The inevitable flaws of consumer research; 8 tips to fix exploratory research; 8 tips to fix confirmatory research; what you can do about it.

1. Market Research Why it’s broken, how you can fix it Complicating marketing

2. “ research is bad ” innovation creativity distinctiveness

3. “ research is good ” innovation creativity distinctiveness

4. let’s complicate this…

5. (creative development) (confirmatory research) (exploratory research)

6. (exploratory research)

7. “ exploratory research is what you do when you don’t know what to do”

8. Exploratory research today

9. [ “If I‘d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.” H. Ford ] People don’t know what they’ll want in the future

10. [ “Consumers’ ability to discriminate and make consistent preferences is low, and lower that they believe it is.” P. Raghubir ] People don’t know what they want today

11. [ According to a survey we run when working on a toiletries brand, consumers replaced their toothbrush once a month. If that were true, we could have all retired and moved to Florida ] People lie (consciously and unconsciously)

12. we’re asking consumers to look at our life and make it easier, while we should be looking at their life and make it better.

14. #1 WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE! [ The Animals ]

15. #2 LISTEN TO EVERYONE [ Early adopters, late adopters, recent quitters, designers, distributors, influencers… ]

16. #3 HEAR THE SILENCES [ Just like jazz, research is about the silences and the notes not played. What is not said can be as important as what is said. Look for omissions and facial expressions ]

18. #5 LOOK FOR UNEXPECTED ANALOGIES [ People don’t know how they will react to the change that you’re about to bring in your industry, but they might have experienced something similar in a different environment ]

19. #6 BE INVISIBLE [ People don’t behave naturally when questioned by a stranger in an alien environment. Try to disapper ]

20. #7 BE TRUE [ Don’t tell if you simulate Don’t simulate if you can make real ]

21. #8 BE CLEVER [ “The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer” – T M Disch ]

22. (exploratory research) d i v e r s i t y

23. (creative development) (confirmatory research) (exploratory research) d i v e r s i t y

24. (confirmatory research)

25. “ confirmatory research is what you do when you think you know what to do”

26. Confirmatory research today

27. People still don’t know and lie

28. We don’t ask the right questions [ We tend to rely on a standard set of universally accepted KPIs, instead of taking time to ask ourselves what is really important ]

29. We make it harder for them to answer [ Showing storyboards for a campaign is like miming The Lord of The Rings and then asking who’d go watch it ]

30. we don’t know what we’re asking people that wouldn’t know what to tell us about something that we’re not giving them.

32. #1 REFINE YOUR AUDIENCE [ “Joe Public” are the toughest audience to make sense of, because they’re defined by the lack of any meaningful attribute ]

33. #2 IMPROVE YOUR STORYTELLING [ Make them “feel” what your product is like, rather than describing the details or sharing a poor mock-up that is nothing like the finished product ]

34. #3 FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS [ Not everything that is important can be measured, and not everything that can be measured is important – A. Einstein ]

35. #4 RE-EVALUATE YOUR KPIs [ Over time every performance indicator becomes insignificant, as actions are going to be designed to address the formal indicator, rather than the substantial goal that it is meant to represent. Make sure that the metric serve the work, and not the other way around ]

36. #5 LOOK FOR STANDARD DEVIATION [ Average is often misleading. Distribution tells the real story ]

37. #6 YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE EVERYONE’S BEST FRIEND [ That’d be spooky. And in most markets, being loved by 20% of people is more profitable than being considered by 80% ]

38. #7 DON’T ASK CONSUMERS TO FIX IT [ Or if you do, take their feedback as insights, not as amends. Marketing is not a democracy. If you think that superficial thoughts from random consumers are more reliable than your creative agency or your staff, there’s only one thing you should do: fire them ]

39. #8 BE CLEVER [ Even when we all watch the same data, it doesn’t mean that we’re all going to see the same insights ]

40. (confirmatory research) PRECISENESS

41. (creative development) (confirmatory research) PRECISENESS (exploratory research) d i v e r s i t y

42. bad researchers make research bad

43. good researchers make research good

44. what are you doing to make research good ?

45. tell me at itscomplic8ed.wordpress.com

46. Thanks to Marc van der Chijs, Jill Greenberg, Mksavage, Katerha, 92YRTribeca and Mishelle Lane for allowing use of their beautiful pictures under license

47. itscomplic8ed.wordpress.com @stefanoaugello