Syntethic User Research

Partial write-up of some of the techniques used were published as a technical paper on Towards Data Science.

Introduction

In today's fast-paced market environment, understanding consumer behaviour and preferences is crucial. Traditional user research methods, while effective, often struggle with scalability, resource intensity, and accessibility to diverse user groups. At Hyperthink, we have re-imagined user research by leveraging generative AI, autonomous agents, and multi-modal capabilities to create a robust synthetic user research framework that addresses these challenges head-on.

What We Are Doing

Building on the foundational principles discussed in the Towards Data Science article, Hyperthink has taken synthetic user research to new heights by integrating real-time and third-party data sources, such as Census data, web behaviour analytics, and multi-modal capabilities. Our approach goes beyond simple prompts to create highly realistic, data-grounded digital persona's that interact in simulated environments.

Key Components of Our Approach

1. Persona Prompting and Autonomous Agents:
   • Persona Prompting: Using advanced generative AI techniques, we create detailed digital persona's that capture the nuances of user behaviour, including frustrations, goals, personality traits, and demographic details.
   • Autonomous Agents: These personas are brought to life through autonomous agents that interact in simulated scenarios, mimicking real consumer behaviours and providing valuable insights.
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2. Integration of Real-Time and Third-Party Data:
   • Data Enrichment: By incorporating census data, voice of customer/social listening data, web behaviour analytics, and third-party reviews, we ensure our digital persona's reflect a broad and accurate spectrum of user behaviours and preferences.
   • Multi-Modal Capabilities: Our agents are equipped to navigate and critique websites and content, integrating visual stimuli and other data forms to enhance the realism and depth of the insights generated.
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3. Bespoke Workflows for Various Teams:
   • Product Teams: We develop workflows that help product teams understand user needs and validate hypotheses through simulated user interactions.
   • Marketing Teams: Our synthetic persona's provide marketing teams with deep insights into consumer preferences, enabling more targeted and effective campaigns.
   • Innovation Teams: By simulating interactions and exploring new ideas, innovation teams can better gauge the potential impact and feasibility of novel concepts.
   • Media Teams: Media teams can utilise these insights to create content that resonates more deeply with target audiences.

Enhanced Capabilities Beyond Thin Wrappers

Unlike many solutions that offer thin wrappers and basic prompts on top of models like OpenAI's GPT, Hyperthink's approach is rooted in a more sophisticated architecture founded in research. We blend multiple data sources, grounding techniques, and multi-modal capabilities to deliver insights that are richer and more actionable. Our synthetic persona's are not just digital actors but nuanced representations of real consumers but can interact and solve actual problems rather than living inside a chat interface.

Governance, Security and Regulatory Compliance

For clients in regulated industries or those concerned about data security, Hyperthink offers the solution with open-source models that can run within a client's secure environment or cloud solutions such as AWS Bedrock. This ensures compliance with regulatory requirements and provides peace of mind regarding data privacy and security.