13 Practical Use Cases of Synthetic Research

In the past few years, we’ve posted about synthetic research, mainly focusing on synthetic personas and synthetic market research studies, including surveys and focus group discussions. Our write-ups covered the what, why, and how of each; however, we haven’t really discussed the actual uses of synthetic users in user research or market studies.

Delve AI’s Synthetic Research software allows you to generate hundreds of synthetic respondents using your customer data, which can then be used to conduct research studies on demand. This post will address the most practical use cases of synthetic users, like concept testing, market exploration studies, and more.

Getting started with Synthetic Research by Delve AI

Before we delve into the uses of the synthetic research software, you need to know how you can generate the synthetic users you’ll need for each of these research studies.

Getting started with Delve AI’s Synthetic Research software is easy. First, you need to sign up if you haven’t already. Or just log in if you have an account. Go to Synthetic Research > Panels from the sidebar menu and purchase the number of users you need.

Once you’re done, follow this three-point process to generate a synthetic user panel:

• Name your synthetic user panel.
• Choose the persona(s) you want to use to generate the synthetic panel.
• Specify the number of users and click “Generate users.”

After the final step, the software will generate the synthetic respondents you’ve specified, usually in a few minutes.

You can leverage these synthetic users to conduct two types of research studies:

• 1:1 studies (eg, surveys + interviews)
• Group studies (eg, focus group discussions)

If you want to learn more about how to create a survey or run a focus group discussion in Delve AI, please click on the respective links highlighted in this text.

Regardless of the type of study you’re conducting, our synthetic research platform will generate, analyze, and visualize user responses for you. You’ll be able to view the results in the dashboard – graphs, themes, transcripts, and an in-depth summary report with key insights – once the study is completed.

15 Practical Use Cases of Synthetic Research by Delve AI

Now let’s discuss the likely use cases of synthetic research, along with what they are, how they help, and check out some examples, including the questions and the output, across six categories:

1. Product innovation and testing
2. Marketing and advertising
3. Market exploration
4. Competitive analysis
5. Customer segmentation
6. Pricing sensitivity studies

All of these categories have a set of use cases under them. For example, Product Innovation includes concept testing, feature prioritization, iterative validation, and usability testing. We’ll look at each in detail; however, note that the images used in the following examples are for representational purposes only and not based on real data.

Product Innovation

1. Concept testing

Before you spend months building a new product, wouldn’t it be nice to know if your target audience actually likes it? Concept testing is one way to get this answer. It helps you validate your product and feature ideas before launch.

Let’s take Nike, for example. Suppose it’s planning to introduce a new sneaker line. The brand would first need to understand how customers would react to its new designs before full-scale production. Ideally, it would run a concept testing study, with questions like, “On a scale of 1 to 5, how appealing do you find this sneaker design?”

Delve AI lets you run this kind of study using synthetic users. In Nike’s case, it can create panels for sneaker enthusiasts, casual wearers, and athletes, and then:

• Upload product mockups, wireframes, or concepts as files,
• Attach or manually enter the concept testing questions, and mix closed-ended rating questions with open-ended ones for better audience insights.

Doing so would help Nike compare multiple concept variants across different user segments and flag negative reactions or objections before spending a single dollar on development.

2. Product feature prioritisation

As per a Pendo report, 80% of features in software products are rarely or never used. Hence, product teams need to be certain about which features to prioritize based on the value they provide to their customers.

Feature prioritisation studies work by asking your target users which features matter most to them and why. You’d ask survey questions like:

• “How often do you use [feature] in a week?”
• “Rank the following features from most to least important: [list of features].”
• “What task does [feature] help you accomplish?”

Companies like Spotify regularly ask users about their preferences and estimate customer sentiment and feature demand before rolling out major features, e.g., Smart Shuffle.

Delve AI helps brands simulate different user personas and rank features by importance across groups to build a data-backed product roadmap. You simply need to create a survey with ranking questions, MCQs, and open-ended follow-ups around feature importance and usage frequency.

