Download What Customers Really Think

Uncovering What
Customers Really Think
How to Conduct Research that Gets to the Truth
• Bureau West, Inc.
• Market Research & Marketing
Strategy
• Los Angeles, California, USA
• Tel: +1-818-588-6050
• Email: [email protected]
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Bureau West: research & strategy
• Consortium of independent researchers
– Qualitative research (focus groups,
interviews, online methods)
– Quantitative research (surveys)
– Website-related research (usability,
conceptual)
• “Agnostic” when it comes to methodology
– What’s the best way to answer the
research question?
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Asking direct questions
• When conducting market research, it’s tempting
to simply ask participants direct questions:
– Would you buy this product?
– What do you like about that product?
– What do you think of this brand?
• The problem is, research participants lie.
(Perhaps unintentionally.)
– When asked a direct question, people try to
theorize how they would make a decision in a
given situation, which can be different than
actually being in that situation.
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Behavioral economics:
how do people make decisions?
• Dan Ariely – “Predictably Irrational”
• Organ donations: Germany 12%, Austria
100%
– “Check the box below if you want to
participate in the organ donor program”
– “Check the box below if you don't want to
participate”
• Do people choose the default because they
don't care?
– On the contrary: it’s because of the
complexity of the decision
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Behavioral economics:
how do people make decisions?
• It even happens with experts!
• Study conducted with doctors:
– Patient with hip pain, medications hadn’t
worked, referred to have a hip
replacement; doctor discovered forgot to
try one medication. Most doctors would
pull patient back.
– Second scenario: doctor discovered that
two medications hadn’t been tried.
Majority opt for hip replacement.
• When the decision is complicated, the default
has huge power.
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Behavioral economics:
how do people make decisions?
• A more everyday example: two sets of
choices:
– Weekend in Paris, including hotel and
breakfast
– Weekend in Rome, including hotel and
breakfast
• Or:
– Weekend in Paris, including hotel and
breakfast
– Weekend in Rome, including hotel and
breakfast
– Weekend in Rome, including hotel and
breakfast, but coffee is not included
• Third option has a surprising impact
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Asking direct questions
• The moral of the story: when it comes to market
research, direct questioning won’t always work
• We need to give participants the context to
answer the question
– Physical aspect (what are the choices?)
– Emotional aspect (how do they feel about it?)
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Understanding customers’ relationship with…
• Direct questioning:
• “How do you feel about X?”
• “Why is it important to you?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Understanding customers’ relationship with…
• “Choose a picture that best
illustrates how you feel about X.”
• Or:
– Choose among colors.
– Choose among random pictures
and tell a story about how it
relates to X.
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Impressions and benefits of a brand
• Direct questioning:
• “What do you think of X?”
• “What do you like about it?”
• “What don’t you like?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Impressions and benefits of a brand
• “Think of as many things as you can say
about X and write them on the lines
shown”
• Or…
Brand
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Impressions and benefits of a brand
• Laddering
– “What attributes of X are important to you?
– “What’s the benefit to you of attribute Y?”
– “Tell me a bit more about the personal value of
that benefit to you. Why is it valuable?”
• Or…
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Impressions and benefits of a brand
• What do people say about the product or brand?
• What do they think about the product or brand?
• Can add: What do they feel?
• Or…
• “Imagine a situation where the product was not
available.”
– “Describe what life would be like.”
• Or…
• “Write a love letter to the brand…”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Which positioning statement is best?
• Direct questioning:
• “Please read this statement. This isn’t an
ad, but it’s an idea that might be behind an
ad. What do you think of what it’s saying?
• “Now please read this statement…”
• “And this statement…”
• “And this statement…”
• “And this statement…”
• “Which statement works best? Why do you
say that?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Which positioning statement is best?
• Provide a bullseye with the attributes the
statements need to convey in the center.
– Participants place positioning
statements based on how close they are
to those attributes
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Where is the brand in the competitive field?
• Direct questioning:
• “Who are the competitors for X?”
• “How does X compare? In what ways is X
better? In what ways is X worse?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Where is the brand in the competitive field?
• Perceptual map:
Higher
• (Based on attributes defined earlier)
• “Where is X on this map?”
• “Where are the competitors?” (one at a time)
• And don’t forget:
Less
More
Lower
• “If brand x, y and z were people at a party, what
would they be like? What car would they drive
up in? How would they be dressed? How
would they behave?”
• (Or for more broad-stroke impressions:) “What
animal would they be? Why do you say that?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Which features are important?
• Direct questioning:
• “Here is a list of features. Which of these
is important to you? Which are
unimportant? Which are just ‘nice to
have?’”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Which features are important?
• “Here is a list of 20 features. You each have
four green dots and four yellow dots. Put a
green dot on the features you want the most,
and put a yellow dot on the features that you
want, but that aren’t as important to you as the
green-dot ones.”
• (Or give them a certain number of dollars to
allocate.)
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Evaluating a new product
• Direct questioning:
• “Do you like this product? Why do you say
that?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Evaluating a new product
• “The first stick figure is the typical customer for this product. Let’s describe
that person…”
• “The second stick figure is you. Let’s go over the same descriptions.”
• “Now let’s compare the two.”
Name: ____________________
Name: ____________________
Lives where? ________________________________
Lives where? ________________________________
Car drives: __________________________
Car drives: __________________________
Marital status: __________________
Marital status: __________________
Kids? How many? ________________
Kids? How many? ________________
5 adjectives to describe lifestyle:
5 adjectives to describe lifestyle:
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Evaluating a new product
• “Imagine yourself using the product.”
• “What would change?”
• “How would it fit in to your routine?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Evaluating designs, logos
• Direct questioning:
• “What does this communicate to you?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Evaluating designs, logos
• “What’s the first word that comes into your
mind when you see this logo?”
Higher
• Or:
• Place the designs on a perceptual map,
with the axes based on the attributes we
want to convey.
Less
More
Lower
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Likelihood to buy
• Direct questioning:
• “How likely would you be to buy this?”
• Alternate approach:
• “Here are your options and their prices.
How do you go about choosing?”
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Many other options
• Examples?
• Use your creativity. Consider:
– Context
– Emotions
• Also, consider calling us for advice!
Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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Thank you
• Jay Zaltzman
• Bureau West - Market Research &
Marketing Strategy
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Bureau West ▪ Market Research & Marketing Strategy ▪ Los Angeles, CA ▪ tel: (818) 588-6050, email: [email protected]
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