You know what people bought. You know where they clicked. You probably have a dashboard open right now showing age brackets, income, zip codes and conversion rates. What you don’t have is the reason any of it happened.
In today's competitive landscape, decisions based on demographics and transactional data alone fall short. Whether you're in marketing, sales, product development, research, or strategic planning, you need more than surface-level answers. You need to understand the motivations, values, and emotional drivers behind human actions. The "why" that turns data into strategy.
This is where human insights come in. They move you from knowing what people do, to understanding why they do it. That understanding is the difference between a strategy that works and one built on guesswork that never stood a chance. In this guide, we'll explore what human insights are, how they differ from traditional consumer insights, and why businesses across industries need this depth to stay competitive. We'll also show how GWI, the human insights company, is making this shift accessible through tools like Agent Spark, upgrading the AI you already use with trusted human data from real people instead of web-scraped guesses.
In this guide, we'll cover:
- What are human insights?
- Human insights vs consumer insights: Understanding the distinction
- Why surface-level data doesn’t cut it today
- What businesses gain from human insights
- How to gather and analyze human insights
- Turning human insights into business strategy
- Frequently asked questions about human insights
- Moving forward: Integrating human insights into your research strategy
What are human insights?
Human insights are research that goes beyond demographic data and purchase behavior to understand the motivations, attitudes, values, and emotional drivers behind human actions.
Not just what happened, but things like: What were they worried about? What were they trying to solve? What made this choice feel like the right one in that moment?
They answer questions that transactional data can't touch: Why do people choose certain brands? What values drive their decisions? How do cultural attitudes shape behavior? What emotional needs are they trying to fulfill?
This isn't just a semantic shift from "consumer insights" to "human insights." It represents a fundamental change in how businesses understand and connect with people, whether they're consumers, buyers, users, or audiences. Human insights recognize that people are more than data points in a transaction. They're humans with complex motivations, competing priorities, and deeply held values that influence every choice they make.
Consider this: 36% of Gen Z trust online reviews, making them 4.8% more likely than the average person to rely on peer feedback (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). That's a data point. But why does Gen Z trust peers over brands? What does this reveal about their relationship with authority and authenticity? How does this trust shape their entire buying journey? Human insights dig into those questions.
The shift from transactional to human-centered research
Traditional market research focused on tracking transactions, clicks, and conversions. Valuable? Absolutely. Complete? Not even close.
Human insights layer in context. Take this stat: 68% of internet users purchased snack foods in the last month, making it the most commonly bought CPG item (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). That's useful transactional data. But are they buying snacks for convenience during busy workdays? For comfort during stressful moments? To reward themselves? To share with family? Each motivation points to a completely different strategy, but transactional data alone won't tell you which one applies.
Businesses need both the "what" and the "why" to make decisions that truly resonate. All of that requires understanding the human story behind the numbers.
Human insights vs consumer insights: Understanding the distinction
Let's clarify what this terminology shift actually represents.
Consumer insights have traditionally been about the transaction. Who bought. When they bought. How often they came back. Human insights zoom out to include values, attitudes, cultural context, and emotional motivations. They tell you why people are buying and what deeper needs they're fulfilling.
The difference shows up clearly when you look at real data. Take this example: 42% of Gen Z say they want brands to be authentic, yet they are 8.8% less likely than the average person to demand authenticity (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). Most consumer insights would stop at "Gen Z wants authenticity." Human insights reveal the nuance: they value authenticity conceptually, but they're less likely to actively demand it as a deciding factor. This distinction completely changes how you market to them. Overcorrect on authenticity messaging and you might actually miss the mark.
Fundamentally, this is about enriching consumer insights with human context. Understanding people holistically, not just as consumers in a transaction. Whether you're building marketing campaigns, closing sales deals, developing products, or setting strategic direction, this depth matters.
Why surface-level data doesn’t cut it today
Let's be honest: everyone has access to the same basic consumer data now. Demographics, purchase history, website analytics, CRM data. It's all table stakes. But the uncomfortable truth? 50% of business decisions are still made without any consumer insight at all.
When half of all decisions ignore consumer understanding entirely, and the other half often rely on surface-level information alone, there's a massive opportunity for competitive advantage. The differentiation comes from understanding the human story behind the numbers.
