A Large Independent Insights Company Improved Turnaround Time By 300% With Rev

Finding a partner that understands the research workflow

Before partnering with Rev, Koch's team tested a number of transcription vendors. However, their processes were clunky and inefficient and didn’t integrate with Shapiro + Raj’s existing workflow. “We had to email them about the project, then we had to email them the media files and give them permission to view and download these giant files. They’d send us back the transcripts via email and we’d have to save them locally and convert them into a machine-readable format. It was quite a bit of work,” says Koch.

With Rev, researchers are able to upload their files to a secure platform and transcriptionists start working on them immediately. With a network of 30,000+ human transcriptionists, Rev transcribes hundreds of thousands of minutes every day while still maintaining high accuracy and industry-leading turnaround times. Using a proprietary marketplace and editing technology, Rev transcriptionists can also scale to any order volume without impacting turnaround.

“A Rev transcript costs 50% less than a traditional market research transcription firm, plus gives all the wonderful benefits of machine-readable formatting and automation via the API. For us, it’s worth it to get transcripts on every project,” says Koch. For Shapiro + Raj, these two benefits coupled with simple and transparent pricing made the choice a no brainer.

Koch and his team were so impressed with Rev’s speed and turnaround time, they decided to integrate with Rev’s API. The API lets Shapiro + Raj’s researchers order transcripts without ever having to log into the Rev platform. “That was really the game-changer for us, realizing that we could place transcript orders at will via the API.” The API also makes it easy for them to use transcripts within their other research tools. With Rev’s API, Koch and his team get accurate transcripts without adding extra steps into their workflow.

Using transcripts to improve the customer interview process

Now that Shapiro + Raj has a reliable transcription solution, they’re able to focus on improving the value they provide to their clients.

Part of the need for transcription came from a desire to gain deeper insights into clients’ data. “We wanted to get more into natural language processing (NLP) and text analytics. We realized that those tools are out there and they’re really designed to work with full conversations,” Koch explains, “summary notes don't feed as well into those tools.” With transcripts, Shapiro + Raj was able to create a customized workflow that other tools aren’t built for. Brian’s team designed S+R AQuA™, a tool that uses transcripts to codify qualitative data, identify patterns, and draw objective conclusions from interviews.

Transcripts help researchers be more productive by removing inefficient steps from their jobs. “Our staff was really burdened by the idea of listening to all the interviews and taking thorough notes for each one,” explains Koch. Now, instead of spending countless hours taking notes, researchers at Shapiro + Raj can spend more time on activities with higher ROI.

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Refocusing energy on sourcing insights

Rev also helps Shapiro + Raj’s ROI because they need fewer resources to do the same amount of work. “Transcripts really help when you're doing telephone or video interviews. In those cases, you don't want to take notes live. It saves a lot of staff time because we don’t have to staff all of our interviews and can just get the data from the transcripts,” says Koch. Transcripts are also useful for focus groups. “You have a lot of people talking and the conversations can distract our staff from taking detailed notes,” says Koch. In both cases, transcripts enable researchers to spend more time engaging with participants and minimize the risk of missing crucial insights.

In an effort to change the way it collects and analyzes historical data, Shapiro + Raj is creating a database of transcripts. “When you write reports on your research, you're only focused on the needs of that project. So when a client comes to you a few months down the road and asks for you to examine historical data with a new focus, you might not have taken that focus into account,” says Koch. Creating a database of transcripts gives researchers a way to go back and revisit the data, often to uncover new insights. While a single transcript is unlikely to result in groundbreaking conclusions, a large volume of transcripts represents data that can be mined for trends. In effect, transcripts provide a means to conduct quantitative analysis of qualitative data