Delivering Next-Gen Consumer Insights With DISQO

Delivering Next-Gen Consumer Insights With DISQO

By Tim Armstrong & Chris Nanda

The Importance of Applying Technology To Gather Consumer Insights

Ask any Chief Marketing or Product Officer and they’ll tell you that brands have never had higher stakes for needing to understand all facets of the consumer mindset and experience.  More specifically, brand sentiment, segmentation, competitive positioning, ad effectiveness and path-to-purchase have only continued to grow in importance in recent years.  Correspondingly, demand from market researchers for tech-driven attitudinal and behavioral insights has also increased, with help from other external factors that are making gathering high-quality data and insights more difficult, mainly, the pending elimination of third-party cookies (not to mention existing lapses in effectiveness and demonstrable ROI associated with cookies), an ever-evolving consumer privacy regulation landscape and increased consumer activity behind “walled gardens”.  Given these trends, Sageview has been tracking the broader market research industry closely over the last few years.  We believe that a tech-forward approach, built around ownership of robust first-party consumer data, would be best positioned to solve most, if not all, of the aforementioned challenges facing the industry.  Enter DISQO and the company’s next-gen consumer insights platform.

On August 26th, Sageview led an $85 million Series B investment in DISQO.  Founded in 2015, DISQO operates a first-party consumer insights platform that market research firms, agencies, and brands can query for research and behavior-based intelligence.  The company’s platform is disrupting the consumer insights and market research industries with tech-forward capabilities to deliver a holistic, permission-based view of the consumer mindset and experience.

What does DISQO do, and how is it different?

At the most basic level, DISQO connects permission-based, engaged consumers with market researchers, agencies, and brands looking to better understand consumer sentiment, preferences, and, increasingly, behaviors.  As previously discussed, gaining a data-driven and direct view of the consumer isn’t a novel problem.  Early in our diligence, we sought to understand the underpinnings of DISQO’s exceptional growth and capital efficiency in the context of the well-established, $90 billion market research industry.  While “consumer panels” and “focus groups” have been around for decades and incumbents exist in the space, it became clear during our diligence that DISQO’s approach addresses some of the key issues plaguing the industry while innovating and offering capabilities that weren’t previously available.  In speaking with customers and industry stakeholders, we heard consistently that DISQO’s product excelled in a few critical areas:

• Zero-Party Data: DISQO’s data is derived from its direct relationship with consumers and isn’t reliant on cookies, trackers, or stitching together disparate data sources. DISQO can deliver insights that wouldn’t be available without its direct relationship with engaged consumers.  Moreover, as third-party cookies and other digital tracking tactics face increased scrutiny, consumers and customers alike are focused on complying with privacy standards and leveraging ethically sourced consumer data.  DISQO’s data is 100% permission-based, offering a sustainable, compliant, and fully transparent approach to next-gen market research, as well as ad measurement and analysis
• Data Quality: Throughout our diligence, customers consistently highlighted DISQO’s focus on data integrity and best-in-class fraud reduction. With a maniacal focus on keeping consumers engaged, vetted, and happy, DISQO has been able to consistently deliver best-in-class data quality and fidelity
• API-Delivery: DISQO is disrupting the market research space with strong API integrations that allow customers to ingest DISQO’s data seamlessly into their own tech stack and existing internal processes, reducing data friction and the time from insight to action

The Road Ahead

While we are excited about the growth opportunity for DISQO’s existing product offering, we also see a significant opportunity for the company to leverage its direct relationships with connected consumers in new and compelling ways.  DISQO is building a portfolio of integrated products that aim to holistically present the consumer experience (both online and offline).  This vision includes expanding geographically and continuing to leverage DISQO’s data to enhance traditional, third-party data sources.  DISQO’s new Ad Measurement product is representative of this vision currently in action.  With this new product, DISQO gives brands the ability to accurately measure ad effectiveness and brand lift across platforms (including within walled gardens), allowing them to optimize content and strategy in real-time.  This unlocks a significant growth vector for the company while building on the company’s core consumer insights platform. These new applications wouldn’t be possible without the engaged, fully permissioned consumer audience DISQO has amassed over time.

We’re thrilled to be working with Armen Adjemian and the entire DISQO team.  We look forward to supporting the company as it builds the next-gen consumer insights platform!