The ability to identify and act on emerging market trends gives companies a massive advantage. But, how do you actually detect trends before everyone else? The answer lies in strategic market research. By using a combination of techniques, companies uncover early signals and transform them into actionable strategies.

The Importance of Detecting Trends

Emerging trends are early signals of shifts in customer behavior, preferences, technologies, or market dynamics. Trends often start as subtle changes, but grow into industry-defining characteristics. Early detection allows brands to anticipate customer needs, refine their offerings, and sidestep risks. Take, for example, plant-based foods. Brands anticipating this shift produced products ahead of competitors, capturing significant market share.

By identifying trends proactively, businesses can:

  • Lead the market by introducing solutions that align with emerging customer priorities.
  • Adapt swiftly to avoid being caught off guard by industry disruptions.
  • Capitalize on opportunities before the competition recognizes them.

How to Gather Data for Trend Detection

When it comes to spotting emerging trends, think qualitative methods. We’re referring to anything from ethnographic research to focus groups to social listening. Their open-ended nature makes them ideal for exploring broad, nuanced changes that might otherwise go unnoticed. Let’s break down four distinct qualitative tactics—ethnographic research, focus groups, interviews, and social listening—to see how they serve as great trend detection tools.

Watching For Evolving Behavior Via Ethnographies

Ethnographic research involves observing customers in their natural environments to uncover behaviors and needs they might not verbalize. It helps isolate what customers actually do, not just what they say they do.

And, it’s such a valuable tool because customers frequently create informal solutions or workarounds when faced with a specific problem. These workarounds become visible through deliberate observation, leading to opportunities for organizations to create more formal, systemic solutions.

Ethnographic research has yielded several successful product innovations across B2C and B2B settings. For instance, Ford used ethnographic research during the latest redesign of the Mustang after customers reported feeling the car to be under-powered. A concern since, objectively speaking, the model exceeded prior models’ power ratings. Ethnographic research showed that while customers claimed they cared about raw horsepower, what they really appreciated with the experience of power during the driving experience (e.g., engine vibrations, visual design). As a result, the newest redesign put a greater emphasis on the car’s look and feel to build the perception of power.

On the B2B side of things, a hand tool manufacturer conducted a study of electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople. Observation led them to one key insight: Tradespeople frequently grabbed the wrong tool while in-progress with a job. This led to lost time as they climbed down ladders or dis-engaged from the job to find the right tool. The manufacturer realized that putting symbols on tool handles would minimize mistakes and create a material improvement for their users on a daily basis.

Tips for Producing Actionable Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research often gets a bad rap. Its observation orientation leads many to fear that it will not produce business insights. However, when leveraged with specific guidelines, ethnography is an incredibly effective trend detection tool.

  1. Focus on Representativeness: Select participants that closely reflect your target audience or key stakeholder groups. For example, a fitness company could include a mix of gym-goers, personal trainers, and studio owners for a well-rounded perspective.
  2. Blend Observation with Interaction: While observing is critical, engaging participants with informal questions during key moments can add context to their actions. Asking “Why do you store it this way?” or “When do you struggle with this process?” can uncover deeper insights.
  3. Identify Patterns Over Time: Repeated observations across participants distinguishes one-off behaviors from broader trends. This requires active documentation, typically through video, photography, or detailed field notes.

Ethnographies are a time-intensive. But, they are invaluable. By going beyond surface-level preferences, businesses uncover transformational insights—whether it’s creating design solutions to align with desired perceptions or revolutionizing industrial equipment usability. These insights clarify customer needs and give brands clear paths for how to innovate.

Using Focus Groups To Pinpoint Trends

Focus groups present another open-ended method to detect emerging trends. But, their more structured approach allows for more targeted ways of exploring evolving needs, preferences, or frustrations. And, by allowing for comparing and contrasting diverse perspectives at one time, focus groups make it easier to detect commonalities or contrasting views.

For instance, focus groups played a key role in Frito-Lays’ new chip flavor ideation process. While watching participants sample different recipes, researchers noted a growing trend: a desire for bolder, Asian-inspired flavors like Sriracha or Wasabi. Frito Lay gained several wins from this work. Firstly, they pinpointed new flavor extensions for a specific chip line. Secondly, they identified a broader trend around consumers enjoying robust international flavors, a finding they parlayed into additional product lines.

The same value holds true in B2B settings. A SaaS project management tool used focus groups with small business owners to identify challenges with their current software. The moderated discussion became an opportunity for business owners to share their frustrations with the tool’s unnecessary complexity and lack of tailored templates, and their homegrown workarounds. The end result was a product roadmap oriented around simplifying the interface while developing custom workflows to operationalize organically-developed approaches.

Getting The Most Out of Trend Detection Focus Groups

Ensuring meaningful insights from focus groups requires careful planning and execution. Several best practices ensure this happens.

  1. Select a Diverse but Relevant Participant Group: Participants should represent target audiences while showcasing varying perspectives within the group. For instance, in B2B settings, include buyers, users, and decision-makers to gain a holistic view of product or service requirements. For B2C, consider demographics such as age, lifestyle, and usage frequency to capture a broad yet relevant range of experiences
  2. Frame Questions to Spark Discussion: Structure questions to encourage open dialogue. Avoid yes-or-no questions and instead use prompts like, “What aspects of the tool frustrate you, and why?” or “How have you adapted to this challenge?” Thoughtful framing facilitates deeper exploration of concerns and desires.
  3. Simulate Real-World Scenarios: Contextualize questions or scenarios to reflect actual situations participants face. For example, a food company might simulate mealtime experiences, while a B2B software firm could have participants interact with a prototype. These scenarios reveal actionable insights by placing ideas within participants’ reality.

