[Li Jiaoshou] How to conduct consumer research without a large budget?

Open many survey reports and you will see:

77% of your users are women;

Your brand reputation is 53%;

Brand awareness 76%;

61% of consumers said they value cost performance...

What's wrong with these?

Let me explain these two concepts first:

When it comes to surveys, the first word that comes to most people’s mind is “data.”

Many marketing professionals agree with this idea - they believe that marketing research is all about seeking some accurate, verified data-driven conclusions. This is the traditional view of marketing research.

So most of the time, when we want to investigate, our job is to collect as much data as possible within our budget, get a large sample, use the latest statistical methods, and provide a lot of analytical reports.

When you open this kind of report that contains a lot of data, you will be very excited the first second (see what we have gained in the past few months), but then you will be filled with worries, not understanding what the report means, and then think about looking at it another day. Data reports eventually become folders in the office and become a decoration that no one cares about.

This is the case with many data-driven surveys - collecting data extensively with the goal of proving a point of view, or more blindly looking at "how many consumers do we have in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" or "how many female consumers do we have", but ultimately not getting the insights we want.

But just because a method is very common and general doesn't mean it's correct. In fact, this kind of survey has very limited reference value for most people in the current rapidly changing market, especially startups .

What I would like to recommend is another approach to consumer surveys – explanation-driven consumer surveys .

It's not about collecting data extensively, but about finding ways to capture and explain consumer behavior.

Taking battlefield intelligence collection as an example, the data-driven approach would be "In this battle, the enemy's casualty rate was 31%, and the retreat speed was 1.1 meters per second", while the explanation-driven approach would be "Observations found that the enemy's flags were not in disorder when they retreated, so it is likely that they were pretending to surrender."

If data-driven consumer research is about confirming an opinion, explanation-driven research is about finding new solutions.

It sounds complicated, but I’ll tell you some simple and easy methods and you’ll understand.

(PS. In order to improve operability, this article does not talk about any methods that require a lot of data analysis , a lot of money, a long time, or the need to learn mathematical models. The following methods only require conventional intelligence.)

Common explanation-driven consumer research methods:

1. Unique behavior observation
2. Interview on “Critical Point”
3. Find "Mirror Content"
4. Similar behavior analysis

What behaviors do the consumers you are going to study often exhibit in your hypothetical scenarios that others would not do or that are unreasonable?

Discovering these behaviors and then attributing them is the unique behavior observation method.

For example, suppose you are driving on the road, and the original two-way lane suddenly becomes a one-way lane due to an accident. Soon five or six cars meet on both sides - the front of each side is a taxi and a private car respectively. Neither side wants to give way, causing the cars behind to be unable to move.

What should you say when you get out of the taxi and want to persuade the taxi driver to reverse?

Most people would say things like “Please make way”, “We can’t move unless you move”, “Please give me a favor”, etc. This is of course unreliable, because we all know that the key to persuasion is to find out what others want, not what you want.

So your task is very clear: you need to associate the act of "reversing" with something the taxi driver wants in front of you in order to convince him.

Okay, now we get to the consumer research stage - how do you know what taxi drivers want?

Of course, you can’t just walk up to them and ask, “What are you pursuing in life? What impresses you? How can you reverse your behavior?” (This behavior is just like many companies that can’t choose a slogan themselves and want consumers to help choose one. It’s useless.)

No one can really tell you what he wants (because they don't know either), so what to do?

At this time, the method we recommend - unique behavior observation method - can come in handy.

Now please recall (if you can’t think of it, just observe it), what “unique behaviors” do taxi drivers often exhibit that are different from private car drivers?

For example, I thought of: refusing to pick up passengers, overtaking other vehicles, taking shortcuts by non-mainstream routes, complaining about other people’s unprofessional driving, not liking to use navigation (compared to Didi Express drivers)…

Then the next question is: What does he want when he exhibits these behaviors?

Obviously, "refusal to pick up passengers", "overtaking", "taking shortcuts", etc. mean that they think their time is precious and every minute means money, so they want to improve their time efficiency.

