As President and Chief Methodologist at Rival Technologies, Founding Partner at Reid Campbell Group and Board Member at Angus Reid Enterprises, Jennifer Reid is a native speaker in the language of research.

Rival Technologies is a market research technology company that replaces stodgy, traditional methods of collecting quantitative and qualitative feedback with modern, conversational ways of engaging with customers. Rival is re-imagining traditional research tools (like surveys) to create mobile-first technologies that allow brands to connect with their customers in real-time through popular messaging apps.

The resulting data that Rival collects is richer, deeper and more personal, because that’s how their technology works; Rival’s mobile messaging-based research platform helps brands connect with people in their everyday lives through the phones they’re already holding in their hands. Most notably, Rival leverages the camera on users’ smartphones to collect data and responses in the most personal way yet—as a video selfie.

To help their clients and partners navigate the COVID-19 crisis, Rival collected an online community of 1000 Canadians and 1500 Americans who agreed to provide ongoing feedback on a number of issues related to the new, COVID-normal. Through this complimentary research program, Rival is uncovering insights that speak to “human” aspects of the pandemic. For example…

How are people feeling financially?

Unsurprisingly, by week three of COVID-19 only 6% of contributors felt “no concern” about the economy, and the financial impact of this crisis was top of mind for many: 57% of participants were experiencing at least some income loss, and 75% had either lost income, or were worried they would lose income. As Jennifer explains, “a friendly, warm tone helped us break through this difficult topic. We asked people to pick a photo that expressed how they’re feeling—but of course, it doesn’t matter what photo they pick—it matters why they picked it.”

Watch how real Canadians were feeling financially:

And what about our moods in general?

When consumers participate in this research, the surveys (or, as Rival prefers to call them, “chats”) begins with the same question: “How are you feeling/what is your mood today?” People were asked to pick an emoji and an adjective, and the resulting group-mood-chart is very telling.

“We started with quite a gulf,” Jennifer says. “But as the weeks have gone by we’ve settled into a 50/50 place; I wouldn’t’ say we’re feeling more positive than negative, but it’s worked itself out to about half and half.”

“That first week was a scary week. But as the weeks have gone by we’ve settled into a 50/50 place.”

Particularly interesting in these results is the relationship between “stress” and “boredom.” The first three weeks of COVID-19 had contributors’ stress levels running high, but as the new normal becomes just that, stress was slowly replaced by boredom, with optimism making a very-welcome appearance in week four.

If I were a brand looking at this,” Jennifer says, “I’d realise that the first few weeks require sensitivity. But as people move into boredom, brands could see that emotion as something that they can help address.”

Watch how Canadians feel brands are responding during this crisis:

How are we coping?

We’re cooking, we’re singing, we’re shopping. As we all continue to adjust to the new normal, Jennifer and team are realising there are more than a few behaviour and habit changes likely to stick with us, even after things open back up.

“We think of something like online shopping as a thing that most people do, but we’re seeing evidence that even after this is over people will be shopping online a lot more. As a retailer, I would be trying to ensure my online presence is as robust and effective as it can be.”

Another unsurprising shift has to do with our eating habits: 60% of participants claimed their eating habits have changed, and there’s a LOT more cooking happening in every possible way. If you feel like everyone you know is suddenly baking bread, “it’s because they are,” says Jennifer. “When we look at why eating habits are changing, stress, boredom and financial status all play a part.”

In any case, 89% of consumers plan to continue with behaviours and routines they’ve picked up throughout this crisis, whether it’s cooking healthily (or unhealthily), listening to music more often (all major streaming services have seen an impressive jump in user activity), or online shopping, even when stores’ real-life doors are wide open.

Our differences speak volumes.

Canada vs the U.S.

Differences between how Canadians and Americans are feeling and behaving reflect the differences in both our government systems and national characters. In Canada, the main financial concern Jennifer and her team are finding is around the economy in general, and different savings vehicles like RRSPs; whereas in the U.S., users are expressing more immediate financial concerns around paying monthly bills and making ends meet. Both groups have changed their spending habits; however, the big-ticket spending categories “put on hold” in Canada are more often things like home-renovations, while in the U.S. it’s automobiles.

Men vs women

Well, remember that mood chart we looked at earlier? The differences in reported mood between men and women over the duration of this research are, at least for this writer, extremely interesting.

For women, “stressed” prevails as the top mood reported in five out of the first six weeks of this research, while for men, the most popular mood choice is “relaxed.” We can speculate with reasonable accuracy about why this discrepancy exists—certain factors tend to affect women more acutely during a crisis, like childcare or extended family care—but at this time, those guesses would be just that. However, this is exactly the kind of research The51 and Rival Technologies are partnering-up to launch and explore. And there’s more…

If you find these insights fascinating, we’ve got good news.

At the beginning of this pandemic, the team at Rival decided this was an opportunity “to do something positive.” Therefore, Rival is offering reports from this ongoing COVID-19 research for free to anyone who wants it. The “cost,” as Jennifer puts it, “is an email address.”

Thank you SO much to Jennifer Reid and the team at Rival Technologies for giving us, and everyone, access to insights that will no doubt change the way we look back on an extremely unique six weeks. We can’t wait to work together to collect real-time data on financial feminism that will back-up our initiatives for a more innovative, equal and progressive economic future.

Stay tuned, folks!

-The51 team

“If it seems like all your friends are baking bread, it’s because they all are.” Real-time COVID-19 Insights with Jennifer Reid