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In the current economic climate, we continue to witness both Europe and the US suffering from soaring inflation, numerous supply chain disruptions and a widespread, Russia-fuelled energy crisis. As a result, an unprecedented level of pressure is being applied to businesses across these regions simply to stay afloat.

These economic woes have arisen in tandem with the rapid digitization that has been instigated by the global pandemic, which has provided a number of businesses with a lifeline. One of the most integral aspects of this digital revolution has been the growing prominence of data and customer insights, with more and more companies leaning on research as a means of surviving in an increasingly competitive environment. Data-driven organizations, for instance, are 23 times more likely to acquire customers and six times as likely to retain customers.

However, carrying out your own research and collecting in-depth data is an expensive, time-consuming endeavor. This prices out many companies from a tool that can often be the difference between success and—in worst-case scenarios—bankruptcy. Research provides businesses with much-needed customer insights, helping companies gain a competitive advantage and build high-performing customer experiences. 73% of companies with above-average customer experiences perform better financially than their competitors.

Maze, a Continuous Product Discovery Platform for user-centric product teams, is striving to change this. Through its democratized approach to data collection, it aims to address the challenges that currently exist in running research effectively and the ability of businesses to collect insights at every stage of product development.

Maze
Maze

Maze empowers product teams to continuously collect and consume user insights at an expert level. This kind of qualitative and quantitative research would usually require complex methodologies and teams of expensive field experts, but through Maze, all businesses—from small and medium-sized firms to large-scale enterprises—are able to obtain their own in-depth insights through surveys, usability tests and a variety of other research methods with the help of Maze reports, integrations, templates, and expert-level content.

"The spark behind Maze was lit when we saw a real problem in the way that product teams were building their products. This process is constantly evolving, and the need to ensure that every product-based decision is data-backed is now more important than ever. But we noticed that many businesses were either paying exorbitant amounts for data that would not have much of an impact, or they were foregoing the acquisition of data and thereby missing out on key insights," outlines Jonathan Widawski, Co-Founder and CEO of Maze.

The solution was a democratized, cost-effective research option that had previously never existed. Maze helps users to quantify data for businesses through the use of customer input. The platform serves as a product research platform that facilitates the collection of data, before then automatically packaging it up into detailed, user-friendly reports.

The applications of this research include the testing of prototypes, the validation of specific content, the measurement of consumer satisfaction, and more. With more than 60,000 brands regularly capitalizing on Maze's features, the company is powering toward its mission of opening up real-time consumer insights and making this data accessible to more businesses and organizations.

93% of small business owners in the US are worried about the economy suffering a recession within the next twelve months, while three-quarters stress that the current 40-year-high inflation has had a negative impact on the health of their business. The need for data and consumer insights, particularly during new product development, has arguably never been higher. Yet at the same time, due to the complex methods and the prices involved, this data has also never been more exclusive.

Through its unique approach of continuous product discovery, Maze is enabling corporations to consistently check in with their customers throughout the product development process. Armed with Maze's tools, product teams can make customer connections more habitual and can, in turn, identify any issues with the product early enough to make targeted adjustments. Otherwise, the quality of the product inevitably suffers and businesses end up losing customers or spending scarce resources doing costly updates—which in this economic situation are detrimental.

"Maze was born out of necessity, as we experienced first-hand the difficulties involved in collecting data while working on our previous start-up. We had a waiting list of two thousand people that were ready to test our prototype, yet there was no platform out there that would allow us to easily and effectively test the idea at scale. Now, thankfully, there is - Maze," concludes Widawski.