In essence, it’s the combination of skilled facilitation, structured conversations, and engaging participates that lets focus groups yield insights into pressing innovation opportunities.

Leverage Interviews For To Identify Behavior Evolutions

A third valuable qualitative method to explore emerging trends is interviews. Unlike group settings, interviews focus exclusively on one participant at a time. This makes them especially valuable when you need to dig deep into an individual’s thoughts, motivations, and experiences. Or, when exploring sensitive topics or very targeted feedback.

One great example is Pharmavite, a vitamin and supplement brand with brands like Nature Made. By using customer interviews as part of an agile research methodology, brand managers were able to get their finger on the pulse of current health and wellness trends such as using supplements to improve sleep and restfullness. The result was the release of Sleep & Recover Gummies, a product that exceeded expectations in its first year.

On the B2B side of things, an accounting software company used interviews with customers to better understand their purchase order and invoicing processes. Interviews surfaced one key challenge that resulted in extra work for customers: the absence of an approval workflow. Customers told stories of creating their own cumbersome processes to mitigate fraud, and complained about the time-intensive, manual steps. These behavioral insights led the company to produce a new process to automate approvals that significantly minimized processing costs.

Produce Actionable Insights From Interviews

As with our other qualitative research methods, interviews are only effective at trend detection when several best practices are used.

  1. Design Relevant Questions: Leverage open-ended questions that encourage detailed responses. Avoid leading or overly specific questions early in the interview to allow natural discussions to unfold. For example, “What challenges do you face with [industry/service]?” yields deeper insights than “Do you prefer X or Y?
  2. Master the Art of Active Listening: An effective interviewer listens intently, captures tone and subtext, and probes further to clarify or expand on vague responses. Paraphrasing participant answers to validate understanding can build trust and improve the quality of insights.
  3. Adapt the Flow of the Conversation: While structured questions are important, allow for flexibility. Sometimes a participant’s unexpected comment can lead to a goldmine of insight when explored further.

As with focus groups, interviews also benefit greatly from focus. Yes, these are natural conversations. But, by using structured guides, organizations pinpoint behaviors and trends that are key for fueling innovations.

Using Social Listening As A Trend Detection Tool

While ethnographies, focus groups, and interviews have been around as long as research has existed, social listening is a new method that has only emerged since the advent of social media. By capturing and analyzing conversations, hashtags, and sentiment across social media platforms, social listening lets businesses gain real-time insights into changing tastes and preference.

Social listening is frequently thought of as a B2C solution. And, it’s true. That branch of business actively uses social listening to identify trends. Think Starbuck pioneering this research tool to track conversations about food and beverage preferences across Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok. Increasing chatter about plant-based diets and eco-conscious brands led Starbucks to introduce oat milk and other plant-based menu options.

But, B2B companies use social listening too. By monitoring online forums, LinkedIn discussions, and industry-specific hashtags, Dell Technologies discovered a growing demand for hybrid work solutions in the IT sector but fears about remote productivity and data security. These insights led Dell to innovate its product line. The company launched new laptops equipped with enhanced security features and collaborative software tailored for remote teams.

Best Practices for Using Social Listening

As with all research methods, best practices must be followed when using social listening to truly see the forest from the trees.

  1. Define Clear Objectives: Establish specific goals for social listening, such as identifying product features, emerging trends, or improving customer experience.
  2. Use the Right Tools: Invest in robust platforms like Brandwatch, Sprout Social, or Meltwater which provide comprehensive analytics on sentiment, topics, and trending themes.
  3. Monitor Across Relevant Platforms: Keep an eye on industry-specific forums in B2B scenarios and lifestyle hubs in B2C, in addition to mainstream social networks.
  4. Focus on Context and Sentiment: Go beyond volume metrics like mentions or hashtags. Understanding the tone and intent behind the conversation adds deeper value.
  5. Monitor Competitors: Observe conversations surrounding competitors to understand how they’re perceived and identify areas for differentiation.
    Social listening provides unparalleled access to live consumer and industry behavior. But, the proliferation of content online means incredible structure and focus is needed to find those truly actionable insights.

How To Pick Your Trend Detection Method

We just went through four effective methods for identifying shifts in behaviors and perceptions. This begs the question: Which should you use? Consider using a framework to select the right method for your business circumstances.

Do you need to understand environmental or cultural factors behind behaviors? If so, use ethnographies. This method is best-suited for exploring user patterns and behaviors, and the broader circumstances the influence them.

Do you need dynamic conversations that sparks ideas? If so, use focus groups. Focus groups excel when consensus-building or generating creative solutions is the goal. This method thrives on group interaction, making it effective for uncovering new angles on existing ideas.

Do you need nuanced insight into behaviors and processes? If so, use interviews. Interviews allow for focused, one-on-one exploration of emerging challenges and opportunities, fostering a deep understanding of unmet needs.

Do you need to gather perspective across a broad spectrum of users or markets? If so, use social listening. It’s a powerful tool to identify rapidly evolving trends across a large number of customer groups.

Of course, you don’t need to pick just one approach. In fact, trend detection and subsequent product innovation usually features multiple methods to fully explore a solution and validate ideas and product approaches. But, you do need to start somewhere. Use the questions above to guide your initial approach. And use additional methods as your questions evolve.