Here's what's actually happening in most organizations.
Decisions rarely wait for perfect data. They happen in stand-ups, pipeline reviews, campaign kickoffs, and late Slack threads that start with, “We need an answer by tomorrow.”
When there isn’t time to run proper research, people fall back on instinct. Or worse, they paste a question into an AI tool and mistake a confident answer for a correct one.
Sometimes that works. Often, it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, the cost shows up later as wasted media spend, features nobody uses, or sales conversations that stall for reasons no one can quite explain.
Our data shows that 55% of internet users are the main food shoppers in their households versus just 38% joint shoppers (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). You can segment your audience based on that split. But are primary shoppers time-starved and prioritizing convenience? Health-focused and researching ingredients? Budget-conscious and comparing prices obsessively? Those motivations change everything about how you reach them. Without human insights, you're guessing. And guessing is expensive.
The limitations of demographic and transactional data
Demographic data groups people by age, income, and location, but it completely misses psychographic differences. Two 35-year-old professionals in the same city with similar incomes can have wildly different values, motivations, and behaviors. Demographics lump them together. Human insights reveal what actually drives them.
Transactional data shows purchase patterns but doesn't reveal brand loyalty drivers, switching triggers, or emotional connections. You can see what people bought. But why did they choose that brand over the competitor? What would make them switch? What emotional benefit are they getting from the purchase? Transactional data won't tell you.
Think about tech adopters. They're 31% more likely to self-identify as early adopters than the average person (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). That's useful behavioral insight. But understanding their motivations for adopting new technology (status signaling, productivity optimization, intellectual curiosity, problem-solving satisfaction) is where strategic advantage lies. Those motivations tell you how to position features, what language resonates in sales conversations, and which benefits to emphasize in marketing.
What businesses gain from human insights
Human insights deliver value in ways that matter to your business. The practical upside of human insights shows up in small, everyday moments.
It shows up when a marketer stops debating which headline "sounds better" and starts choosing the one that lines up with what customers actually worry about.
It shows up when a product team drops a feature idea early because they realize it solves a problem people don’t really have.
And it shows up in sales calls, when a rep recognizes a hesitation not as an objection, but as a risk the buyer is trying to manage internally.
You also get operational advantages. Less waste on campaigns that miss the mark because you get messaging right the first time. Faster decision-making because you have richer context. Fewer revisions and iterations when strategies are grounded in human truth from the start, not built on assumptions that need testing.
And while everyone else is looking at the same surface-level data, you're seeing motivations, values, and emotional drivers they're completely missing. That differentiation matters in crowded markets.
Take a concrete example. Over 1.59 billion people purchased health foods last month, underscoring strong health-conscious shopping behavior (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). That's a massive market. But understanding the health-conscious motivations and lifestyle integration behind those purchases informs development roadmaps and positioning in ways that purchase data alone never could. Are they health-focused because of medical concerns? Fitness goals? Holistic wellness philosophies? Each motivation points to different feature priorities, messaging angles, and partnership opportunities.
Tools like Agent Spark democratize access to these insights, making them available not just to research teams but to anyone making decisions across the organization. Your human insights analyst works wherever you do, in the tools you already use. Marketing can validate campaign ideas. Sales can strengthen pitch narratives. Product can test feature concepts. Leadership can ground strategic decisions in real human understanding, all without waiting for a research report.
Applications across industries and functions
Human insights create value everywhere decisions get made. Let's look at how they show up across different contexts.
In retail and CPG, understanding why 52% of Gen Z prefer buying from local or independent retailers, making them 4.4% more likely than the average person to do so (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025), reveals that it's not simply about proximity or price. It's about values, authenticity, and supporting small businesses. This insight shapes campaign messaging, partnership strategies, and brand positioning in ways that "Gen Z shops local" never could.
In financial services, human insights explain investment motivations beyond risk tolerance scores. Why do some investors prioritize ESG criteria while others focus purely on returns? What emotional needs does financial security fulfill for different segments? Those motivations inform product design, advisory approaches, and client communication strategies.
