This post first appeared on the Insight Platforms blog.
It’s no secret that AI-assisted tools and solutions are becoming indispensable assets for research. After walking around the floor at several conferences this year, an idea occurred to me: managing buyer and user expectations for AI research tech must be challenging. There are more and more AI-assisted products and services out there, and navigating them is already a difficult venture. While everyone wants to be more efficient, few are willing to assume the risk that comes with trying out something new.
So, I sat down with a few founders from companies that use AI and picked their brains on their experience with common buyer objections and managing user expectations:
Greg (Tellet): Tellet is a platform that uses AI for moderating and analyzing qualitative research interviews. It allows you to design, launch and analyze conversational AI interviews in one place, making it faster, cheaper, and easier to gather and interpret customer insight.
Alex & Ran (SurveyMind): SurveyMind is a transcription analysis platform for focus groups and qualitative researchers. It offers self-service transcription and analysis, with optional consultation services to assist users in ensuring comprehensive data comparisons and theme analysis.
Tovah (Fathom): Fathom is a thematic coding and text analytics platform that combines AI with expert human supervision to slash open-ended analysis time while delivering high-quality text analytics for market researchers and customer insights teams.
Karlien (Hello Ara): Hello Ara uses AI for Conversational AI, AI Analytics, and modeling of structured and unstructured data, also focusing on research in metaverse environments. The process emphasizes human-AI collaboration for creativity and efficiency.
Greg (Tellet): The main challenges are concerns around InfoSec, data security, and GDPR. That’s why we took the decision to build Tellet on Azure; this ensures that customer data is never used to train AI models, and for our European clients, their data stays within the EEA (our servers are in Sweden and The Netherlands). We’re also in the process of completing our ISO27001 certification, the gold standard in InfoSec, and of course, we’re GDPR-compliant. Some buyers also have a mindset of expecting AI to simply replicate traditional methods, just faster and cheaper. While that’s true to an extent, our platform opens up new ways to gather insights, which can require a bit of a mindset shift.
Alex & Ran (SurveyMind): Skepticism and uncertainty around AI are way more common than you would think – a lot of buyers aren’t yet ready to fully “embed the process” due to concerns over data security and GDPR. There’s a need for handholding as clients expect guidance and reassurance along the way. What people really like seeing, though, is the results. People's expectations of AI are much more rigorous than if it were a human. Everyone makes mistakes every now and then, but if AI makes one single mistake, in many people’s minds, it’s vetoed unreliable.
Tovah (Fathom): On the one side of the spectrum, a lot of customers have tried lots of text analytics solutions over the years, and have been consistently underwhelmed. For those folks, it’s about overcoming skepticism and showing how Fathom really delivers unparalleled nuance and accuracy. On the other side of the spectrum, some customers are hoping AI is a magic bullet for thematic coding, and start off thinking they want a fully automated solution. But then when we get into it, they also want nuance and control and customizability. So for those folks, it’s about helping them understand how important the human-in-the-loop component is to delivering the kind of nuance, accuracy, and context adaptability they need - with just a touch of human guidance. And of course, data security and privacy come up - which is great! We’re SOC2 certified and make all of our data security practices super transparent - so we’re always happy to be having those conversations.
Karlien (Hello Ara): We started selling conversational AI before the big AI boom and we knew very well that some of our audience would struggle to move away from the “traditional” survey. In the last year or so, Generative AI has changed the landscape and accelerated the adoption curve. Even before, we always targeted end clients who we knew were ahead of the curve in their thinking and openness to adopt new technology. Some of our clients still don't want pure Generative AI interviewers - they are worried about them going off track (which can have reputational risk in sensitive categories) and they want to know that the humans who are in charge know how to use Generative AI.
Greg (Tellet): We directly address data handling concerns with transparency about our platform security and certifications. We also encourage any potential client to create a space for experimentation and allow teams to pilot Tellet. Our one-off project fee lets organizations of any size explore AI-moderated qualitative research without having to commit to a subscription.
Alex & Ran (SurveyMind): One of my hat tricks is asking people to send me some old data they want to structure – something they’re okay to share. Then I plug that into our platform to help them see what our AI can do. People don't like seeing generic and fake data. We also emphasize that AI enhances rather than replaces researchers. Transparency with infrastructure and guarantees about data handling also build trust. We're not going to train our models on your data, and we're very upfront about it. We always show our infrastructure diagrams as well to prove that.
Tovah (Fathom): First and foremost, demonstrating tangible value that directly solves their business challenge! For a minute I think there was an AI hype cycle where there was a bit of exploring AI solutions just for the sake of having AI solutions. That’s over. You need to deliver value that solves real problems. We offer a free trial so folks can experience the power of Fathom on their data! We support a lot of organizations working with really sensitive data - so after that, it’s about being good partners through the infosec process and making sure the users, the managers, the AI policy people, the IT people are all super confident in the data security and privacy protocols.
Karlien (Hello Ara): Discussing clear use cases of AI and ensuring skilled human oversight is important for reassuring clients about Generative AI’s role. We are very clear with clients on how we will (and will not) be using Generative AI and that our humans are knowledgeable and well-versed in using Generative AI and all its caveats.
Greg (Tellet): Start with a pilot project and let people play around. Be transparent about data security along with trial opportunities. Stay ethically sound and show the value of the solution.
Alex & Ran (SurveyMind): Free trials, money-back guarantees. Don’t lock people into long-term contracts with high prices. Show how powerful AI can be but hold people’s hands. Offload the risk from the client.
Tovah (Fathom): AI isn’t value—it’s a way to get to value. In other words, AI opens a door and helps save time, energy, and money, but to be truly valuable, you need to be solving critical business challenges for the buyer. Always keep that front and center and as an extra tangent tip, stop to consider how implementing AI processes may impact business/research operations and how to do that in ways that enable people to be their best selves and to be happy, creative, and collaborative.
Karlien (Hello Ara): Be knowledgeable, supportive, and transparent. Leverage knowledgeable human teams to explain AI usage clearly, making sure that clients understand and trust the process.
If you take anything away from this article, let it be this: AI does not replace or intends to replace the human element; instead, it enhances the research process.
The key to successful adoption lies in transparency, collaboration, and reassurance. Addressing buyer concerns—particularly around data security and integration—requires clear communication. As the landscape continues to mature and evolve, remember that AI is not just a tool, but an integral partner in driving innovation and efficiency in the research domain. With support and commitment to ethical use, organizations can navigate this exciting frontier with confidence, unlocking new potentials and setting the stage for future advancements in insights.
Looking for the next AI tool to add to your research arsenal? Have a look at Insight Platforms' AI Tools for Research & Insights Market Landscape with over 250 tools.