Basement Inc. president Doug Schumacher reviews "How Customers Think" by Gerald Zaltman.
Editor's Note: We launched the iMedia Book Club earlier this fall with Don E. Schultz's list of five books that every marketer should read. Subsequently, Dave Chase reviewed James Surowiecki's "The Wisdom of Crowds." The goal of the Book Club is for marketers, researchers and thought leaders to share what books, journals or magazines they have on their nightstands and why. If there's a book you think marketers should be reading, please consider reviewing it for us and let us know by email.
And now, we're pleased to present our third iMedia Book Club review, by Doug Schumacher of Basement, Inc.
"How Customers Think" is a tour through the latest in market research methodologies. Its author, Gerald Zaltman, is a Harvard Business School Professor and Fellow at Harvard University's Mind, Brain, Behavior Institute.
Zaltman doesn't waste time in getting to the point of his book. He opens by stating what much of current customer research is, and then argues that the same research often produces findings that are the precise opposite of what customers actually think.
6 Marketing Fallacies
According to Zaltman, at the core of misguided research methodologies are six beliefs that lead marketers down a false path:
- Consumers think in a well-reasoned or rational, linear way
- Consumers can readily explain their thinking and behavior
- Consumer's minds, brains, bodies, and surrounding culture and society can be adequately studied independently of one another
- Consumers' memories accurately represent their experiences
- Consumers think in words
- Consumers can be 'injected' with company messages and will interpret these messages as marketers intend
While most of us might not feel that we buy into those beliefs per se, at some point we've each probably accepted research findings derived from techniques based on at least some of these fallacies.
They might love it but not buy it
The reason for so many false conclusions in market research, Zaltman states, is that up to 95 percent of human thinking is done in the subconscious, where it's based on images and metaphors rather than words. Most consumer research -- focus groups, surveys and questionnaires -- immediately yank the subject out of the subconscious and into the conscious world of linear, word-based thinking. That, he claims, is where research gets lost in translation.
The next research hurdle Zaltman presents is the business world's resistance to change. Most marketers are resistant to changing their research methods because they're comfortable with them: They feel they know how to work them, and, in general, people resist change. The brave few who choose to embrace change must throw out convention.
So the challenge then becomes finding ways to elicit natural reactions and opinions from test subjects.
Zaltman's methods of market research
Zaltman takes us through a number of the techniques he employs: metaphors, response latency, neuroimaging, consensus maps, memory and stories. The idea behind each of them is that they present questions in a way that produce natural reactions, rather than calculated or idealized answers.
He uses metaphors to make associations between products and customer wants and needs, arguing that this is a more accurate way of tapping into a subject's true feelings because they are less likely to provide a calculated answer because the metaphor operates in the abstract.
Zaltman's latency response is simple but interesting. It monitors how quickly a subject responds to a certain pairing of words or pictures, which gives indication of the conviction or certainty of the subject's response.
Recently, neuroimaging has received a lot of buzz. Although it's in the early stages of its development, Zaltman is keen on its potential. The technique involves a brain scan while the subject looks at an ad, design or metaphorical image.
Consensus maps are groupings of key product or brand-related terms based on how people feel about the product or brand. The idea is to show how certain issues factor into a person's overall feeling about the brand, and to expose relative importance among the various factors.
Of course, it's impossible to capture any of his methodologies in a few paragraphs, but the central idea is that when it comes to working his art, Zaltman has more than one paint brush.
Is any of this going to help sell my campaign?
Zaltman makes a big distinction early on that will have any marketer -- particularly agency people -- raising their lighters in agreement. He states that focus groups stink as an advertising selection method. Anyone who's sat on the dark side of a focus group mirror and watched their TV or print campaign swirl down the drain will applaud this.
At that point, the book focuses on research prior to launching a product or campaign, instead of testing an ad campaign in concept form. So while most advertising people wouldn't argue with researching a campaign prior to strategic or creative development, the problem with campaign testing during the comp stage is left unresolved. Zaltman briefly mentions neuroimaging as a new tactic for campaign testing, but implies that it can be accomplished with a finished ad.
Of course, in the online world, live campaign testing can be done quickly and effectively, although Zaltman doesn't shed any light on best practices in this area.
Zaltman, Applied to Interactive Marketing
The bottom line: Marketing always has been -- and always will be -- about understanding what customers want. Online, this will be even more relevant because the Internet has more personalization potential than any other medium.
Simply giving customers choices doesn't eliminate these challenges. The short history of the online world has proven that too much choice can be deadly. Even with choice, there needs to be an understanding of what choices the customer wants to be making.
In the past, the online medium has often been spared focus groups because of rushed schedules, small budgets, and a Wild West mindset. However, as online marketing budgets continue expanding to even bigger and more prominent tools, gaining ever greater insight into what people want, the use of focus groups prior to a project start seems inevitable.
Companies are also growing savvy to the fact that throwing up an ill-conceived product or campaign can do more damage than simply wasted company or agency resources. With the lines blurring more and more between product development and marketing, the challenge of determining what customers want will require product development and marketing teams to work more closely together.
It's a big challenge, but one that is long overdue.
Zaltman's overarching claim is that customer behavior is more complex than we've thought it to be, and this certainly rings true in the post-dotcom-boom era. Branding was discovered to be far more complex than most people thought, and agencies took a lot of heat for failed insta-branding campaigns. However, the research methods that companies still use paint a simplistic view of consumers, how they think and how marketers can connect with them.
Final Thoughts
I have two complaints about Zaltman's book. One, it could have been a third shorter. Two, the formal case studies are lightweight blurbs that skim the surface of the subject, but never present enough information to form a truly compelling story. At times, this second issue could become particularly annoying because I've always found psychology and human behavior fascinating, mainly because of the stories behind the stories. Without expanding on the surrounding details of customer sentiment, product background, marketer challenges, et cetera, Zaltman's case studies felt like reading dialogue without any context.
Should you read this book?
If you ever have to deal with focus groups or user testing or surveys, read it. It will give you a good perspective on new techniques in the industry. Market research can produce a wealth of information on a range of topics, and like all information, you should know the source.
On the other hand, if you never ever have to deal with focus groups, surveys or other methods of consumer research, I recommend you pick up something by David Sedaris instead.
Doug Schumacher is President and Creative Director of Basement, Inc., an interactive advertising agency in Venice, California. His primary objective at Basement is to bring impacting creative to the online space, while fully utilizing the medium's testing capabilities to help clients shape and refine their product marketing strategies.
Schumacher's interactive career began in 1996 while working at TBWA/Chiat/Day, where he creative directed the highly-acclaimed '96 Nissan Pathfinder website, an early rich media branded experience. Since then, he's developed online marketing and advertising solutions for companies including Bank of America, Disney, Travelocity, STARZ Encore Group, Cheap Tickets, American Life Insurance, and Sempra Energy.
Schumacher began his career on the traditional advertising side, with copywriting positions at DDB, TBWA/Chiat/Day, and BBDO. In his free time, he enjoys snowboarding, basketball, traveling and photography.