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The Livingston Group is staffed by highly trained clinical
and research psychologists and statisticians. As such, we
have developed several important techniques for removing
social desirability and self-report biases and more fully
understanding purchase motivation. The net effect of our
techniques is usually a more accurate read on what
respondents will really do in the market place, as opposed
to learning what they say they will do! We are
additionally able to discern emotional end benefits.
(the true reasons people buy: they think it will make them sexy, more lovable, feel smart, see themselves as a good parent).
Special Techniques are Required to Unearth Emotional
Benefits
and to Understand How They Are Linked to the
Functional Features and the Overall Image of Your Brand:
While the importance of emotional end benefits is clear, it
is very tricky to assess via direct questioning techniques.
All but the most creative respondents are hard put to
provide rich, detailed answers to straightforward questions
such as, "If this soda were a person, what kind of person
would it be?" or "How does this soda can make you feel about
yourself?" (Or even worse "Which color graphic on the can
would make you feel like a sexier person when you bought it?").
In some situations, it is possible to simply ask about these
relationships. For example, the relationship between eyewear
and attractiveness is not particularly threatening. Most
consumers probably would not be uncomfortable telling you
that they consider how attractive they look in eyewear
before purchasing. However, most often you do need special
techniques to probe emotional benefits:
REASON #1: SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS DISTORTS THE DATA
People are often frightened of being judged and will only
say what they think is socially desirable. For example, some
people are uncomfortable verbalizing the desire to feel
attractive. To them, Feeling Attractive is something to be
quietly pursued, not publicly acknowledged. This is
particularly true for older women, many men, and those from
Asian cultures. When someone of this ilk is asked for an
emotional connection, they will tell you something more
socially desirable like "it makes me feels practical" or "it
makes me feel safe."
While social desirability bias is a small problem for
'Feeling Attractive," it is a much bigger problem with many
other motivators like "Feeling Sexy," "Feeling Excited,"
"Has a Sense of Belonging," and "Feels in Control."
REASON #2: EMOTIONAL MOTIVATION OFTEN OCCURS BEYOND THE
CONSUMER'S CONSCIOUS AWARENESS
The conscious experience of emotional benefits is usually
vague. People have difficulty articulating their underlying
motivations and even more trouble specifying how product
features are related to these emotional benefits.
REASON #3: THE CONSUMER'S SELF CONCEPT IS THAT OF A
COMPLETELY RATIONAL PURCHASER
Most consumers want to think of themselves as logical,
rational buyers. The idea that feelings influence purchase
threatens this perception. Consumers don't realize (or
don't want to admit) that advertising images affect their
purchase decisions. Indeed, most consumers want to believe
that they purchase based solely upon rational facts such as
price, value, taste and performance. Moreover, since
consumers tend to deny that emotions (and the product
imagery with which they are associated) affects their
decisions, they can become anxious that their answers to
direct image-related or emotionally-laden questions are a
reflection of their personality. The result of all these
dynamics is a relatively quiet respondent, who gives
sensible, general, barely useful responses.
REASON #4: CONSUMERS FEAR ADVERTISERS' MOTIVATIONS
Finally, some respondents are concerned that if strangers
really knew what made them tick, retailers and salespeople would take advantage of
them and sell them things they did not really need.
Despite these inherent difficulties, many market researchers
(who are unaware of alternative approaches) attempt to ask
direct questions to assess imagery in focus groups and
in-depth interviews. However, a handful of qualitative
market researchers have borrowed techniques from psychology
called "projectives" in order to obtain richer, more
detailed descriptions of product imagery.
Most of our techniques rely on projective methodology.
(Note - see Dr. Sharon Livingston's article on projective
techniques for a more thorough
treatment of the subject). Through these techniques we can
provide a clear picture of purchase motivation, and the
emotional end benefits attached to your brand. Please see
the sub-pages of this section for details.
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