implicit emotional assessment: uncovering what consumers can't or won't tell us about...
DESCRIPTION
Discusses the importance of, and techniques for, assessing emotions that drive consumer behavior, but that consumers can't or won't convey via traditional market research techniques. (Accompanying narrative available.)TRANSCRIPT
Implicit Emotional
AssessmentUncovering What Consumers Can’t or Won’t Tell Us About Their True
FeelingsPaul ConnerexperiEmotive® analyticswww.experiemotive.com
March 5, 2009
800 Pound Gorilla
People often can’t or won’t “tell the truth”
Research still accepts “face value”
Two “equal” groups of
respondentsGroup 1
Group 2
Compelling StudyEmotions’ Impacton Cons. Behavior
?
?Exposed to something different
Group 1
Group 2
Compelling StudyEmotions’ Impacton Cons. Behavior
Male or Female?
Gender Recognition
Task
Compelling StudyEmotions’ Impacton Cons. Behavior
?
? Rate Feeling State
Group 1 and Group 2 Feelings States Were
Explicitly Equal
Group 1
Group 2
Compelling StudyEmotions’ Impacton Cons. Behavior
?
?
Group 1
Group 2
Compelling Study
How much $$ would you pay for
a beverage?
Group 1 would pay more $$
Emotions’ Impacton Cons. Behavior
Subliminally, Group 1 shown happy faces,
Group 2 shown angry faces
Group 1 would pay more $$
Happy
Group 1
Angry
Group 2
Compelling StudyEmotions’ Impacton Cons. Behavior
Why? (Agenda)
Emotions drive (consumer) behavior.
People often can’t or won’t “explicitly” report emotions.
Implicit techniques help marketers see & use “hidden” emotions.
Explicit Information
Direct Conscious Reflective Rational Defended
Implicit Information
Indirect Unconscious Automatic Non-rational Undefended
Emotions and feelings drive our
behavior. They “tell us what to do.”
“We now accept that human beings are powered by emotion, not by reason. Emotion and reason are intertwined, but when they are in conflict, emotion wins every time. [Emotion] controls our rationality, our decision making.”
Kevin Roberts (Saatchi & Saatchi CEO) at ESOMAR Conference, Barcelona, 2002.
The CEO and His Car
Emotion Myths• Only overt,
conscious expressions
• Only certain emotions
• Mutually exclusive from reason
“My decision was based on practical, family considerations.
Emotion didn’t enter into it.”
The Truth
Emotion and reason are “neuro- connected.”
Emotions add value to decision-making.
EMOTION
REASON
“Our perceptions and memories are constantly linked to emotional reactions. Thoughts are never free from emotions and emotions are never free from thoughts.”
Giep Franzen and Margot Bouwman in The Mental World of Brands: Mind, Memory and Brand Success, 2001.
“Emotion is not an aberrant element when making buying decisions, but a necessary condition if decisions are not to be continually postponed.”
John O’Shaughnessy and Nicholas Jackson O’Shaughnessy in The Marketing Power of Emotion, 2003.
Two Important Aspects of Emotions
Largely unconscious
Often guarded experiences
Problem
Traditional MR techniques
often accept what people explicitly say.
Solution
Implicit techniques assess
unconscious, automatic, un-
defended, or un-rationalized, yet
influential, emotions.
Implicit Techniques
Psychotherapy• Projectives, hypnosis-interviewing
(case study), psychodrama (case study), linguistics/metaphors
Social/Cognitive Psychology• Implicit
association/misattribution (case study)
Psychophysiology• Face, brain, heart, skin, eyes, voice,
breath
Case Studies
Implicit Association/ Misattribution
Hypnosis- Interviewing
Psychodrama
The Implicit Association/
Misattribution Study
Priming Technique
Emotional profiles - two battery brands
Explicit emotion ratings
Implicit…
The Implicit Association/
Misattribution Study
The Priming Technique
Does this symbol mean this word?
