Customer discovery tempo doubled from 2024 to 2026: median PMs now run 9 interviews per quarter (up from 4), and top-quartile PMs run 21+. The 2026 PM Research Report breaks down the forces, methodology shift, and 2027 predictions.

The survey layer is the weakest link in the 2026 customer-research stack. Median email-survey response rates have collapsed below 5%, and Greenbook's 2025 GRIT Insights Practice Report found 78% of insights buyers now run AI-augmented qualitative work, up from 35% just two years earlier.

Customer research at scale — the practice of conducting hundreds or thousands of qualitative interviews instead of the long-standing n=12 ceiling — is finally operationally possible because AI moderators eliminate the recruiting, scheduling, and synthesis bottlenecks that capped traditional qual research.