"Focus groups should be abolished," says Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and Tipping Point. Gladwell's statement, although controversial, rings true from certain marketplace experience. We at BRANDWORTH News have long known that consumers make purchase decisions emotionally and then justify their purchases logically. The problem with traditional focus groups is that participants think about their responses and what their answers should be. Therefore, the snap judgment, the hunch, and the emotion of the first impression are lost in all of the cogitating that goes into a focus group response. The participant is made to think about his choice and explain it within the limits of his vocabulary, thereby distancing himself from his true preferences.

The Aeron Chair by Herman Miller has become a cultural and commercial sales phenomenon. It continues to be one of the best-selling office chairs in history. Had executives at Herman Miller followed advice to scrap the design based on extensive focus group testing, they might not be enjoying such record sales. Despite only moderate scores on comfort and extremely low scores on its aesthetics, Herman Miller went ahead with the introduction of the Aeron Chair. As a result, the company broke all sales records and still continues to reap huge rewards over a decade later. More information about this case study is available at the links following this article.

Matching the promise of your brand with the priorities of your market is a huge advantage if your goal is to be the leader in your business category. In the May 16th issue of BRANDWORTH News we focused on developing the essence of the brand from within. Internal branding is largely about knowing and delivering the promise of the brand. Every employee of an organization should have the same answer to the question, "What do we stand for?" Communicating that brand promise to the marketplace should be done in a way that resonates with the priorities of consumers. Now the critical question is: "What are those priorities?" We believe that typical focus groups are ineffective at gauging what is really important (emotionally) to customers when choosing a product or service, for reasons already stated.

After a decade of using standard research tools, the principals at Tracey Edwards O'Neil were less than satisfied with the information gathered, especially as it related to actual behavior. Research data collected by traditional focus groups (qualitative) and interviews (quantitative) were only uncovering part of the picture. Findings were not precise enough with regard to specific features and benefits needed for translation into effective communications. TEO set out to devise a testing instrument that would prioritize features and benefits when presented in juxtaposition. The work resulted in a unique benefit testing process called Strategic Accuracy Testing®. SAT® has been revised and refined over subsequent years, has been used widely in commerce, and has been taught in strategic marketing and branding courses at Harvard University. SAT® is now a proprietary, proven process.

This process helps eliminate much of the guesswork in marketing communication, especially as it relates to branding and advertising. It is a methodology aimed at uncovering a target audience's priorities and preferences when choosing a given company, product, or service. Communications are most effective when formulated with the essence and promise of the brand in ways that identify with the priorities and preferences of the target audience.

In 2003 Bigelow Tea set out to learn what was most important to tea drinkers when choosing a tea brand. Bob Kelly, vice president of marketing at Bigelow was looking for a firm that understood "consumer purchasing dynamics" and was contacted by TEO in a timely manner. Having already had successful experience with Strategic Accuracy Testing (SAT®) in retailing, TEO recommended that SAT® be deployed to learn what features and benefits were most important to tea drinkers when choosing a brand.

The consumer insights that Bigelow discovered through SAT® were some of the most valuable ever learned by the company. Bob Kelly at Bigelow Tea says it best: "It was terrific being part of the SAT [Strategic Accuracy Testing] process with the Tracey Edwards O'Neil team. There was very thorough work done upfront, and the insights generated during the process were very critical in positioning the brand. More importantly, the creative interpretation following was very provocative, and the execution has led to significant business growth and an invigorating brand image." Some of the advertisements inspired by the Bigelow SAT® research may be found at the link following this article.

 

Understanding your customers' and prospects' priorities before writing and designing communications to them is fundamental to brand marketing success. Do you have a method for learning what your customers really care about?