The top 10 things Notably shipped in 2023 and themes for 2024.

2023 was a big year for AI in tech, in research, and for Notably. We leaned in to what was happening with AI to the fullest extent possible in the research process. We shipped features we thought were 3 or even 5 years into the future. These experiences have become core to our customer’s research workflow, completely transforming how they synthesize research today.

Behind the scenes we made big improvements into the core editor experience, stability, and key security investments as we continued working towards our SOC II compliance.

We also introduced smaller enhancements such as AI-generated insight images, comments and reactions, and Insight metrics. All in the effort to make it easier to create beautiful research artifacts and track the impact and reach of Insights in organizations.

Here's a recap of our top 10 features we introduced to Notably in 2023. Plus, stay tuned for themes as we kick off 2024.

The top 10 improvements and features we shipped in 2023

1. Embracing Multi-lingual Research

Multi-Language Support: We kicked off 2023 exploring power users and non-traditional use cases. Research is happening in many languages and often more than 1. With instant translation on Summaries, Notably now speaks everyone’s language, not just English.

Watch for this feature to expand into Insights in 2024.

2. Generate Insights from Tags, Themes, and Entire Projects with AI

AI Insights: Insights combine information, inspiration, and a little bit of intuition (also known as abductive thinking.) They move you from just knowing something to doing something about it. We launched the ability to generate Insights with AI in February of 2023, and have continued to build on these design thinking frameworks since.

If AI Summary Templates are your super-capable research assistant, AI Insight Templates are your ultra-creative synthesis partner.

The JTBD Insight Template has been our most popular this year, used hundreds and hundreds of times to reveal new “Jobs to be done” in many research data.

3. Debrief Research Data with Contextual AI Summaries

AI Summaries: AI Summary Templates give context to raw data in order to create a really accurate summary. We started with just 3 basic Summaries in March of 2023, and have since launched dozens of AI Summary Templates. You can think of summaries as your super-capable research assistant.

Some of our most popular AI Summary templates launched this year were the Usability Test and Stakeholder Interview, generating thousands of summaries and saving researchers tons of time analyzing that data.

4. A Library of AI Templates Inspired by Your Favorite Research Methods & Activities

AI Template Library: Our library of AI Templates launched in April 2023, and is a one-stop place to explore different research frameworks and methods for analyzing data, powered by AI. Choosing the right template for your data gives the AI context it needs to find new insight.

We’ve written by hand nearly 50 templates covering a wide range of use cases and will continue to grow this library in 2024.

As an Enterprise customer, you can preview the prompt that powers any of them to use, tweak, and experiment with on your own research data.

5. A New way to Visualize your Data in Notably

Charts: a new way to visualize your research data in Notably as bar charts and pie charts. You can slice and dice and play with data points such as the number of notes or average sentiment and group them by tag groups, tags, themes, and participants. Now you have a quantitative lens to enrich your insights and help you uncover stories in your research in an entirely new way.

When we launched the first version of Notably the entire product was the split-screen canvas and table for synthesis. We call this the "heart" of Notably, and we've essentially built the product out from there.

in 2023, we launched a complimentary section to the heart of Notably: Charts. This powerful trifecta of analyzing your data spatially, hierarchically, and now with a quantitative lens using Charts will give you the holistic view you need to get to the heart of the matter.

We always say that Notably is a research tool for both the right-brain thinker and left-brain thinker, and now it truly is.

6. A New Home for Your Research

7 New AI Templates & a new Home: We didn’t slow down in August of 2023, continuing to build on our library of new AI templates to cater to a wider range of research needs and methodologies. We also brought your insights front and center to a new Home in your workspace, making it easier and faster to share new knowledge.

Community workshopping event: We got hands-on with members of our research community crafting a prompt together to power a new AI Template, “Rose, Thorn, Bud.” You can rewatch the session here and look forward to more events together in 2024.

7. Communication and Search Enhancements

Slack Integration: Research happens everywhere, including Slack. We enabled seamless communication by integrating with Slack in September of 2023, allowing users to instantly debrief research calls with AI summaries directly from Notably.

Global Search: Use full screen search to find data and insights across all projects and data in your Notably workspace. Since you can search by sentiment or tags alone, you can learn something new even if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.

In 2024 Global Search will become the most powerful tool you have at your fingertips for learning something new about your customers.

8. Increasing Interaction and Collaboration

Comments, reactions, & metrics: More research than ever is being conducted and shared remotely. This is particularly true if you have incorporated ongoing research into your product culture and are regularly conversing with customers.

Comments, reactions, and metrics launched in October of 2023 on insights to engage your team and to better understand the reach and impact of your research. With Insight Views as one of our product measurements we care a lot about, we’re going to continue to help you get even more eyeballs on your research in 2024.

9. Instant Analysis & Generating Images with AI

Automatic Highlights and Tags: Coding qualitative data was a labor intensive but necessary step to structure data and build patterns, to evolve data into higher order meaning as information. In November of 2023 we launched automatic highlights and tagging, practically eliminating the time to generate insights from data in Notably.

Generate Insight images with AI: When it comes to presenting research, showing is more impactful than telling. A beautiful visual presentation has the ability to elevate the message and convey research findings and ideas in a way that words on a report alone cannot achieve. We also launched the ability to create one-of-a-kind images for your insights using AI in November of 2023. Either start from scratch with a description of your vision or draft up a description with AI based on the content of your Insight.

Fun fact: Both of these features evolved from an Hackathon project inspired by our customer's needs. We’ll be doing even more collaboration with AI and rapidly experiment as a team together in 2024.

10. Ask Anything About Your Research, Plus a “New” Way to Start Taking Notes.

A “New” button to jumpstart research: Sometimes research needs to happen quickly, and creating a project feels too formal. We heard you and we listened. A “New” button in Notably appeared in the navigation in December of 2023, letting you quickly start taking private notes, spin up a new AI template, or create a project from anywhere in the app.

Preview Prompts & Create AI Templates: Until December of 2023, prompts that powered our AI templates were our “special sauce.” But as researchers, we believe this information is critical for you to know in order to conduct high quality analysis and stand confidently behind your findings. Additionally, as stewards shaping habits and behaviors with AI and research, we’re determined to embrace transparency.

So we made the decision to share our entire library of AI templates and give you the power to create your own from scratch. An incredibly powerful way to ask literally anything of your data and a big ending to 2023.

Looking towards a bright future in 2024

In 2024 we're taking that perspective, that through research and design, the future can actually be so much closer than we imagine. We're pushing the boundaries of technology, not just with cutting edge AI features like vision and video analysis, but also rise to the challenge of how humans and machines work together in this new world.As the world transitions from the information age to intelligence age, the job of research is changing. We're honored to forge that new path alongside some of the most innovative companies and institutions in the world.

As we look to the future in 2024 here are some key themes we will be delivering on:

• Enhancing Notably’s core experience and services for unmatched enterprise efficiency and reliability.
• Expanding our reach to engage customers at new stages of the research workflow, including participant recruiting, workshopping, and presentations.
• Giving back to our community with educational resources, shared templates, and open-sourced research.
• Equipping research teams with unique tools to uncover critical gaps in knowledge & opportunities for more research.

Kick off your new year with a better, faster research and a brand new research repository.

Ready to elevate your research in the new year? Embrace AI-driven insights for a faster, more effective workflow. Sign up for a free 7-day trial of our Teams plan and book a demo with our team to discover how Notably can transform your research journey.

Let's make 2024 a year of learning with Notably.