3 reasons to use behavioural science in market research
Over the past decade, a number of dedicated behavioural science teams have sprung up within research agencies, including Ipsos and HRW.
Going back further, large organisations such as Unilever were even quicker to embrace behavioural science.
But why should YOUR organisation consider using behavioural science in market research?
This article presents three key reasons:
1. People don’t always do what they say
2. Behavioural science improves an organisation’s chances of success
3. Time and money can be saved
Let’s begin with the first reason…
1. People don’t always do what they say
“The problem with market research is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say.” (David Ogilvy)
The first reason to use behavioural science in market research?
The “say-do gap”.
The say-do gap describes the (often vast) contradictions between what consumers SAY they do and what they actually DO.
There is a wide range of evidence for the say-do gap, with behaviours relating to sustainability having received a lot of recent focus.
So why don’t people always do what they say?
There are two key reasons.
First and most importantly, according to behavioural scientists, people CAN’T always accurately explain or predict their behaviour.
There has been much debate as to the level of impact of the subconscious on human behaviour. While its influence has undoubtedly been over-exaggerated (see Myth 3 here) there remains a plethora of behavioural science evidence on the challenges of consistently explaining one’s own behaviour in full.
The second reason? People WON’T always tell us the whole truth.
In comparison, this is a less significant challenge, and not as sinister as it sounds: for example, social desirability bias occurs when respondents conceal their true opinions and instead say what they think researchers want them to say. Nevertheless, people not always telling the whole truth is still a contributor to the say-do gap.
2. Behavioural science improves an organisation’s chances of success
Ok, so the first reason to use behavioural science in market research is that people don’t always do what they say.
In response, how can behavioural science help improve your organisation’s chances of success?
There are a variety of approaches, but one especially effective approach involves incorporating behavioural theories and models into primary research.
What are behavioural theories and models?
Behavioural theories and models describe HOW behaviours occur. They are usually based on large volumes of academically peer-reviewed research.
Essentially, instead of relying on respondents to be fully ABLE and WILLING to explain or predict their behaviour, theories and models help us to ask simple, unbiased questions, and to interpret responses.
Further, theories and models are also an effective way of communicating key insights to stakeholders.
3. Time and money can be saved
A final key benefit of a behavioural theory/model based approach is a lot of time and money can be saved – specifically in (qualitative and quantitative) analysis.
How?
In short, rather than trying to make sense, in an unstructured way, of what people say drives their behaviour, theories/models provide a limited number of specific hypotheses to test.
Even for the more complex theories/models – and even when theories/models need some adjusting – the analysis process is much more efficient.
The benefits to research agencies are they are then able to spend more time on revenue generating activities…
…while client organisations can focus more on the critical challenge of how insights are communicated internally (for a short, behavioural science inspired article on insight delivery see here).
Conclusion
This article has presented three key reasons to use behavioural science in market research:
1. People don’t always do what they say
2. Behavioural science improves an organisation’s chances of success
3. Time and money can be saved
To find out more about specific approaches we use, there are a number of free guides to download on our website.
Alternatively, drop me an email at chris.harvey@activate-research.com if you’d like to find out more about our Consultancy, Training, and Project solutions.