Call it Research? Call it Insights? No. Call it Strategies.
We’ve run across a multitude of research professionals who opine about the future of marketing research. The prevailing feeling it that the industry must change or it will perish. No longer, they say, are marketers interested in thick research reports that in a quickly evolving marketplace are often out of date by the time they are presented. More importantly, they no longer want a research function that is incapable of taking a seat at the table and sharing responsibly for the decisions that are made. So focused is the research industry on changing its image that it can’t even agree what to call itself. To regard a research company as simply a “research company” now suggests doing business with an anachronism. It would seem much safer to contract with an “insights company.” Isn’t that what everyone now wants? Insights! Wrong again. What companies should be seeking are “breakthrough strategies.” The one’s that come as a result of research, insights, deep understanding, vision, perceptiveness, creativity and the courage to take a stand. In today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, there should be little tolerance for research, or even insights, that are devoid of strategic implications. Stake you claim with companies that see research and insights as a means, not an end. Indeed, the traditional research function is fading fast. And the insights function is just a way of rebranding the same old, same old. A new breed is evolving that sees its role as digging deep into consumer behavior and motivation in order to create strategies that make a difference. Let’s call them Strategists. Let’s put them at the table and see what making a difference really means.
Do customers have an emotional connection to the stores they shop?
Alex Ridder of IModerate.com raises the question…”Do consumers have an emotional connection to any retailers. If so, how did those retailers establish that connection? She writes: Retailers should take note of a study recently released by Motista. The findings reveal that only 18 percent of consumers have an emotional connection to their retailers. Moreover, only 24 percent of consumers said they would make their next relevant purchase with the retailers they frequent today. The findings also shed light on the different ways in which men and women interact and connect with retailers. But what stood out to me most was this tidbit… “Consumers who feel emotional connections to their retailers are four times more likely to shop those retailers first when relevant needs arise, as compared to consumers who are simply familiar and satisfied with their retailers.” There is no question that when it comes to understanding emotions, many of today’s marketing researchers are largely out of their element. Most have educations in general business, marketing, marketing research, or statistics. We’ve even run into a few with liberal arts, history or literature backgrounds. Fewer have been trained in social sciences like psychology, sociology and anthropology--the very disciplines that focus on emotions, feelings and cultural influences in seeking to understand and explain why we behave as we do. While some companies are pushing new approaches for studying emotions, let the buyer beware. Most research as practiced today is outstanding at explaining the rational. But when it comes to emotions, we're not even close to having a common language to explain emotions much less the ability to interpret correctly an emotional expression. When two people say they feel shopping a particular retailer gives them a feeling of "happiness”, can we conclude "happiness" means the same to both people? We’d say not today! In his course, ...
