Eureka moment that’s creating a big buzz in online consumer research

Three lessons into a computer programming course, Jordan Thomas had a eureka moment.

Three years later, the Sydney entrepreneur has launched Beehaviour, a startup offering consumer insight technology that allows businesses to track target-market browsing activity.

Thomas says the technology that Beehaviour offers is “world-first”.

“We are the only company in the world that can provide contextual research information by asking any stakeholder group questions as they browse the entire web,” Thomas tells StartupSmart.

Thomas is a consumer research expert who, over the last decade, has worked for some of the world’s biggest research houses including Synovate, later acquired by Ipsos for more than $1 billion.

Following the eureka moment, Thomas began working on the proprietary software in 2013 and launched it this month.

It’s a sophisticated browser tracking research tool that allows businesses to understand the links between online behaviour and their brands.

Consumer insight technology is in high demand around the world, with large corporations like Apple and Coca Cola racing to upgrade their systems with sophisticated tools to better understand their target markets.

Even schoolteachers could soon be using it to track student attention.

Beehaviour has already commenced work with major international brands.

UK shopping giant Tesco ran testing through Beehaviour to improve its Early Careers homepage before commencing their 2016 enrolments.

Beehaviour monitors natural and managed browsing behaviour of a test group chosen to reflect a business’s specified target market.

Once participants click record, Beehaviour collects anything from their number of browsing sessions to the text entered for searches.

“We capture everything that they’re doing,” he says.

What makes Beehaviour a world-first, says Thomas, is its ability to ask questions before, during and after respondents finish browsing.

This means clients and researchers can identify how specific KPIs like brand awareness shift due to online behaviour.

“We look at the number of respondents who have had a positive shift in considering a specific brand then we look at where they’ve been, how long they’ve spent on pages and their responses mid-browsing,” he says.

In regard to sensitive data like internet banking, Thomas says they have systems in place to prevent recording of such information.

Respondents can also stop recording whenever they please.

“There are certain things they don’t want us to see that they’re browsing,” he says.

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