Omission detection

Listen to what customers say. But give credence to what they do.

Let’s say you were a mom.  A market researcher calls you and asks:

What criteria do you use in selecting breakfast cereal for your kids?

What would your answer be?

My first stint out of business school was at a large breakfast cereal company, and this question was asked of thousands of moms by a very reputable and well-meaning market research organization.  The overwhelming answer to the question was, of course, nutrition.

How, then, was the brand group to account for the fact that the number one selling brand at the time was Cap’n Crunch?  Could it be that the major purchasers of breakfast cereals at the time were not moms, but college freshmen?  (No.)  Then what?  Could it be that the moms lied to the researchers?

Well, yes and no.  There are two things going on when researchers research.  The first is that they are asking questions.  The second is that the questions pass through the filters of the people being asked, which changes the answers.  That’s right: The very fact of being asked changes the answer.

Nutrition was important to these moms.  However, there was something more pressing than nutrition, which was what will my kids eat? Nutrition doesn’t do kids any good if it’s just sitting there in the bowl getting soggy.

Then why didn’t they just say that?  Why didn’t they just say that the number one criterion is what my kids will eat, followed by nutrition?  Or that nutrition is most important, but given a choice between nutrition that tastes like sugar and nutrition that tastes like bark, they’ll choose the one their kids will eat?  Or that nutrition and sugar are equally important?

It’s because the market research company was asking a question it didn’t even know it was asking.

Let’s say you were a husband.  Your wife pulls on a new pair of jeans and asks:

Do these jeans make my butt look big?

Any man on the planet knows what the real question is, and it has nothing to do with big butts.  The real question is:  Do you love me?

So, you’re a mom.  A total stranger calls you on the phone and asks:

What criteria do you use in selecting breakfast cereal for your kids?

You know what the real question is, don’t you?  The real question is: Are you a good mom?

The moms in this study gave the answer they thought a good mom would give because they wanted, not only for the researcher to think of them as good moms, but to think of themselves as good moms.

Moral: People don’t necessarily answer questions that tell you who they are, but, rather, who they want to be and who they want you to think they are.  Likewise, their expressed opinions, such as about the importance of nutrition, won’t always augur their choices.  There may be a trump card right under the surface that they haven’t given voice to — or even consciously considered.

Lesson: If you want to get to the heart of why people do what they do, start with the what, and follow with the why. A better set of questions would have been:

• What cereals are in your cabinet right now?  Why those?
• What cereals did your kids eat for breakfast today?  Why those?
• When you go grocery shopping next, which cereals are you likely to buy?  Why those?

Listen to the feedback people give you about your products and services.  But, more important, pay attention to what they do.  That will give you as much insight into their values as anything they will reveal to you through their words.

(c) 2009 Victoria Lynn Jones