You can further sort results by persona type and segments, and find unmet needs or solutions that don’t exist in the current product roadmap.

3. Iterative validation

Even after concept testing and feature prioritization, you need to test and refine your products constantly. After all, product development isn’t a linear activity. Iterative validation studies give you a structured way to gather user feedback at every stage of product development.

You can actually see whether your updates are getting better or not.

You can replicate this iterative feedback loop with Delve AI and run the same study on updated concepts to compare results. The easiest way is to start with a baseline synthetic panel and run your first study around an early-stage concept or prototype. After each iteration, re-run the study with the same panel to check reactions and usability.

Make use of questions like:

• “Compared to the previous version, how would you rate this updated design? (1 = Much worse, 5 = Much better)”
• “If you had to pick between Version A and Version B, which would you choose and why?”

You can then compare results and track improvements in product appeal scores, clarity, and objections over time.

Marketing & Advertising

4. Message testing

Message testing is easily one of the best use cases for synthetic users.

You know your product, positioning, and target audience. Now you just need a way to communicate it to your target audience. With message testing in Delve AI, you can test and identify which value propositions, taglines, and product claims resonate with your audience.

You can run this study across multiple demographic panels and additionally identify universal vs. segment-specific messages. Here’s the rest of the process:

• Create a survey that contains 3-5 message variants and ask respondents to rate each on relevance, emotional appeal, and influence.
• For example, “Which of these taglines best captures what Nike means to you? [list variants]”
• Add open-ended follow-up questions to understand further why a message works or doesn’t.

Even brands like Nike test messages, which is why they have successful taglines like “Just Do It” and “Find Your Greatness.”

5. Campaign validation

Campaign validation is a critical step you need to undertake before launching your campaign. It involves testing your ad and marketing ideas in a sandbox environment to catch any potential misfires, blind spots, or tonal issues before they become embarrassing problems.

To exemplify: Nestle operates in at least a dozen countries with different cultural values and perceptions. So they need to be really careful about the campaigns they run, because a campaign that’s heartwarming in one market could feel tone-deaf in another.

Delve AI empowers brands to test campaign briefs across different demographic and behavioral user panels. Just follow these steps:

• Upload your campaign brief, creative concept, or storyboard as a file.
• Run a survey or focus group study asking users to rate authenticity, relevance, tone, and emotional resonance.
• You can, for instance, include a question like “What is the main message you take away from this campaign?”

Also, make it a point to include open-ended questions to spot potential misinterpretations or cultural faux pas.

6. Content strategy + influencer fit

Brands develop and market products. Some brands like Red Bull create culture. But even culture-led brands need to check if their content resonates with their audience. They need to know which formats – reels, videos, influencer collabs – drive the most engagement among different fan groups.

Simply put, you need to know what content users actually want to consume, and which influencers genuinely connect with them. A successful content and influencer marketing strategy can generate engagement that drives brand awareness and conversions.

Of course, it all depends on how well you do your research.

Our synthetic market research tool helps you assess whether a content plan or collaboration with certain influencers feels authentic or forced for their audience before signing any contracts.

You can build a survey with content pillars, themes, or sample posts and ask questions like “Which of these social media posts are you most likely to engage with?” to gauge interest and engagement. Then, use open-ended questions to learn why users prefer certain formats or topics over others. You can repeat this study for different social platforms to compare platform-specific preferences.

For influencer marketing strategies:

• Present influencer profiles or descriptions to synthetic respondents.
• Ask users to rate their relevance, authenticity, and alignment with your brand. Eg, “How likely are you to consider a product recommended by this creator? (1–5)”
• Run a focus group discussion where synthetic participants react to a mock influencer-led product post.

These exercises will not only help you identify the best content topics and formats for customer acquisition but also save you from a potentially costly and misaligned partnership.

