Consumer Immersion – Discerning what they don’t tell you!

Making sense of human behaviour has always been a herculean task that is if you are not the proverbial soothsayer of sorts.  This is particularly because a myriad of factors governs one’s behaviour which is inclusive of but not limited to values, beliefs and attitudes. The very inclination to act out of self-interest has been suggested by neoclassical theory whereby we humans are supposed to make rational decisions to ensure a maximum benefit and minimum cost that we incur. But the flipside to this natural assumption is the hard reality of our tendency to behave in a manner which is not entirely comprehensible or logical to the immediate observer. And it’s impractical to assume that it would be pertinent to assume that human beings, in general, can always be asked to explain their behaviour. Hence, instead of struggling to assess why we behave the way we do and result in fiction to make sense of it major market research companies are equipped with a number of research techniques by the means of which they can execute the needful with much élan.

Therefore, consumer immersion is a process whereby relevant stakeholders of an organization get to perceive the efficacy of their products and services as well as their brands through the lenses of their consumers.  It is not a substitute for any other research methods. Rather, in this context, along with semiotics, motivational research, and usage and attitude studies, among others, active consumer immersions aid in insight generation thereby aiding in the formulation of appropriate strategies.

In the view of the above, major market research companies, offer such consumer immersion services to benefit those stakeholders of the organizations or organizations who do not have any direct dealing with consumers but whose function involves making key decisions that would eventually have a far-reaching impact on consumers.

Moreover, attempts that are made by the ill-equipped and by those who aren’t abreast of the nuances of the research and are more prone to use their gut feel are fraught with problems. For example, individual can fall foul to egocentrism which is the inability to understand that another person’s view or opinion may be different from their own and /or ethnocentrism i.e. the tendency view behavior through the constricted lenses of their own behavior. Fortunately, major market research companies are seasoned operators in these arena. They are not only intellectually curious and are inclined to go beyond reportage thereafter seek explanations about human behavior.

Let’s take an example of implementing consumer immersion techniques to gauge why a particular set of individuals or a groups of individuals adhere to social norms. Albeit focus group discussion and in-depth interviews provide an organic and open environment wherein question are asked and probable nuances in response by situation are teased out, it comes with its own set of problems. This is because the reasons for adherences to social norms aren’t immediately obvious and we succumb to the tendency to post-rationalize i.e. humans start rationalizing their behavior without the knowledge of the “why”.

In such instances, major market research companies, would are equipped to provide trained moderators who by the virtue of their training and profession are cognizant of probable self-reporting bias i.e. respondents might under- or over - report behavior so that they are viewed to be behaving in a socially desirable manner, which ironically is the product of normative influence. They would for instance present the respondents with salient hypothetical scenarios to aid respondents to identify beliefs and their social expectations, and thereafter ask how they perceive the ideal behavior of the social actors in particular scenario.