Technology market research
Technology market research that reflects how people really choose
Technology market research is how consumer tech brands understand how people really choose, across the long, self-directed decision from first research to final commitment. It spans brand health, trust and reputation, path to purchase, proposition and feature testing, segmentation and the role of AI in discovery. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally, for devices, platforms, apps and connectivity.
Technology is one of the most considered purchases people make. They research for hours, weigh reviews and reputations, ask people they trust, and increasingly ask AI, long before they commit. By the time they choose, the decision is usually already made, which is exactly what makes tech so hard to read from awareness and ad recall alone.
Researching B2B software and platforms instead? Here’s how we approach SaaS and B2B tech research.
In tech, the best product doesn’t always win
Tech runs on a belief that the best product wins, ship something faster, smarter, better specced, and the market rewards you. Our data says otherwise. Across 18 categories in our 2026 study, technology was decided on trust more than anything else: 74% of buyers said trust and reputation settled it, the highest score of any category, ahead of features, ahead of price. People research tech for hours, but they’re not hunting for the best spec. They’re hunting for a brand they can believe.
So the tech that wins isn’t always the most capable. It’s the most trusted, the one that removes doubt fastest across a long, self-directed decision, and increasingly, the one AI recommends when a buyer asks it to choose.
That’s why understanding a tech brand means understanding trust: what builds it, what quietly erodes it, and where in the journey it’s won or lost. Get the product right and you’re in the game. Get trust right and you get chosen.
What great technology research delivers
In a category decided on trust and reputation, research has to do more than map the journey. It has to build the brand, showing what earns belief and what actually moves the choice, not just who’s aware of you.
We help technology brands:
- Understand how people really decide, deep in their own research
- Shape brand strategy, from vision and positioning to the imagery and messaging that build equity
- Track brand health, trust and reputation, the things that decide tech
- Map the path to purchase across search, social, reviews and AI
- Test propositions, features and messaging before you ship
- Understand how AI is reshaping discovery and the shortlist
- Build segmentations grounded in attitudes to technology and real needs
- Sharpen positioning across a portfolio of products or brands
How a tech study comes together
No off-the-shelf template. We build every tech study around the question in front of you, then choose the methods that answer it.
That usually means a mix. Qualitative work to get inside how people actually research, compare and decide who to trust. Quantitative research to size the drivers and rank what really moves the choice. Organic Intelligence, our AI and big-data practice, to read the reviews, forums and conversations, and how answer engines represent you, long before a buyer commits. Cultural and trend analysis to track how attitudes to technology and AI are shifting. And journey work, through Touchpoint 360°, to follow the path to purchase across search, social, reviews and AI.
AI runs through all of it, from how we read conversation at scale to how we model the decision. The judgment about what it means for your brand stays human.
Technology market research FAQ
What is technology market research?
Technology market research is how consumer tech brands understand how people really choose, across the long, self-directed decision from first research to final commitment. It covers brand health, trust and reputation, path to purchase, proposition and feature testing, segmentation and the role of AI in discovery. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally, for devices, platforms, apps and connectivity.
How do people choose technology products?
Over a long, self-directed research process, and more on trust than specs. Buyers spend hours comparing, reading reviews and asking people, and AI, they trust. In Basis’s 2026 study, 74% said trust and reputation settled it, the highest of any category, ahead of features and price. The best-specced product doesn’t always win; the most trusted, and increasingly the one AI recommends, does.
What does Basis do in technology market research?
Basis works across brand health and trust tracking, path-to-purchase mapping, proposition and feature testing, segmentation, and AI-led category landscaping, for devices, platforms, apps and connectivity brands. Every project is scoped around the commercial question rather than a fixed template, from a single launch to a full portfolio strategy.
How is AI changing how people choose technology?
AI assistants are becoming part of the research journey, sitting alongside search, reviews and forums as buyers narrow a shortlist. Because tech is a long, self-directed decision, where AI shapes discovery, and how answer engines represent your brand, is now part of how tech gets chosen. Basis tracks where AI is entering the journey and what it means for your shortlist and reputation.
Why does trust matter so much in technology?
Because tech is bought on belief as much as capability. Buyers research for hours, but they’re looking for a brand they can believe rather than the best spec sheet. Basis’s 2026 study found trust and reputation the single biggest driver, the highest of any category. Understanding a tech brand means understanding what builds trust, what erodes it, and where in the journey it’s won or lost.
How is technology research different from other categories?
Tech is decided over a long, self-directed research journey and settled on trust more than any other category, so awareness and ad recall miss what actually moves the choice. It’s also being reshaped fast by AI, both in the products and in how people discover them. Basis reads the whole decision, and the trust and reputation behind it, rather than the impression alone.
Which markets can Basis run technology research in?
Basis runs technology market research in the US, the UK and globally from a single team, rather than stitching together separate local suppliers. That means consistent method and comparable results across markets, with local nuance where it matters, across devices, platforms, apps and connectivity.
Technology research in action
Decoding the psychology of mobile loading speed
How important is speed, really? We paired real loading data with in-the-moment perception to give Google a quantified answer, now trained to thousands inside and out.
Learn more →
Redefining BT Group’s consumer brand portfolio for growth
A single consumer segmentation built around people’s values and attitudes to technology gave BT, EE and Plusnet distinct positionings, and now drives how each goes to market.
Learn more →Why technology teams choose Basis
We understand that in tech the decision is won or lost in the research, long before a campaign lands. So we don’t hand over a deck and disappear. We work with your team to make sure the insight drives the next move.
What we bring:
- Deep consumer tech expertise, from global platforms to challenger brands
- A decision-first approach, built around how people actually choose tech
- Fluency in trust, reputation and positioning, and the role AI now plays in the choice
- End-to-end capability across qual, quant, Organic Intelligence and cultural insight
- The confidence to challenge when it helps, and the focus to move fast when it counts
Win the decision, not just the impression
We help technology brands see how the choice really gets made, and the trust behind it, so you win the decision rather than the impression.
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