If you work in market research, you’ve probably felt it: that creeping sense of time slipping away. It always starts with the client brief, where you put your best foot forward to leverage the methods and tools in your armoury to deliver on the research need. The proposal is sent, the exhilaration of the win follows and then the delivery reality bites…
If It Ain’t Broke…
Behind every successful research project sits a well-rehearsed chain of very important, but largely uniform, tasks. Teams spend hours transforming Word or Excel documents into live surveys, checking routing, fixing snags, managing sample and quotas, updating clients and responding to queries whenever they may land.
Thanks to the production line that is online survey deployment, millions of market research projects have been successfully delivered. However, we need to ask ourselves is this really where talented researchers add the maximum amount of value?
AI Isn’t the Threat – It’s the Relief Valve
The rise of AI in research has often been framed as a replacement for human thinking. But the real opportunity lies in the opposite: using AI to remove the uniform tasks and free up research talent to unleash their creativity and deliver impact for their clients.
When AI takes on repetitive or highly structured work, it gives researchers back the time and mental space to focus on what actually drives value: better survey design, sharper analysis, and deeper storytelling. In a field where precision and speed are constantly in tension, AI becomes the bridge that allows both to coexist.
From Hours to Minutes: Automating the First Mile
One of the biggest productivity gaps in market research happens before fieldwork even begins. The “first mile” – turning a client questionnaire into a live survey – can take hours or even days of manual scripting. It’s highly technical, repetitive and prone to error.
Now, AI-powered tools are transforming that stage completely. Our own AI tool, Script Assist, converts Word-based questionnaires into editable surveys inside the Walr Platform in just a few clicks. It identifies question types, instructions, filters, and routing automatically, producing a working test link in just 30 minutes.
For researchers, that means the setup phase no longer dominates the project timeline. Instead of racing to catch up, teams can stay ahead – reviewing, refining, and improving quality while AI handles the groundwork.
The Human-in-the-Loop Advantage
Of course, even the smartest automation still needs expert oversight. That’s why we opt for a “human-in-the-loop” approach – combining machine efficiency with human judgment.
Each and every project still runs with a hands-on delivery team monitoring the process 24/7/365. The result is faster, more reliable builds without compromising quality or oversight.
The Gift of Time
When deadlines stop being a source of anxiety, teams become more collaborative. When projects launch on schedule, researchers can spend more time interpreting results and less time chasing errors. When clients get their data faster, conversations shift from the tactical to the strategic.
Most importantly, people get their time back. That fundamentally means mental headspace that can fuel better thinking, sharper recommendations, and greater impact. When researchers have time to think, clients feel the benefit.
The Future of Research Workflows
AI will continue to streamline scripting, automate quality control, and accelerate analysis. But its greatest contribution will be unleashing research talent to be its absolute best.
