The say-do gap is the difference between what we say and what we do. We all do it and it’s simply part of being human; being affected by things we don’t realize and sometimes acting differently than intended because of it. That means all market research data - regardless of the methodology - is biased. So how do you trust your data? Let me tell you.
It’s brisk, but true: consumers are full of shit. They say things that are not true and they say they intend this and that but do not follow through.
So why bother to ask them? Why is quantitative market research still a billion-dollar business? Isn’t it clear it’s flawed? Shouldn’t you jump right ahead to behavioral data instead? I wouldn’t advise it.
I would never advise anyone to put all their consumer insights eggs into one basket; there is no truth about consumers. No methodology that once and for all will uncover exactly what makes them buy. No golden shortcut for success. That’s a fact to trust, no matter how you try to uncover trends, opinions, behaviors, or sentiments!
What you need to direct your brand position, marketing communication, and your products and services to match your market is understanding consumers both on the conscious and unconscious level.
That means you need consumers’ reflections and it also means that you need to take the say-do gap into account.
Yes, there is a difference between asking a person in a survey and observing their actual behavior afterwards. But that doesn’t make any of these two data collection methodologies obsolete!
I mean, few people wake up in the morning and make a conscious decision to act differently than what they planned for or intend to. But every day we are all bombarded with impressions and inputs that we need to tackle:
A brand might be on promo making the oh-no-price-is-not-what’s-most-important-to-me consumer walking down the grocery store aisle completely change their mind and throw three of your competitors’ items down their cart. And - to the horror of your consumers-choose-us-for-being-organic-insights - discover it’s actually tasty!
Or some digital sponsored ad might out-perform your carefully orchestrated branding campaign because your competitor went in with a higher bid, a catchier message or better visuals. And thus, slip the purchase.
That - reality - does not make consumer insights irrelevant, because optimizing your likelihood to do good still requires consumer understanding before the situation where the consumer choice is made. And you want to set yourself up for success, don’t you?
Understanding the real path-to-purchase is understanding not only consumers’ values and attitudes but also the role of the unconscious: values and attitudes can be overruled by sudden context changes, status, societal convention, etc.
The bad news: you will never get the perfect understanding of this, regardless of how many resources you invest.
The good news: less can set you up for success!
It’s about generating the consumer insights to understand the context consumers will evaluate your brand/product/service in and what is most likely to hit home with them.
Now, I’m a quant guy, so I like statistics and big numbers (I like real, individual people a lot, too!), because big numbers will - in the end - be victorious.
It’s simple: insights based on a few consumers might give you interesting insights, but also possess a huge risk that results are biased.
Of course I am not saying that quantity automatically equals quality. What I am saying is that having worked with quantitative market research for 17 years, I know that there are three things that determine successful handling of the say-do gap. Mastering those will produce quantitative data with the smallest possible bias and that will in turn lay the foundation for actionable consumer insights and your success.
Handling the say-do gap in survey data is done in the research design phase. That is yet another reason why this is such a crucial part of market research and why you should never neglect developing your research design competencies!
So without further ado, here is your checklist for handling the say-do gap in survey data:
When it comes to the say-do gap, it’s all in your hands to handle. And handling it you should, if your consumer insights are to be the competitive advantage you tell your bosses they are investing in.
Yes, humans are basically unreliable and will deviate from what they say to some extent, but no, that does not make market research obsolete as the alternative is to operate in the dark with your hands tied to your back.
So it is upon you to mind your research design and handle the uncertainty that any data collection method has by understanding that the best possible data comes from the best possible research design. The old saying “garbage in - garbage out” also works the other way around: “great in, great out”.
In short, my most important takeaway for you: understand the uncertainty dimensions of consumers’ path-to-purchase and account for it in your research research design and data processing.