startup competition and have continued innovating since. An honor like this requires consistency in innovation which comes from listening, planning and a mindset of continuous improvement. 

Before Discuss.io was born in 2013, Jim & Zack (the founders) talked to a 100 buyers of qualitative research to bring the Voice of the Consumer into the product development process and delivered the first iteration of what was needed. To this day, as we build new features and evolve as a partner to our client we focus on the core challenges we heard early on:

• The hassle of setting up sessions and dealing with multiple vendors
• The time to get insights and answers after deciding to do research
• Packaging the insights and making the research easily accessible to the entire organization.

Early pitches to investors and journalists with the vision of scaling qual were seen “impossible”. MRX professionals couldn’t see online video replacing the high quality interactions of in-person interviews and focus groups. But, as we’ve seen from 18 months of pandemic lock-down, online qual is not only as good as in-person IDI’s and Focus Groups but can be more intimate, less expensive and you can have MORE conversations with global consumers in the same amount of time.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the innovations we’ve introduced over the years:

• 2013 – machine generated transcripts that are Integrated with the video and keyword searchable with the ability to create clip and highlight reels.
• Early investment from Unilever in 2014 that pushed us to go global with our platform – live translation, international code-base and the ability to perform in challenging internet environments.
• In 2016 we added the auto Tech Check process which allowed our clients to gauge articulation and creativity while giving us the platform to scale.
• In 2017 we launched the Instant Project Estimator so clients could select the services they need per project (translation, project management, moderation, etc.) from our marketplace of partners and get immediate cost estimates.
• In 2018 we created the Save the Moment button in which we capture that snippet of insight from the consumer and save in your video recordings.
• 2018 also saw the inclusion of the Key Takeaways questions right after a session ends to captures your initial thoughts that starts the debrief process.
• In 2020 we launched the Respondent Hub to bring order to the recruiting, scheduling and respondent communication process.
• So far in 2021 we’ve launched both the Mobile Screen Sharing App and Augmented Insights (with much more to come!).

So, thank you for 8 amazing years of innovation, growth and partnership. We look forward to continuing to build and grow!