Behaviors such as "not turning on the navigation" and "complaining about others' unprofessionalism" mean that they want to pursue dignity and show that they have good driving skills and are "professional drivers" (I have met several taxi drivers who refuse to turn on the navigation. This behavior is similar to a great speaker who does not prepare a draft). In addition, "overtaking" and "finding non-mainstream routes" may also be motivated by the desire to demonstrate "professionalism."

Then the persuasion strategy becomes clear. What they want most is time efficiency and professionalism, so the behavior of "reversing" needs to be connected to one of the two.

This strategy was really successful. This is what a professor of negotiation at Harvard Business School personally encountered. At that time, he tried to persuade the taxi driver in every way but failed. Finally, he said this sentence to make the taxi driver reverse:

"You are the only professional driver in the two cars."

The above is the basic idea of ​​the "unique behavior observation method" - it is difficult for us to know what consumers want and care about by asking, but we assume that their behavior, especially frequent behavior (such as taxi drivers complaining about others), will reflect a person’s true preferences.

What you need to do is, when you can’t figure out what consumers want, first try to observe their unique behaviors (it must be unique behaviors, for example, everyone breathes all the time, there is no point in making assumptions), and then infer that this behavior generally means what they want, like, and support.

For example, if you are selling women's cosmetics, you need to ask yourself: How are women's behaviors in terms of becoming beautiful, buying cosmetics, and using cosmetics different from other aspects?

For example, if you are targeting people who work out, you need to ask yourself: What other behaviors do fitness enthusiasts display that are different from many other people, besides working out? (Similar to analyzing the difference between taxi drivers and ordinary drivers)

For example, last year I met a company that made computer goggles (to protect against computer blue light). When I searched on Taobao, I found that these goggles generally claim to "block blue light, so that your eyes no longer feel pain and tears when looking at the screen."

This is certainly unlikely to convert too many new users - because when a person feels a little stinging in the eyes, most people will choose to directly put in eye drops or stop and rub their eyes. It is difficult to place an order to buy goggles worth hundreds of dollars just for such short-term discomfort.

This means that there is no connection between the product features and the tasks that consumers want to complete.

At this time, you can use the "unique behavior observation method" to find out what consumers want.

First of all, what group of people use this type of product the most? A quick search revealed that it was a group of gaming people.

Then ask: What unique behaviors do people who play games often exhibit?

Then I discovered that a person often gets angry when he is interrupted while playing games (compared to when he is interrupted while working or eating).

This means: people who play games should not like to be stopped by some external factors.

And dry eyes are one of the factors that stop them from playing games - so if we expand it to other groups, the real pain point for people using goggles should not be to treat dry eyes, but to allow them to focus on something (such as playing games) for a long time without being interrupted by the guilt of dry eyes.

So instead of “preventing your eyes from stinging and tearing”, it’s better to say: “Play LOL for 12 hours straight without dry eyes” (meaning without interruptions).

In short, whether through actual consumer observation, your own recollection, group brainstorming, etc., you can ask yourself: What unique behaviors do my consumers exhibit? Then use this behavior to discover what they want - this is the unique behavior observation method.

At this point, some people ask, "What exactly is unique behavior?" Quite simply, “ unique behavior ” is something that makes perfect sense but they don’t do it. Discovering unique behavior means discovering "irrational behavior" .

For example, a person dislikes being interrupted more when playing games than at other times. For example, taxi drivers are less willing to use navigation than other drivers.

In addition to finding consumer insights, this approach can also be used to develop and optimize products.

For example, Callaway, a company that specializes in manufacturing golf clubs, had a very small market share in the United States at the time, and many large companies were fighting fiercely for the existing consumer market. It couldn't fight head-on at this time, so it sent some investigators to conduct market research and find a way to win.

When doing research, here is a “ reasonable ” thing that golf enthusiasts just don’t do:

Many people love golf and envy those who play golf. They are not short of money, but they just don’t play golf themselves.

This is weird. They continued to interview and observe these phenomena and found that these consumers complained that the golf clubs they used in the past often prevented them from hitting the ball and that it was difficult for them to practice on their own. So Callaway seized this opportunity and launched a large-headed club for these golf envious people, allowing them to hit the ball without a lot of training, and it quickly became popular.

