We're proud to share that GetWhy has been named a finalist for the 2026 ESOMAR Excellence in AI and Automation in Market Research Award. This award recognizes exceptional use of AI, machine learning, or automation to streamline research processes or elevate the quality of insights, and it's one of the most respected honors in the global research industry.

Our submission, developed in partnership with eBay's Global Consumer Insights (GCI) team, is titled "From Retrospective to Real-Time: How GetWhy and eBay Built the World's Most Human AI Insight Engine." It tells the story of how GetWhy and eBay reengineered what qualitative research can do at enterprise scale, moving from episodic, after-the-fact studies to an always-on, AI-powered consumer intelligence engine that embeds the human voice into decisions as they're being made.

The research industry has long operated under a trade-off: the deeper and more human the insight, the slower and more expensive it becomes. Our work with eBay set out to break that trade-off rather than accept it. Together, we built a platform that pairs an AI-Moderator, trained on more than 10,000 hours of expert-led interviews, with a Research Agent that synthesizes findings in real time. The result is qualitative research that runs continuously at a speed and scale no traditional research operation could match, without sacrificing the emotional richness that makes qualitative insight irreplaceable.

The impact of that shift, independently validated by Nucleus Research, speaks for itself: an 80% reduction in time to insight, an 84% lower cost per interview, $6.7 million in research cost savings, and measurable contributions to eBay's GMV growth. Just as important, the partnership gave rise to Perspectives, an always-on intelligence layer that continuously surfaces patterns from eBay's research base and delivers them directly into the workflows of marketing, product, and brand teams, turning insight from a specialist deliverable into an everyday capability across the business.

Being recognized by ESOMAR alongside the industry's most innovative work is a meaningful milestone for GetWhy, and it's a testament to what's possible when a research partner and a client are willing to reimagine the model together rather than optimize the old one. We're grateful to eBay's GCI team for their partnership and vision throughout this work.

Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on September 2, 2026. We'll be attending, and we're proud to be in the running.

To mark the occasion, Joy Eckhoff, Client Director at GetWhy, is hosting an exclusive dinner in Valencia the evening before ESOMAR. "The Night Before ESOMAR" brings together 30 senior client-side leaders for an evening away from the conference, in a private barraca in the La Albufera nature reserve, the birthplace of paella. Guests will learn to cook the traditional dish, unwind with peers, and watch the sun set over the water.

The event was initiated by Joaquim Bretcha, former president of ESOMAR, and is being brought to life together with Lasse Telling, GetWhy, and Samuel Cohen, Ph.D., and Fairgen.

The dinner takes place on Tuesday, 1 September in Valencia, and is limited to just 30 seats. Spots are filling up, so if you'd like to join, now's the time to secure your seat.