the zmet technique

"A lot goes on in our minds that we're not aware of. Most of what influences what we say and do occurs below the level of awareness. That's why we need new techniques: to get at hidden knowledge - to get at what people don't know they know.” - Zaltman

The Zaltman MetaphorElicitation Technique

The Zaltman MetaphorElicitation Technique • Professor at Harvard Business School

• Member of the Executive Committee of Harvard University's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative.

• Co-founder and senior partner in the research based consulting firm of Olson Zaltman Associates

• Ph.D in sociology, MBA from University of Chicago

• Wrote - How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market and Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal about the Minds of Consumers

Patent Issued: July 25, 1995

WWhat do you see?

What do you see?

• Average of 30,000 items on shelves of American supermarkets

• Introduction of 17,000 new products a year*

• We do not think rationally about what we buy

• “The knowledge of what we need lies so deeply embedded in our brains that is rarely surfaces” – Zaltman

How do we attract customerswho see everything differently?

Research A Brief History

• 1990 vacation in Nepal • Asked village residents to take

pictures• Assignment: assume you’re

going to leave this village and move somewhere else. You want to tell people about the life that was here, what pictures would you take to show them?

• Feet cut off • Marketing through pictures• Words, but also visual

metaphors

The Creation of theZMET Technique

Class Activity

• Time • Pre-interview• Sensory, visual and

non-verbal• Steps

The ZMET Technique

• Story Telling • Missing Pictures• Triad Task• Metaphor Probe/Expand

the Frame• Sensory (Non-Visual)

Metaphors• Vignette• Digital Imaging

The Seven-step Process

• Time • Software• Constructs • Create consensus maps

Analysis of the ZMET

Women: The Panty hose Haters

• First question: What are your thoughts and feelings about buying and wearing panty hose?”

• Next: Photo collection• Then: Two-hour discussion

Women: The Panty hose Haters

Feeling of being thin and tall

Embarrassment caused by stocking runs

Feelingstrangled Luxury

• Zaltman introduces several concepts:– Mental model – a set of

thoughts formed when neural clusters influence each other; used to process information from and respond to an abstract event.

– A road map that identifies communities and their connecting routes.

– Consumers encounter this when they need to contemplate a decision.

The Power Of Metaphor

• Humans think in images, not words. Most research tools, according to Zaltman, are “verbocentrics.” – Conscious thought – thoughts that we can articulate

because we are fully aware of our own existence, sensations and cognition.

– Unconscious thought – thinking outcomes of which we are unaware or vaguely aware and struggle to articulate, mental activity outside conscious awareness.

• Metaphors stimulate the workings of the human mind.

The Power Of Metaphor

• Speaking time • Multiple steps, reduces chance

of missing key ideas• Dominant participant in focus

groups• Socially acceptable answers

Beyond the focus group and survey

What companies are taking advantage of this research technique?

Application: Account Planning

200 studies @ $75,000 each

• Why the ZMET? – The consumer is in control, not the researcher

(unlike focus groups, gather own pics, develop own insights).

– Use of metaphor helps uncover the importance of non-visual sensory images

– Reduces problem of consistency– Pays attention to cognitive and emotional sides of

the brain

Application: Account Planning

• The downsides– Respondent fatigue– Interviewer must be very experiences – Cost, time– Matter of opinion – Can not change perception – No key insight into media channels or different sets of

buyers – Does not offer perceptions on brands relative to

competitors

Application: Account Planning

Application: Account Planning

Application: Account Planning

Application: Account Planning

• Effective form, but costly and time-consuming• Limited to amount of data collection• Companies are starting to see the importance

of visual over verbal stimulants

Takeaways

• As an account planner, would you suggest the ZMET technique to your team over a focus group?

• Are there any products or services you can think of that would not benefit from the ZMET?

Discussion