7. Positioning research

Positioning is how a brand carves out a unique space for itself in the industry. Take the case of Adidas and Nike. Nike’s “Just Do It” tagline positions the brand around personal motivation and empowerment, while Adidas leans more toward culture and streetwear.

Positioning research helps you define this ideal position for your brand or product in a competitive category. Because if everyone in the industry is saying the same thing, no one is really saying anything.

Delve AI gives you the ability to test multiple positioning statements across different persona segments to find the white space your competitors don’t occupy.

You can:

• Build a survey that presents 3–5 different positioning statements and asks respondents to rate each on uniqueness, desirability, and believability.
• Add open-ended follow-ups to understand the reasoning behind preferences. Eg, “Why does this positioning feel authentic for a brand in the athletic footwear space?”

Additionally, you can analyze survey reports to discover a clear market opportunity that you can own without triggering direct comparison or competition.

8. Brand perception research

Your brand isn’t just what you say it is; it’s what your audience believes it to be. Brand perception research helps you understand how your customers see your brand when it comes to things like trust, innovation, sustainability, and quality. It’s important because there’s almost always a gap between how a brand sees itself versus how its audience actually feels.

You can survey synthetic user panels to build a multi-dimensional brand perception map and benchmark it against key competitors.

Here’s a simple way to do it:

• Create synthetic panels segmented by demographics relevant to your brand, such as age, location, and category.
• Build a brand perception survey with attribute rating questions, open-ended brand associations, and competitor benchmarking questions. Eg, “How does [your brand] compare to [competitor] on entertainment variety?”
• Run separate studies for each audience segment.
• Use the dashboard to map brand scores and compare results across segments.

Done right, results might reveal a perception gap that can directly inform your pricing and communication strategy.

Market Exploration

You need to run a market exploration study before entering a new market, whether it’s a new customer vertical or a niche demographic segment.

According to Sun et al., “[market] exploration refers to the… usage of capabilities that focus on developing new skills, processes and marketing capabilities via the application of new market knowledge… intended to meet the needs of new and potential markets, and it requires not only market expansion but also innovation in products and technology.”

Basically, market exploration helps you test the waters before committing resources to a full go-to-market strategy.

9. Model new markets

Netflix entered South Asian markets like India in 2016. Obviously, it had to do its due diligence before expansion to understand local preferences and viewing habits; only then could it successfully start scaling any content of value.

The brand probably asked its India participants questions like:

• “How relevant is streaming video to your daily life and routine?”
• “How much would you be willing to pay for a service like Netflix per month?”
• “What concerns, if any, would prevent you from subscribing to a streaming service regularly?”
• “Are there cultural or language preferences that would make or break your experience with Netflix?”

The results may or may not have shown a strong product-market fit in urban Indian markets. Of course, other themes and topics, which would shape localization plans and pricing structure, would have also been brought up.

That said, you can easily model new markets for research with Delve AI’s synthetic research software. Just describe the market segment you want to explore, generate synthetic users that reflect this audience profile, and run an exploratory interview to gauge product-market fit and cultural nuances.

Competitive Analysis

Competitor research and analysis are not new. You probably track your competitors online, read about them, and check how they’re doing financially, right? About 90% of Fortune 500 companies do the same, using competitor intelligence to monitor and one-up their industry competitors.

10. Feature comparison + perception gap identification

It goes without saying that it’s extremely important to know how your audience sees you – your brand, product, and services – in comparison to your competitors.

Competitive analysis via synthetic users, especially for feature comparisons and market gap identification, goes beyond surface-level spying. It enables you to find the rational and emotional reasons behind why customers choose a competitor over you, and what it would actually take to win them back.

It’s not hard to run a competitive analysis with Delve AI; all you have to do is:

• Create separate panels for your own customers, competitors, and switchers.
• Run surveys, interviews, or focus group discussions, where users compare brands on factors like trust, innovation, and value.
• Add questions around competitor preference drivers and switching behaviour.

Finally, you can analyze the resulting graphs and topics to identify your brand’s whitespace (market opportunities) and gaps.