Explicit Feelings(Difference: Explicit Ratings, Brand 2 Minus Brand 1)
Skeptical
Worried
Disgusted
Playful
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75
0.27
0.00
0.00
0.00
Implicit Feelings(Difference: % Implicit Association, Brand 2 Minus Brand 1)
Skeptical
Worried
Disgusted
Playful
-20% -10% 0% 10% 20% 30%
-11%
-9%
-3%
20%
40% Chose Brand 1, 60% Chose Brand 2
Key Explicit & Implicit Results
Benefit
Priming showed otherwise invisible emotions
consistent with preference.
Hypnosis = relaxed, focused
awareness
The Hypnosis-Interviewing Study
Help resort community “emotionally” develop new land
Explicit telephone interviews
Implicit hypnosis-interviewing
The Hypnosis- Interviewing Study
About Hypnosis
Relaxed, focused, non-analytical state of mind
Fully conscious and in control
More emotional, less rationalized, and less defended responses
Key Explicit Results
Quiet/peaceful
Attractive/beautiful
Good/like the feel
Good/nice in general
[Open-ended below]
Exciting
Boring
Peaceful
7.0%
9.1%
14.1%
29.6%
3.0%
9.1%
87.9%
Images of Client’s Resort
What is it about that pull-out bed that’s so attractive to you as a child? It's different. It's close to everybody.
Close to everybody. How so? You’re not isolated. You don't have your own bedroom with a closed door. It's like a big sleepover. Everyone’s excited, staying up late, acting silly.
Implicit Hypnotic Result
BenefitHypnosis
revealed the power of “child”
emotions.
Acting out relevant
experiences
The Psychodrama Study
The Psychodrama Study
Find an “impenetrable” emotional positioning
Explicit via conjoint and positioning statement preferences
Implicit via psychodrama exercises
About Psychodrama
Emotions are neuro-chemically connected to thought AND behavior.
Behaviorally re-enacting, not just talking about, stimulates more neuro-chemical connections.
Brings events, thoughts, and associated feelings more to consciousness.
Non-Branded Conjoint Analysis
Locale
Ethic
Cust. Svc. Style
Feeling
Positioning
Price/Cost
Service
Technology
1.0
1.7
3.9
4.1
6.6
15.4
22.4
44.9
Branded Positioning Statement Preference
Ethic
Customization
Technology
Service
3.13
2.67
2.18
2.02
Key Explicit Results
Implicit Psychodrama Result
I feel a little bit betrayed. However... (long pause) ... and it doesn’t make me feel good that you have to leave. I have used you for so long, I feel like we're partners here.
BenefitPsychodrama revealed the
power of “relationship”
emotions.
Summary Emotions drive
(consumer) behavior.
People often can’t or won’t “explicitly” report emotions.
Implicit techniques help marketers see & use “hidden” emotions.
“In review of the techniques available to measure emotion, our conclusion is that market research must allow for the measurement of both explicit conscious feelings and implicit cognitive emotions for a more comprehensive account of the consumer-brand relationship.”
Peter Cooper and John Pawle. Measuring Emotion in Brand Communication. Presented at Esomar’s Innovate! Conference, Paris, February 2005.
References
• Cooper, P. and Pawle, J. (2005). Measuring Emotion in Brand Communication. Presented at Esomar’s Innovate! Conference, Paris.
• Franzen, G. and Bouwman, M. (2001). The Mental World of Brands: Mind, Memory and Brand Success, WARC.
• O’Shaughnessy, J. and O’Shaughnessy, N.J. (2003). The Marketing Power of Emotion, Oxford Press.
• Roberts, K. (2002). Annual ESOMAR Conference, Barcelona.
• Winkielman, P., Berridge, K.C., and Wilbarger, J.L. (2005). Unconscious Affective Reactions to Masked Happy Versus Angry Faces Influence Consumption Behavior and Judgments of Value. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 31(1), pp. 121-135.