Tag Archives: implicit research

Is Market Research Precisely Wrong?

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There is a fundamental problem with most market research. David Ogilvy, the ‘Father of Advertising’, recognised it:

 

“People don’t do what they say, don’t say what they think, and don’t think how they feel.”

Traditional methods of market research focus on what can be gleaned from the conscious mind largely because until recently the tools to investigate the subconscious mind were not readily available.

THiNK Eyetracking has recently completed a comparison study of an award wining national advertising campaign that clearly shows the difference in conscious and unconscious responses to advertising. Continue reading →

MENG Marketing Trends 2009

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A recent survey completed by Anderson Analytics for the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) has revealed that two-thirds of executives believe their use of market research will stay the same or grow over the coming year.

As market researchers, and especially given the current economic climate, this is great news for us!

So we want to let all of the marketers out there know that Think Eyetracking is listening and addressing the current marketing trends.

1. Innovation and market research are key.

Here at Think Eyetracking we pride ourselves on using innovative methods.  We have the first eyetracking omnibus in the UK, we have unique software to help you clearly understand and apply the research we do, and our approach combines implicit and explicit research tools.

2. Customer satisfaction is a priority.

By the very nature of eyetracking all of our research is done in face to face interviews.  We talk to actual customers, and our implicit techniques allow us to find out what they will actually do, not just what they say they will do.  The first step in satisfying customers is understanding what they really want, so explicit questioning and self-reports are not enough.

3. China is ranked as the no.1 area for opportunity.

We are also grabbing opportunity by the horns and have just opened a Hong Kong office so we will be there as a local resource as marketers expand to Asia.

4. Green marketing is losing importance.

Although the issue of global warming saw a decrease in importance in the survey, we’re not trend followers.  We’ll still be doing our part to minimise the damage we’re doing to the planet.  Think Eyetracking has teamed up with Carbon Clear, an organisation who specialises in managing carbon efficiency.  We will still be planting trees for our participants.

Why Think Eyetracking?

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Think helps deliver on the promise of marketing;

Create and maintain profitable relationships with consumers.

To date marketing has not delivered on its promise; approximately 80% of all new products launches fail to meet pre-launch expectations.

How can a multibillion dollar industry that employs lots of smart people and ideas get it so wrong?

The answer is simple, if not obvious: market research has largely ignored the importance of consumers’ subconscious minds. Consumers are rarely aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it – cognitive scientists have a rule of thumb “unconscious thought is 95 percent of all thought”, some believe this may be a serious underestimate. I know this may be hard to believe, so think for a moment about your daily commute today, how much of it do you remember?

Probably very little, if you take the same route to work each day. This is because your subconscious mind takes you there on autopilot; there is no need to engage your executive, conscious mind unless something novel or unexpected happens. If you need more convincing go and shop your usual weekly or monthly grocery shop at a new store. Pay attention to how it feels to need to engage your executive mind to find items when you are used to using your habitual mind. It is frustrating!

To date, market research has addressed the conscious or executive mind with questionnaires, focus groups, satisfaction surveys and the like. The problem is the conscious mind is at best only partially responsible for the many decisions people make on a daily basis. One unfortunate but real consequence of this is that 43% of smokers relapsed again within 12 months after undergoing surgery to remove cancerous parts of their lung (according to study by Walker, 2006). This is not the action of a rational conscious executive mind. It is the action of an unconscious habitual mind, stuck on a bad autopilot setting.

There is a disconnect between what people say and what they actually do, we believe this disconnect is symptomatic of the two different states of mind. It’s not that consumer lie on purpose, they usually answer truthfully, but using their executive mind and that is only part of the way we all make decisions. At Think we believe we have found a way to bridge the chasm between the executive and habitual minds to help market research deliver on the promise of marketing.

We rarely consciously control our eyes, this fact gives us the ability to see into some of the processes of the powerful habitual mind with eye tracking. Combining this with our experience, dedicated software, and methodologies, allows us to peer into the consumers’ minds to understand which (if any) mind is being engaged.

Our proven approach combines eyetracking with traditional market research to gain deeper understanding of how consumers engage with visual and written creative work on habitual and executive levels.

It’s the beginning of something special.