Example, if one wanted to compare Coca-Cola and Pepsi, they’d ask something like, “When you think of occasions where you’d choose Pepsi over Coke, what comes to mind?” to understand loyalty drivers for Pepsi and learn about taste and brand nostalgia without any in-person fieldwork.

Customer Segmentation

11. Needs + pain point discovery

Did you know that 56% of customers don't complain after a bad experience; they just quietly switch brands? In fact, 17% relay it to others to raise awareness, with dissatisfied customers telling twice as many people about bad experiences as satisfied customers do about good ones.

Needs and pain point discovery allows you to ask questions like, “What’s the most frustrating thing you find about [product/brand/service] right now?” You can use the results to spot problems, frustrations, and unmet needs before customers start churning, i.e., leaving your brand for a competitor.

Such studies can include interviews, surveys, and focus groups, all of which you can run on Delve AI’s synthetic users. Start with open-ended, exploratory questions, and follow up to find day-in-the-life challenges and friction points. You can additionally analyze transcripts for themes and emotionally loaded pain points.

Want to go beyond basic answers with a particular respondent? Try our Digital Twin of the Customer software. It enables you to interact with your synthetic customers in 16 languages and look for compensating consumer behaviours around existing products.

12. Customer journey mapping (CJM)

Your customers don’t directly buy your product. They first discover that they need or want something, probably something that you sell. Then they look it up online, compare ten different products, and once they’re happy with their research, they make a purchase. This is the average customer journey. Your job as a brand is to delight – and not disappoint – them at every step of said journey.

Delve AI enables you to map customer journeys using synthetic personas, from discovery via social media to purchase.

You’ll be able to run surveys and interviews focused on different journey stages and ask users to describe their experiences at each touchpoint. You can find themes and spot critical friction points, motivations, and instances where competitors win.

Exempli gratia, an e-commerce brand like Amazon might include the following questions to understand how its customers move through the customer journey:

• “How did you first discover this product or brand?”
• “What was going through your mind when you were deciding between this brand and a competitor?”
• “After your first purchase, what would make you come back versus try somewhere else?”

For Amazon, journey mapping interviews may reveal friction and drop-off points during app checkout, which might then prompt them to improve the user interface.

Pricing Sensitivity

Price is, perhaps, the most sensitive variable in any business strategy. You price too low, you erode value; price too high, and you lose buyers. Bain & Company reports that a 1% improvement in pricing strategy leads to an 8% improvement in operating profits for companies. So, it's critical that you get it right.

This brings us to price sensitivity studies. They let market researchers find the price point customers are comfortable with; the value they see as fair and competitive for the product or services being offered.

13. Value perception, willingness to pay

Synthetic users are not very accurate when it comes to price sensitivity surveys. Yet, they do help one analyze how different buyer groups respond to different pricing models, eg., dynamic pricing, subscriptions, etc. For brands that want to implement new pricing plans and bundling strategies, it makes sense to use them to ascertain willingness to pay and perceived bundle value.

With Delve AI, you can run studies across multiple panels and compare segment-level responses with questions like:

• “At what price would a [product] plan feel too expensive for you? [pricing options]”
• “Which of these bundle options feels like the best value for money? [list options]”

You can build synthetic panels by customer type (eg, premium buyers, value seekers, enterprise buyers) and run pricing surveys using frameworks like Van Westendorp or Gabor-Granger to identify the right price points for each tier. Also, include bundle pricing scenarios and ask users to evaluate perceived value vs. individual pricing.

The results might reveal the “acceptable price range” for your offering and give you evidence-based guardrails for any pricing decisions.

Final Thoughts

And we’re done. We’ve listed out all the top use cases of Synthetic Research by Delve AI, along with the best examples and methods to go about doing them. Now, you can test concepts, messages, and more to learn how users perceive your brand or product from the comforts of your home or office, 24/7.

Run multiple market studies without the hassles of traditional research. Get started with Delve AI’s Synthetic Research software today!