Side Effects of Consumer Research
It’s pretty common in the last half hour of a focus group or an ethnography interview to have a respondent look at me and say something to the effect of, “honestly, I have never thought so much about this [whatever product or need state we’re studying] and I’m going to really think about why I do/use/need this for a while after we’re done.” Or essentially, “I’m going to reexamine my life choices thanks to this discussion.” It always makes me chuckle and generates a moment of connection between me and the respondent.
The secret here is that conducting market research has the same effect on the researcher! We’re not immune to our own questions. Thanks to our clients and their projects, I, too, have ended up reckoning with several of my life choices and changing what goes into my own pantry. I work on a lot of food innovations, so usually that means I spend some time re-thinking what groceries I buy for my family and why.
It’s pretty typical in our front-end innovation work to include a variety of analog products, disruptive products and the client’s products (and/or protocepts) as stimuli in our Co-Creation work. This has meant that I have had the chance to sample A LOT of foods over the past few years while coming up with ways to describe them or just to be familiar with products our clients make that I don’t (didn’t) normally buy at the time. Thanks to my various clients over the years, I’ve (re)discovered a love for Frosted Mini Wheats, my son has enjoyed Lunchables for lunch, I’ve given up caffeine again, and have generally realized I’m not such an outlier compared to the rest of US adults.
For those of you sitting in the back room or someone’s living room with us… what has participating in the research process made you re-think? If it has been too long since you’ve been in the back room generating consumer insights to drive your business, reach out and talk to us about what your current challenges are. We’d love to help you reconnect with your consumer, and get you to re-think some of your own choices while we’re at it!