Often times, when we’re looking for feedback on our products and services, we go to our trusted customers for opinions on what we’re doing right and wrong. Market research has always been dependable… Right?
Well, I’ve got some advice for you…
STOP always trusting your customer’s insight because, more often than not, they are flat-out lying to you! I know that sounds nuts, but it’s true. And unlike your customers, I’m not going to sit here and lie to you about why.
To understand why your customers would want to spit lies at you, we must take a moment to analyze the customer/human psyche. What you will gather from this analysis is quite upsetting because it proves that a few of us, as customers, are a sad bunch of pathetic posers. Here is just one example of how customers roll over us business owners with their ridiculous lies when approached with a situation of market research…
Envision a customer who walks into a liquor store, shopping for a bottle of vodka, and the owner approaches him for some small talk and a casual observation of his buying habits. The customer believes that vodka is a tasteless/odorless drink – So he’s come into the store to simply pick up a cheap $10 bottle of McCormicks Vodka; because after all, he’s just going to mix it into a few cans of Red Bull and will never really taste the vodka anyway. His thought is… “Why buy the premium stuff, when the dirty stuff will do the same trick for half the price?”
Well, that was the plan until the store’s owner approached him in an attempt to gather some valuable market research on his customers. He thinks he’s about to really figure this customer out from the questions and observations he’s about to make. Unfortunately, the poor guy doesn’t even know what’s about to hit him… He’s about to be knocked on his ass by a big fat lie, straight out of the patron’s deceptive mouth!
The manager approaches the shopper before he has picked up his bottle of McCormicks. He wishes the customer a “Good evening,†and begins to try and figure him out with some vodka small talk. He asks the customer which of his vodkas he likes the most…
“Hello… Are we looking for some vodka tonight? Which one is your favorite?â€
The customer is thinking… “Oh crap… I can’t admit that I came in here for the cheap stuff! I gotta sound like a person of sophistication! I also don’t want to offend this man by purchasing his least expensive product! What should I say!?â€
Finally, in desperation for a rebuttal that comforts his ego, and flatters the manager’s inventory, he says… “I prefer DIAKA Vodka.†…He’s only saying this because the bottle, that he saw on the shelf out of the corner of his eye, looks expensive and fancy. He takes a closer look at the bottle and notices some additional information on the product…
Looking suave he says to the manager… “Did you know that DIAKA uses a diamond filtration process? I’ve made a pact with myself to never drink AAAAANYTHING that hasn’t been filtered by the kiss of a diamond.â€
Are you listening to this guy!? He is completely out of his normal character! What about this situation makes him feel like he should compromise who he is as a person? He is screwing up this guys research! Not only did the customer not originally know that it was possible to filter vodka with diamonds, but the only way he can afford a bottle of the gimmicky swill is if he spends 4 days of his salary on it! A simple study of this individual’s buying habits has now turned into a sad display of someone who has no confidence in himself.
So the manager says… “Hmmm, that’s very interesting. Do you drink DIAKA often?â€
And the dumbass says… “Oh yea! All the time! My friends go through a bottle of it every weekend!â€
…So the manager is now thinking that he has found out some golden insight on DIAKA Vodka from this trusted customer…
“Not only does this customer enjoy DIAKA, but he also has many friends that drink it every weekend. The store currently only stocks 10 bottles of it at a time – I might want to consider ordering a larger quantity due to the explosion of popularity the drink could potentially experience.â€
So the next day, the manager orders 5 times what he normally purchases. The customer, who truthfully only wanted a cheap bottle of McCormicks, has lied to a store manager about a product because he couldn’t bear to admit that he was a simpleton who doesn’t buy top shelf liquor. This lie that he told will result in the store having a surplus of a drink that probably won’t sell very well due to its expensive price.
The manager was initially proud of himself for the market research he had performed. He thought that he was dealing with a high profile customer who had an exquisite taste in vodka – So he believed every damn word that came out of the customer’s lying mouth. Don’t you feel bad for the guy? He just lost a lot of money because he believed what he thought was truthful insight from an affluent customer.
The point of all this is that there is an infinite amount of situations where a customer would lie to you during market research. Sometimes, the customer doesn’t even realize that they are lying. It has become “Normal” for people to try and say the “Right” things when partaking in this type of conversation. These attempts to cater to other people’s emotions, as well as an unwillingness to look bad in front of other people, unfortunately result in instances of MRM (Market Research Miscommunication). The lesson to be learned here is that the next time you ask your customer for an opinion, make sure to think twice about what they tell you. Don’t focus so much on the surface of what they have to say… Dig deep into their thought process, and find out WHY they said what they said.
Wishing You Continued Success…
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