This is the first method I recommend to most marketers who don’t have the time or a large research budget: unique behavioral observation. Find out (through observation, recollection, group discussion, etc.) what reasonable behaviors your target group has but does not do when completing a task, and infer what they really want through these behaviors.

(ps. Many people claim to have read countless people, so you just need to use this ability to read people to read groups)

Most interviews directly ask consumers “What do you think you will like?”, “Why did you buy it?”, “Will you buy it?”

These are largely ineffective because consumers cannot predict their own behavior.

When the iPhone was launched in 2007, Universal McCann conducted a large-scale consumer survey and predicted that the iPhone would only be successful in underdeveloped markets such as Mexico and Africa, but would not be successful in developed markets in Europe and the United States.

For example, one question is "Are you willing to use a convenient device to meet all your needs (such as making calls, surfing the Internet, and taking photos)?"

It was found that 79% of Mexicans were willing to do so, while 31% of Americans were willing to do so. Americans had little interest in phones that integrated cameras and music players.

This ridiculous survey is basically in line with the way most people conduct interviews. We want to get the answer directly by asking consumers (it would be best if consumers told us directly what impresses them), but we ignore this fact: no survey can tell you the answer directly; you can only infer the answer based on the user's response in the survey. (For example, a user tells a story, which reflects a certain preference).

So what should we do?

I recommend that most interviews should be: “Tipping point” interviews – find ways to push users to the tipping point where they actively recall their stories.

Suppose the picture below is a conversation between an interviewer and a user (the user is in green). At the beginning, it consists of short sentences, and the user answers in a disjointed manner ("I haven't bought it", "It's not bad"), until certain questions stimulate the user's memories and the user begins to actively recall specific experiences and scenes - this is the critical point interview.

A few months ago, I encountered a smart children's robot project. Before the product was launched, we had to choose the main direction of the official website copy (for example, the default direction was "open your phone at work and watch your children remotely", making use of the remote video function of the children's robot). For this purpose, we needed to conduct a consumer survey.

The default method at the beginning was to select 5 copywritings from brainstorming, and then interview a group of young mothers to ask them what copywriting they like and what copywriting can impress them.

This is of course useless. How can consumers know which copy is effective? (If consumers are asked to choose, they would definitely prefer "Cherish the people you love most" over "Drink Jiaduobao if you are afraid of getting angry", but the latter is more effective.)

Furthermore, by asking users this question, it is impossible for them to reach the “critical point” of the interview and actively start recalling real experiences and telling stories.

So we started asking recall questions, such as:

“What is your best memory of raising children?”

“What was your worst experience raising a child?”

"You must have bought some products to make it easier to take care of your children. Can you tell me what they were? How did you hear about them? Why did you suddenly want to buy them?"

…

It turns out that many mothers' stories contain these key details to a greater or lesser extent:

"Taking care of children is really tiring. Sometimes I feel like going to work is a relief."

“Sometimes I miss my past life alone, and now I feel uneasy when I travel.”

This means that consumers may not want to watch their children remotely at any time while at work - the main focus on "remote watch of children" should be a false demand.

After asking further, we found that most parents who really miss their children would rather get off work and go home earlier.

So what questions should be asked for this kind of "critical point interview"?

According to marketing needs, you should ask these questions:

(1) Questions about recalling related experiences – helping you find points of resonance

For example, if you are talking about off-road vehicles, you need to ask about unique experiences related to off-road vehicles:

A memorable experience driving an off-road vehicle (used to find insights related to the brand story) - where did you go? Why do you suddenly want to drive an off-road vehicle? What happened then?

(For example, "I was scolded by my boss, but I didn't want to resign, so I drove an SUV to the suburbs on weekends." This often shows that when pursuing freedom and liberation, you may think of off-roading)

Off-road vehicle driving and social experience (for finding relationship and image insights) - Have you ever ridden an off-road vehicle with someone else? What impressed you most? When driving an off-road vehicle, who do you think you are in the eyes of your friends? Many of your friends will buy cars. Who do you think is most likely to buy an SUV and why? What has this person done in the past that makes you think he's someone who would buy an SUV?