In healthcare, understanding patient decision-making means moving beyond demographics to grasp the emotional drivers behind treatment choices, the role of family dynamics in healthcare decisions, and the trust factors that influence provider selection. This shapes everything from patient communication to service design.
For B2B tech companies, human insights reveal how buying committees actually make decisions. What concerns keep procurement teams up at night? What motivates IT leaders to champion new solutions internally? Understanding these human dynamics makes the difference between winning and losing enterprise deals.
For sales teams across industries, consider this: 35% of certain audiences paid for a subscription to a music streaming service in the last month, making them 38% more likely to do so than the average person (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). This reveals willingness to pay for premium experiences. Insight that shapes pricing conversations, feature emphasis in pitches, and objection handling. You're not guessing whether they'll pay for premium - you know they already do in other contexts.
How to gather and analyze human insights
Human insights come from consumer research methodologies that go deeper than standard data collection. You need surveys that ask about attitudes, values, motivations, and behaviors, not just demographics and transactions. Qualitative research explores the "why" through interviews and focus groups. Behavioral data gets enriched with attitudinal context that explains what you're seeing.
The key is asking the right questions. Not just "what do you buy" but "why does this matter to you" and "how does this fit into your life." Those questions reveal the human story.
Scale matters too. Human insights become more reliable when gathered across large, representative samples. You need enough depth to understand motivations and enough breadth to know those motivations hold across markets and segments.
Modern consumer research platforms have transformed access to human insights. GWI, the human insights company, has been building the world's most comprehensive view of consumer behavior for over 15 years, with 35 billion data points from 1.4M+ annual surveys across 50+ markets.
Agent Spark upgrades your existing AI tools with this depth of human understanding, making them instantly smarter and more reliable through natural language access. But it's just one way to access GWI's human insights. Whether you're using the full GWI platform for deep analysis or querying through Agent Spark in your existing AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot), you’re tapping into a foundation of first-party human data built from nearly a million real people every year. You can ask questions and get analyst-quality answers at AI speed, without needing specialized research training or waiting for a report. This democratization means human insights can inform decisions at every level of the organization, even outside dedicated research teams.
The role of research analysts and human insights analysts
Human insights analysts bridge the gap between data and strategy. They interpret patterns, identify motivations, spot cultural shifts, and translate findings into actionable recommendations. Their role is evolving from reporting what happened to explaining why it happened and what it means for the business.
For research analysts moving into human insights work, you need both analytical rigor and empathy. Understanding humans, not just numbers. Seeing patterns in motivations and values, not just in purchase behavior.
Modern tools are also changing this role in a positive way. Instead of spending time pulling data and building reports for every ad-hoc request, analysts can focus on higher-value work: storytelling, strategic interpretation, and guiding others to find insights independently. Tools like Agent Spark serve as an always-on analyst, handling routine inquiries and freeing human analysts for complex, nuanced work that requires expert judgment. You become a strategic partner, not a data vending machine.
Turning human insights into business strategy
Having human insights is valuable. Using them to drive decisions is where the real impact happens.
Map insights to business decisions across functions. Product development means building what humans actually need, not what assumptions suggest. Marketing strategy means messaging what humans actually care about, not generic value props that could apply to anyone. Sales enablement means pitching with evidence that builds credibility and closes deals faster. Customer experience means solving for human pain points, not just operational efficiency. Market expansion means identifying where human needs are underserved.
Consider how one insight can cascade across your entire strategy. 25% of Gen Z want brands to be bold, making them 17% more likely than the average person to seek out daring brand personalities (GWI Core, Q4 2024 - Q3 2025). This should inform how you shape your brand (lean into boldness, don't play it safe), creative direction (take risks visually and tonally), campaign strategy (controversial beats forgettable), sales messaging (emphasize brand personality as differentiator), and product personality (design experiences that feel daring and distinctive) for youth-targeted offerings. One insight, multiple applications, all grounded in real human behavior instead of assumptions.
Activation works best when insights are accessible across the organization. When marketing, sales, product, and leadership can all reference the same human understanding in their decision-making, strategies align and impact compounds.
Building a human insights-driven culture
Human insights work best when embedded across the organization, not siloed in a research team.
