The Customer Isn't Always Right

06.02.07 jason oke leo burnett worldwide the customer isn’t always right the problem with research

some stories some advice

“ Let the consumer decide.”

what if people don’t actually know what they want ?

 you don’t really know what you like

“ I have never been more sure of a decision in my life”
Roberto Goizueta
Coca-Cola CEO
New Coke Launch, 1985

“ It is clear that consumers are not particularly good at judging taste…
Consumer ability to discriminate and make consistent preferences is low, and lower than they believe it is.”
“ The Sense and Nonsense of Consumer Product Testing”
Priya Raghubir
UC Berkeley

“ In spite of this lack of discrimination ability and preference consistency, consumers have a very high level of confidence in the evaluations and judgments that they make about product experience. ”
“ The Sense and Nonsense of Consumer Product Testing”
Priya Raghubir
UC Berkeley

our preferences are easily changed (and we don’t realize it)

the laugh track effect

what we like/want is not fixed it is often context-dependent

 you don’t know why you do things

we’re not good at
explaining our behaviour

  making you think changes your answers

“ Too much analysis can confuse people about how they really feel . There are severe limits to what we can discover through self-reflection.”
Timothy Wilson
UVA
New York Times, Dec 29 2005

making you think about a choice unconsciously changes
your answer

towards
cautious
safe
familiar choices
because they are easier to explain

so we are often
highly skeptical of new ideas the first time we see them

“ I still can’t believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? Why oh why would they do this?! It’s so wrong! It’s so stupid!”
“ $400 for an Mp3 Player? It won’t sell, and be killed off in a short time… it’s not really functional. ”
“ All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? Steve Job’s mind is starting to warp if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off.”
“ There are already two products similar to this on the market, which can come with a bigger HD. It is far from revolutionary. I am disappointed and think that apple is making a mistake by trying to get into this market.”
“ ” Macrumors web forum, October 2001

“ Overcoming the desire to test everything under the sun is probably the greatest hurdle for any company seeking brand reinvention. You simply can't research your way to everything and here's why: Consumers prefer the familiar and can have a hard time accepting the unexpected… but consumers are not always right. ”
Scott Bedbury
ex-CMO Nike & Starbucks
Advertising Age, May 1 2006

some thoughts on
how to avoid all that

 figure out what research is actually being used for

fear of failure
fear of blame
inability to make decisions
habit
history
support

no one ever got fired
for doing what their customers
told them to do

ask yourself what the research limitations are

 accept that our brains are
good at some things
and bad at others

we are good at
associating
understanding

we are bad at describing what we like and why we do things

get beyond self-reported descriptions & explanations

observe people analyse usage data get people to tell stories

a taxonomy of explanations
conventions
codes
technical accounts
stories

“ One should never simplify or pretend to be sure of such simplicity where there is none. If things were simple, word would have gotten around .”
Jacques Derrida

so, to sum up

i’m not saying people lie
i’m not saying don’t talk to people who use your product/service/site
getting people involved is a good thing

but first understand
what you’re asking
how to ask it
why you’re asking it

and hang in there, baby

thanks. [email_address] http://lbtoronto.typepad.com

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The Customer Isn't Always Right

by Jason Oke on Jun 18, 2007

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