An Invigorating Dose of Bright Minds

IIEX Behavior 2022 was an invigorating dose of bright minds in the field of market research, psychology, and behavioral sciences. I sometimes go to conferences where I end up feeling like the content wasn’t as applicable to my role as an insights professional as I’d like it to have been.  But this Greenbook event hit the nail on the head!

I left with new perspectives on ways to approach research design and things to consider when doing so, backed by a fresh understanding on human behavior and thinking that stems from psychology. 

 

6 Takeaways & Inspirations from IIEX Behavior 2022:

 

1. Decision makers at companies don’t want to think! It is important for researchers to put insights in the context of the decisions being made in order for the insights we generate to be utilized; to do this requires us to thoroughly interrogate the briefs we are handed down by clients to ensure we are clear with what specific problem they are trying to solve for. Thank you Erick Larson at Cloverpop for this important perspective and wake-up call to not take briefs at face value.
2. Meeting people where they are in their journey: It is a necessity to uncover what peoples’ VALUES are and what has influenced those values in order to really understand them, their preferences, and decision-making behaviors.
3. Any results and recommendations coming out of studies must focus on making consumer change easy in order to be successful – the benefits should outweigh the barriers. Lindsay Juarez at Irrational Labs for the reminder of how important objectives specificity is in approaching research design that focuses on making one concrete impactful change among the target audience.
4. Using narrative psychology to reframe the way we ask questions: Everyone has rational and emotional ways which drive us to make decisions. A simple switch from asking a question that begs a rational answer (e.g. ‘what makes you want this type of car?’) to a more encompassing one that is story-based (‘tell me a story about the first time you decided you wanted this type of car…’) is what uncovers deep rooted emotions and need-states. A fantastic way to easily apply psychological principles to market research thanks to Kristian Aloma at Threadline.
5. Looking beyond demographics to personality types to explain patterns and behaviors in data. Or in other words, ‘Marketing to Mindstates’, also the title of Will Leach’s book.
6. Provoke people creatively to see how they respond and act: As qualitative researchers, we have permission to get provocative with ways in which we try to elicit insights from participants. Sasha McCune of Conifer Research was a fantastic reminder of this in her talk, ‘Behavior Roulette – Provocative Methods to Decode Choice’. Something as crazy as asking people to ‘destroy a cake as beautifully as possible’, having them write love letters or breakup letters with a brand or product, can reveal the exaggerated truths that are laden with insights.

What did I miss?  If you’ve got a 7^th inspiration to share – or an exciting upcoming event with more bight minds in attendance – reach out admin@knowrearch.com