Judging from the replies yesterday, some of you are certainly familiar with the concept that customer perceptions may not tally with reality.

Indeed, it’s fair to say that there are even a few cliches on the subject. And I’m the sort of person who dislikes cliches and enjoys challenging them whenever possible; they can be an excuse for not bothering to think about something.

For example, take the old chestnut of which came first the chicken or the egg? It seems pretty clear to me that it was the egg, so using this as a phrase to convey the point that the sequencing of events is unclear to you, simply suggests to me that you haven’t thought about it enough! [Where something evolved to a point where whomever decides such things was willing to say, “Yes, what you have there is what I would call a chicken” it must have been a thing that had hatched from an egg, but wasn’t totally present in either parent.]

Similarly, when someone’s reply to a question is, “Ah yes, well, how long’s a piece of string, eh?” my answer is , “Around 8.5 inches.” That’s a reasonable average for a piece of string; reflecting the fact that it’s something that was left over from a whole ball of string and was deemed useful enough to keep around the place for possible future use.

However, when it comes to understanding consumers it is true to say that “perception is all”.

To give you an example: a friend of mine is a real fan of Apple stuff. Since he bought his first iPod he’s become a complete Apple bore; forever pointing out how good the techology and service is, and how superior the products are to their competitors. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Apple stuff isn’t very good, but that’s not my point.

You see, he’ll repeat this Apple mantra at any reasonable opportunity: the other day when someone was asking around what laptop he should buy everyone who knows him smiled ruefully when they asked my friend; sure enough out came the Apple speech with which we were all familiar.

But later that same day my friend’s Apple iPhone stopped working. He passed it to me and asked if I could reset it for him. It transpired that this wasn’t the first time it had happened. In fact, it had happened quite a lot. And yet, because this experience didn’t fit with his perception of Apple products he divorced it from that part of his brain that retains Apple things.

In psychological terms this is a classic example of confirmation bias. In consumer behaviour terms it’s a classic case of what I would call brand blindness; where an event that doesn’t tally with a consumer’s perception of a brand they are effectively blind to it. I’ve seen it a lot, from manufacturing brands like Apple, car brands like BMW and Mercedes, and even some retailers benefit from this golden halo effect: they can provide lousy service but still be thought of in rosy terms by the people they let down.

Next time I’ll explain why you can’t rely on what consumers tell you about their attitudes to brands.

Philip Graves

20 Comments

  1. Don Shepherd

    After many years of Driving Ford trucks for my business, i made the switch to Toyota. I love the look and feel of the fords, but they were always in the repair shop. i have had my toyota for a year and a half with almost 50k miles and only a couple repairs, yet i still would rather have the ford? can’t explain.

    Don Shepherd
    Central Oregon Expert

    reply to comment→
  6. jc mackenzie

    I had a friend a few years ago with a Jag that was fequently in the shop. He told me that research had shown that with outstanding branding, a company could get away with poor quality for almost five years.

    True or no, I thought it was one of the saddest things I’d ever heard.

    Just a thought.

    Thanks

    JC JC

    reply to comment→
  17. Duane Cunningham

    Hi Phil,

    Great post on what we as consumers think about and how we go about confirming the reasons why we mad e certain decisions!

    I have a mac and like Jj love it because its just cool but it does have a few issues with other computers that im none to happy about!

    Duane

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    reply to comment→
  18. John Ho

    Everyone of us has his/her own bias and hence blind spots.

    Our personalities dictates where our blind spots are. So if we understand one’s personality, whether it’s our very own or someone else, then we have a better chance to influence & persuade.

    John Ho
    Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personalities for Better Influence & Persuasion (WordPress Blog)
    Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personalities for Better Influence & Persuasion (Money Page)

    reply to comment→
  19. Jennifer Battaglino

    You have spoken the truth… I have a Dell laptop which is like being hell… When I still had the warranty I used to talk about how great customer service was..because they ALWAYS fixed the problem.
    3 Motherboards and 3 CPU’s later, oh and a new CD-DVD-Rom, new screen, speakers…not sure if I covered it all, I realized that I knew how good they were because the product stunk!

    Jen B
    The Harwood Center – Tinnitus, Chronic Illness, Fers, Phobias, and Anxiety

    reply to comment→

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