But Why? – The Importance of Exploratory Research

May 26, 2015

A good research or insights professional has a lot in common with an overly inquisitive child. That’s not meant as an insult – bear with me here. They can sound like a broken record asking “Why? But Why? Why?” Although we don’t often think of kids’ motivations behind asking “why,” just like researchers they have a goal to understand and to learn about people and the world around them. Toddlers are formulating their personality and gathering information as they develop the person they’re going to be. