The research interview process does more than merely ignore critical components of why people behave as they do, it changes how and what they think.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Moments of discovery are often accompanied by surprised laughter;
when I heard laughter he could took it as a cue that there might be something going on that was worth looking at.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves citing former dean of Yale Medical School, Lewis Thomas
Laughter itself is a very useful behavioral reference point.
Most people can distinguish genuine laughter from artificially forced good humor if they put their mind to it.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Asking a consumer about something overrides the natural state that thing occupies in his or her experience.
It’s very hard to preempt what people will find interesting or attention worthy – which makes it very risky to presume by asking them a question about it.
When research has put a focus on the issue it’s investigating that causes people to consider it in a way they otherwise wouldn’t, it has manufactured the response it gets.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Learning where online customers skip through content or that they fail to reach potentially important information at the bottom of a page can enable specific weaknesses to be identified.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Identifying how long visitors to a site spend on each page can reveal how well it is serving its function of helping them find their ultimate destination on the site and how engaged they find it when they get there.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Questions inadvertently tell people what to think about. Raising something as a question pushes it into the conscious mind for a conscious response.
It frequently makes a presumption about how relevant or interesting that issue is to the person concerned.
In an understandable attempt to explore what someone thinks about something, the very fact that you asked them about that thing is a potential distortion of reality.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
It is possible to gain a good insight into the mindset of a customer by closely observing their total package of ‘expressions.’
By paying attention to the words people choose to use, their tone of voice, the gestures, postures, and facial expressions, one can read with surprising accuracy the frame of mind they are occupying at any particular time.
The key is to observe the total package rather than erroneously attach significance to just one aspect and deduce, for example, that because someone has their arms folded they are feeling defensive (they may very well just be cold, feel more comfortable that way, or be unconsciously modeling someone else’s behavior).
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
When consumers can be covertly observed from a dispassionate perspective, noticing what someone is doing, particularly when a shift in emotions occurs, can be very revealing.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Creating the appropriate mood around a product – be it by staging an exciting event, wrapping a ‘hot’ celebrity around it, giving it to people when they’re having fun doing something else, or making them feel they’ve got a great bargain – can boost a brand’s appeal precisely because of the phenomenon of unconscious misattribution.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Online surveys are hugely popular because of their relatively low cost and high speed, but people give different answers to certain questions when they are sitting in front of a computer screen alone from those they express when someone is there to ask the question.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Social proof, in the form of bestseller lists, testimonials, or customer reviews, is a hugely influencial factor.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Television advertisements in the middle of an exciting sports game are rated more highly than when the game lacks suspense.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
I strongly suspect that many of the products I buy from the site would be available more cheaply from its online competitors, but (Amazon) has made buying so easy I’ve never taken the time to check.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
A way of identifying a consumer’s preoccupied with risk is through the questions they ask.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
A lack of ease, or fluency, can be a cause of lost sales. Where customers can’t find what they want easily, and even when the first page of a site is slow to load, they will go elsewhere.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
How many of us recognize that we have been influenced by an advert or the actions of a salesperson?
Even where we can grudgingly acknowledge their presence, most of us prefer to believe that a salesperson’s involvement was only one (very marginal) factor in our decision, rather than the critical point of influence that determined the outcome of our experience.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
One of the most important elements in determining the success of a product or service is the extent to which its publicity gets talked about;
this is arguably a far more indicator of success than the quality (how-ever that may be judged) of the entity itself.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
People are often very resistant to trying or doing something new, however logically compelling that alternative is.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves
Being mindful that consumers are primarily focused on not making a bad choice – making a safe choice rather than necessarily making the best choice.
Consumer.ology by Philip Graves