Notes

The Best Kept Marketing Secret - Consumers Really Will Tell You What They'll BUY, If You Just ASK!
I started my consumer marketing career some 18 in the past doing "Focus Groups" or what's professionally called "Qualitative Research." Our research firm was headed up by the touchy-feely PhD in Psychology from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey named Betty. Betty loved to determine how products made people feel, and she was legendary. She conducted focus groups for the likes of Johnson & Johnson, L'Oreal, General Foods, Kraft, Proctor-Silex, Kodak, Avon, The Irish Tourist Board, Purdue Chicken, and also Burger King. During my first couple of months on the job, I was convinced that such groups were just an excuse for that R&D folks to get away from any office and eat Cheez-It's inside a dark room. But, as I sat behind the "secret" glass with my yellow legal pad feeling every bit as an investigator for CSI, I could barely keep your sound-bites straight. I quickly realized that consumers do tell you what they think, in case you just ask.
Betty was famous for her great "unopen-ended" questions that forced the buyer to qualify each response. "On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the item changed your daily life - where are we?" The next question was obvious, "How can we arrive at 5?" I watched males and females speak about everything from Child Care to Skin Care, from Fast Foods to Diets, from Vacation Packages to Investment Packages! We discussed leisure time, spare time, and also the increasing lack of time. It was a snapshot of life in America in 1988. Remember whenever they put raisins in Grape Nuts? After conducting 50 "one-on-ones" with Grape Nut eaters in Kansas City ... I can inform you first-hand why it didn't work. And, it requires just as much emotion and perception mainly because it does taste.
When she would pitch the blue chips Betty would say, "No one at this table knows what the customer will buy. The guy in Product Development hasn't an idea. The gal paid to generate things look pretty, does not have any idea what appeals to the customer, mainly in the moment of impulse. And, the folks in Finance are by far the most from touch with purchase motivation. Get them from your marketing process!"
She viewed the buyer growing up. Just as you'd probably ask a young child, "Honey what's wrong?" so should you ask the purchaser "How can I help?" "What can I do to suit your needs?" "Is there a way that I can make things better?" Betty ended every group with all the boldest question of all: "If I were to build you the perfect product, what five elements would it HAVE to HAVE"? online market research Perth were the group respondents clear and concise using answers, we were holding remarkably consistent around the world.
I don't know where Betty is today, but I wish I could somehow illustrate that I still think of those research lessons in the New Millennium. They seem to use now as part of your with this New Age of technology where products must be better, cheaper, deliver more, and do everything at lightening speed.
In the Direct Response world, we are not big on focus groups yet every DR day and every DR contact can be a "group" research opportunity. I can't manage to get Field of Dreams out of my head ... "Build it, and they'll come." Now, I am not saying that Shoeless Joe Jackson will almost certainly come gliding from the corn fields, but perhaps if you take good thing about the "direct" contact that you've with your buyer, your next offer would have been a Grand Slam right beyond the gate. Or better yet, you will understand enough concerning the emotion of the customer to finally get to the man or woman containing yet to acquire anything in the DR format.
Here are some easy solutions to take benefit of DIRECT contact with all the CUSTOMER:
1) Troll your database! Find out who your buyer is, the things they read, their homes, and just what makes them tick. Your customer list is GOLD and props up answer to your NEXT winner!
2) Ask them! You have what retailers envy, to be able to talk to your customers. Inbound scripts will be the perfect tools for asking quick questions and gathering EASY research.
3) Don't assume you already know anything! Test price points, upsells, and product bundles in multiple formats. Find out what exactly works and then put your cash behind it.
4) Leverage the Box! Package inserts, order forms, letters, and mini-catalogs are a simple and inexpensive methods to test new items, ideas, concepts, and promotions.
5) Inquiries are People too! Contact your inquiries! They can show you exactly what you did wrong! If you ask them how to generate it better ... they'll let you know that too!
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