It seems consumers are mystical beings at times, with behaviors that make no sense. However, with the right text analysis software, your brand will have the key to unlock consumer wants, desires, needs and feelings.
And if you’re not sure what text analysis software is, hang on as we will define it and focus on these major points:
- What text analysis software is and why your company should care about it
- The inner workings of this wordy bit of software business
- Sorting out what a text analysis software tool should have
And text analysis software certainly comes in handy:
- Ninety percent of all data in the world we have created in as little as 24 months – that’s 2.5 quintillion bytes per day!
- Around 80% of data available to companies comes in the form of unstructured data and this includes posts, videos and pictures on social media.
Text Analysis Software 101
When we talk about text analysis software, we are talking about more than just spotting keywords or characters in consumer and marketing research. We’re deriving meaning from all the data that is floating through the internet. This includes articles, blogs, social media data, research papers, consumer reports, even patents, and pretty much anything that has text attached.
Ninety percent of all data in the world has been created in as little as 24 months –that’s 2.5 quintillion bytes per day. And analyzing all of this would be insurmountable if it weren’t for text analysis software. And for brands, analyzing this text-based data in real time is critical to making the right business decisions. Real-time is the key here, as what works now may change in drastic ways tomorrow. And there’s only one way to stay on top of these shifts – text analysis software.
Having the most up to date intel around what the world is saying right now has never been more important for brands. And text analysis software is the marketer’s way to capture the the word on the virtual street. So, how does it work?
How Text Analysis Software Works
Text analysis software utilizes advanced AI and algorithms to aggregate, organize and cluster together conversations with semantic connections – turning text into context. That’s catchy isn’t it? Turning text into context. Better than that, it’s actionable. And it shows up as an interactive data visualization for deeper and more efficient dives into insights.
So, you may have clusters that speak to breakfast for example, but are sorted using text analysis by cereal, breakfast habits and behaviors, egg dishes, geographical breakfasts, etc.
Also, be sure to note that around 80% of data available to companies comes in the form of unstructured data. This includes the heartbeat of your consumer base – social media.
So, on a consumer analytics and sentiment analysis tool level, text analysis software can segment these online posts, pictures and videos into consumer categories. This may create buckets of common interests, sentiments, or even other brands that consumers are talking about.
Text analysis software is a tool that provides insights from a vast selection of data sources, quickly and accurately providing vital intel for your brand. And this information can be used to inform campaign planning, understand brand health or even discover unexplored areas of consumer connection and more.
Best Text Analysis Software Criteria
Sadly, not all text analysis software is created equal. If it were, we wouldn’t be writing this guide for you. We’ve included some insight on what we believe to be absolutely non-negotiable when looking at different tools for text analysis.
First off, does this text analysis software have Next Generation AI with NLP?
If not, you should move on. Natural language processing is critical. NLP deciphers and performs deep parsing and grammatical analysis of data. It normalizes and organizes conversations into semantic categories for easier analysis. And having Next Generation AI means it’s getting smarter all the time, evolving as the times and technology changes.
Can this tool drill down to the granular level?
For starters, you want your tool to investigate the source of insight down to its granular level. A timeline with peaks and dips does no good if you can’t see what’s behind those fluctuations. Same thing as with text analysis. When it comes to consumer behavior research surrounding breakfast, understanding what’s behind eat or not eat, for example is critical intel to have. What are they eating and not eating and why? Below when we explore what’s behind Eat, we discovered a common thread and higher interest in healthy options such as low-fat yogurt and oatmeal. This intel could help a brand decide the direction they need to go in when developing their next food product.
Does it have sentiment and is it accurate?
A good text analysis software provides a company guidance on consumer feelings, and these feelings are attached to text. You want to be sure that all these many words are being sorted correctly by the true intent of the consumer. Incorrect sorting can give you false intel, so accuracy should be central to your text analysis software tool criteria.
For example, the difference in being able to tell if the word love actually means love as in, “I love oatmeal!” Or if it is meant sarcastically as in “I just love bills!”.
Can it process slang, regional or urban words?
You can’t leave out slang. Can the text analysis software tool in question read these ever-evolving slang words such as Basic AF, Rad, Kewl, etc. And what about regional dialects, such as pop vs soda? If the tool can’t identify these, then your company isn’t getting the whole picture, especially from the younger generations who embrace alternate spellings and urban words. Because consumers are always evolving, so is language – and you need a text analysis software tool that can evolve with the generations and linguistic trends.
Where’s the passion?
Passion intensity also needs to be measured. A consumer may be feeling happy or sad about a product, but to what intensity? Passion intensity gives clues to how attached or committed a consumer is to what they are saying or feeling. For example, below Happiness is our largest word which is indicative of how connected to this emotion consumers are when it comes to breakfast:
Can I bring my own insights?
And finally, great text analysis software will allow you to bring your own insights and integrate them into the tool. This can be company surveys, employee analysis or intel from places like Hootsuite. This ability helps you curate the intel that really matters to your company, instead of being stuck with some predefined set of options.
NetBase Quid can do all of this and more, including helping build reports for strategic decision making that you can share with your team or clients. So, if you’re ready to work smarter and not harder, reach out for a demo of our text analysis software and learn to read consumer and market intelligence with AI-powered glasses!