Democratize access to insights so product, marketing, sales, and leadership can all reference the same human understanding without waiting for research reports. Build feedback loops so insights inform strategy, strategy is tested, and results feed back into insights. Maintain curiosity by constantly asking "why" rather than accepting surface-level explanations or defaulting to gut-feel.
Technology is enabling this cultural shift.
In a lot of companies, insights still live in one place: a shared folder, a dashboard, or a quarterly deck that most people only open when they’re told to.
What’s changing is where human understanding actually shows up day to day. Instead of waiting for a report, teams are starting to check assumptions in the middle of their work, during a campaign brief, before a sales call, or while debating a product change in a planning meeting.
This is where tools like Agent Spark tend to fit in naturally. Not as “another platform to log into,” but as something people can lean on in the same places they already ask questions. A marketer might sanity-check a message in their AI assistant before a review. A salesperson might look up how a segment typically evaluates new vendors before a discovery call. A product manager might pressure-test a feature idea by seeing what problems similar audiences actually say they have.
Human understanding becomes an everyday advantage, not a quarterly deliverable.
Frequently asked questions about human insights
What's the difference between human insights and consumer insights?
Consumer insights focus on purchasing behavior and market segments. Human insights add the layer of motivations, attitudes, values, and emotional drivers that explain why people make the choices they do. Understanding the human behind the consumer, recognizing that people are more than just buyers in a transaction.
Why are human insights important for business growth?
Human insights enable businesses to build products, campaigns, and experiences that genuinely resonate because they're based on real human needs and motivations, not assumptions or guesswork. This drives loyalty, differentiation, and sustainable growth across every function, from marketing and sales to product development and strategic planning. The alternative is expensive: campaigns that miss, products that don't solve real problems, and strategies built on gut-feel that cost money when they fail.
How do you collect human insights?
Through market research methodologies that go beyond demographics. Surveys asking about attitudes and motivations, qualitative consumer research exploring the "why," and behavioral data enriched with attitudinal context. Modern platforms like Agent Spark provide instant access to 35 billion data points from 1.4M+ annual surveys representing consumers worldwide, making human insights accessible through natural language queries in the tools you already use. The barrier isn't budget or team size anymore. It's whether you choose to prioritize real human understanding over assumptions.
What industries benefit most from human insights?
Every industry benefits. Whether you're in retail, CPG, consumer tech, financial services, media, advertising, healthcare, B2B technology, or any sector where understanding people matters, human insights create competitive advantage. Any business making decisions about products, services, marketing, or strategy needs to understand the humans they serve. The specifics change by industry, but the principle holds: depth beats breadth when it comes to understanding your audience.
Can small teams access human insights effectively?
Yes. Modern technology has democratized access to human insights. Tools like Agent Spark bring analyst-quality answers at AI speed to anyone through natural language access in platforms like GWI.com, ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot. No specialized research training or lengthy procurement required. The mindset matters more than team size: prioritizing "why" over "what" and grounding decisions in human understanding rather than assumptions or gut-feel.
Moving forward: Integrating human insights into your research strategy
Where do you go from here? Start asking deeper questions in your work. Look beyond demographics to motivations. Build strategies based on human understanding, not assumptions or gut-feel or AI guesses that sound confident but mean nothing.
In competitive markets, the organizations that understand humans (not just consumers or data points) win. Not because they have more data. Because they have deeper understanding.
Whether you're closing deals, planning campaigns, developing products, or setting strategic direction, human insights give you the confidence to act decisively. You're not guessing and hoping you're right. You're building on real human understanding.
Tools like Agent Spark are making this shift accessible to everyone, bringing trusted human insights directly into existing workflows. Upgrading the AI tools you already use with data from real people, eliminating the gap between needing insight and having insight. The evolution of business strategy is toward human-centered approaches, where understanding people deeply becomes the foundation of competitive advantage. The question isn't whether to make this shift. It's how fast you can get there.
Ready to move beyond surface-level data? Experience Agent Spark today and discover how your human insights analyst can transform decision-making across your organization.
.webp?width=495&height=317&name=pink_thumb_graphs%20(1).webp)
.webp?width=495&height=317&name=pink_thumb_letter%20(2).webp)