One of the subjects that I think should be of interest to all consumer researchers is the law. Not all that Jerome Vs Willensby in 1869 case law stuff, I can’t see much application for that, not studying the statute books either. I’m talking about evidence, how it’s collected and how much weight can reasonably be attached to it. Given their importance in the legal process, a lot of work has been done to examine the accuracy of eye-witness testimony. It strikes me that if there were any question over people’s ability to accurately report on an event they witness involving someone else then similar problems may well exist when relying on a person’s ability to accurately report their own experiences. In fact, given the role of the conscious mind as a post-rationalising device that has no direct access to the unconscious mechanisms that trigger our behaviour, there is reasonable […]
Sneak Preview: When Is a Fact Not a Fact
One of the challenges with studying consumer behaviour is that the behaviour itself is incontrovertible, but the interpretation of that behaviour is often much more open to debate: what caused what? What can be inferred from what happened Recently, when I casually commented on a reported change in consumer behaviour, the person I was speaking to got quite indignant. You can read about what happened and what I learned in the process here (it’s a sneak preview of one of the articles that will be in my next Mindshop! e-Zine, out tomorrow). And linking to it here gives those who do read it a chance to comment if they would like to – I’d love to hear your thoughts. Philip Graves
Consumer Behaviour: Where’s the Reason?
I really appreciated all of the comments received in response to yesterday’s post and I wanted to pick up on one that, as a consumer behaviour expert, I found fascinating. It also was one of the last comments posted so people scanning through what others have said wouldn’t have seen it. Mark (MarketingScoops) said: “I had an interesting shopping experience today. I had no intention of shopping but I received a 40% off one item special on my blackberry. Once I was in the store, I entered the shopping mode and bought 3 things. The super special got me in the store and completely changed my mindset.” This reveals a couple of very interesting issues. It reinforces my point about a lot of consumer behaviour not being “need” based, but being triggered far less rationally and influenced much more indirectly. It illustrates the route to understanding consumer behaviour: whilst there […]
The Consumer Need Myth and Why Customers Really Buy
You’d be hard pressed to find any marketing text book that doesn’t talk at some point about “consumer need”. It’s a simple enough concept: the products that will do best are those that meet a requirement that someone has. At the next level you may find there’s a discussion on the types of consumer need. Broadly these break down into physical and emotional needs. So, by way of simplistic example, the former says that, because you’re cold you will buy a hat. The latter that because you want to feel special you’ll buy an expensive hat. This is all fine up to a point. But I happen to think that most consumer behaviour is nothing to do with “need”. This is a problem because the notion of consumer need suggests that, at some level, a consumer is aware of what it is they are getting as a result of acquiring […]
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