Driving an off-road vehicle and practical experience (used to find practical needs for off-road vehicles) - When did you suddenly think, "It would be nice to have an off-road vehicle"? Sometimes you think, "Luckily I bought an SUV," but what happened then? When did you think, "It would be better if I bought a commercial vehicle or other non-off-road vehicle"?

Similar experiences of driving an off-road vehicle (used to find users’ classification of off-road vehicles) - Some people say that the first time they drove a Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle, it was similar to the first time they went on stage to receive an award. So what do you feel similar to when you drive an off-road vehicle? When buying an off-road vehicle, what product do you feel the same impulse when buying it?

When JEEP's sales were declining, they used a similar method to find insights. They did not ask consumers what kind of off-road vehicle they wanted, but instead asked consumers about their experiences with off-road vehicles.

For example, many people mentioned "going to the open air, going to places others cannot go", talked about "the vast grasslands of the western United States", and talked about the experience of driving an off-road vehicle being similar to the experience of riding a horse, etc.

So JEEP found the real answer - in the eyes of Americans at that time, off-road vehicles meant freedom. They were not cold machines, but were similar to the feeling of riding a horse.

So they changed the square headlights to round ones (more like a horse), and named it "Wrangler", which was a huge success.

(2) Behavioral attribution problem: discovering the main appeal and pain points of the product

For example, in a children's robot interview, users were given some prototypes to play with, and then asked: "What do you think this product is similar to? What might you not buy if you buy this?"

Many mothers said that it is similar to a storytelling machine, and they may not buy a storytelling machine after buying it, and they will have fewer toys.

Then you can call and ask according to the attributes that the user is interested in:

“What purchases of this kind do you regret, and what experiences do you think are particularly worthwhile?”

For example, many mothers mentioned that they regretted buying some storytelling machines because their children got bored of them after playing with them for a while. This shows that these mothers care a lot about whether their children can play for a long time.

Then ask: "Why do you care whether the child plays for a long time?"

Many people will say: "This way you don't have to buy new ones."

There's no real insight here, you need to continue asking them why they do this.

"Why do you care about not having to buy new ones over and over again?"

Surprisingly, most people did not mention the lack of money, but rather that the things their children were tired of using were often piled up in piles at home and were difficult to deal with.

Through these questions, it is easy to find that the real pain point for parents who buy this type of children's companion products is that they don't want to keep changing them and have to buy new ones, so the old ones pile up. For them, the real meaning of "intelligence" may not be "smooth operation" or "like a real person", but annual upgrades and new features every year.

In short, you can keep asking questions to find out why consumers like something:

“What do you value about this?”

“Why is this important and what can it do for you?”

"Why do you care about this?"

"What kind of person do you think you are to care about this?"

(3) Influence source issues - helping you discover marketing channels and methods

In addition to the above, it is generally necessary to ask the "source of influence question" - what did the consumer see and hear in making the decision.

for example:

About "See" - "Where did you see the information about buying a storytelling machine last time? Do you believe it?"

About "listening" - "I don't know how to choose. Who did you listen to? Who did you hear it from? Who did you tell?"

This way you can find out what channels (advertising, offline, etc.) are influencing consumers.

With any consumer research method, don't expect to get answers directly from consumers. Instead, infer the answers from their behavior (whether through behavioral observation or interviews).

Just like no doctor gets a prescription directly from test results, but rather makes inferences based on the test results and the patient's other behaviors, and then reaches a conclusion.

What you need is to conduct more "explanation-driven surveys" rather than blind "data-driven surveys" and make inferences based on the behaviors of consumers in different scenarios.

illustrate:

1. Due to space limitations, this article only involves two methods that I often use. I will write about other methods (such as similarity comparison, "mirror behavior" inference, etc.) if I find readers need them.

2. In addition to the methods in this article, there are countless more advanced research methods, but they are complicated to operate, require a large number of models, and have high data requirements. Even I am too lazy to use them most of the time or have no money or energy to use them, so I don’t involve them.

The methods we are talking about now are more about making use of things that most readers already know - for example, most people in the workplace have the ability to read people, so most of these methods make use of the ability to read people that you have accumulated over the years. But most people don’t know how to do exploratory factor analysis, and cannot use their existing abilities. It would be difficult to execute what they have written, so I won’t share it.

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