New Techniques to Generate Key Marketing Insights

AbstractFocus groups and cross-tabulated surveys are ubiquitous in marketing research, but their results are often disappointedly obvious. In contrast, laddering and prototyping analyses use in-depth interviews and structured visualization to generate key insights into consumer behavior. The use of these two techniques gives sharp marketing professionals an edge in accurately determining whom to target and how to target them with a creative marketing mix.Marketers have traditionally relied on focus groups, surveys, and demographic information to help them develop marketing strategies and tactics for their products. According to Lisa Fortini-Campbell's The Customer Insight Book, these techniques are widely accepted, but often fall short of generating key insights about a product and of identifying a target audience in concise and well-defined terms. Two techniques that can overcome these shortfalls are ladderingand prototyping. Laddering is a technique by which the core attributes and values that drive product users are identified through a form of in-depth interviews. Prototyping is then used to take these insights and mold them into distinct and workable descriptions of vivid consumer segments. The use of these two techniques allows marketing professionals to accurately determine whom to target and how to target them.These two methods fit together in a disciplined four-step process of analyzing consumers: 1) why consumers do not buy your product, 2) why they really do buy your product, 3) who the ideal target segments are, and 4) generating the ideal marketing mix. While the first step can be answered with focus groups, questionnaires, and interviews, the second step is better addressed with laddering and the third step with prototyping.The words "buy" and "products" are used throughout this article for consistency, yet they represent a wide range of services, non-profit activities, health behavior, and volunteerism. This basic process has enabled people to answer the following types of questions: How can my consulting company attract more high-margin clients? How can we turn light users of my brand into heavy users? How can I get people to visit my Web site? How can the American Cancer Society encourage people to eat more vegetables? How can the Philadelphia Institute of Art encourage more people to join? How can we increase attendance at my church? How can the Red Cross increase blood donation among young people?After providing an overview to the four-step process, this article will then provide detailon how laddering interviews can be conducted to develop insights what is important to consumersand how a product or service can meaningfully differentiated from others. It then describes howcustomer prototypes can be developed in a way that makes targeting efforts as accurate aspossible.Originally published in Marketing Research, Summer 2000About the AuthorBrian Wansink (Ph.D. Stanford University) is a Professor of Business of Nutritional Science, of Advertising, and of Agricultural & Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.After working with an ad agency and the Small Business Administration, he earned his Ph.D. in marketing at Stanford (1990) and was a marketing professor at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College (1990-1994), the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (1994-1995), and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (1995-1997) before moving to Illinois to establish a research program that uniquely focuses on mature packaged goods. Dr. Wansink's expertise is directed toward revitalizing mature brands. Specifically, he focuses on determining the types of ads, promotions, and packages that will increase the usage frequency and usage volume of mature packaged goods. The Food and Brand Lab was founded in 1992 by Professor Wansink. It consists of 15 interdisciplinary researchers at the University of Illinois along with 3 test kitchens, 5 cooperating supermarkets, and a panel of 3,000 consumers. Research is independently funded by grants, consumer groups, and companies. It all focuses on better understanding consumers and how they relate to foods and packaged foods.

New Techniques to Generate Key Marketing Insights

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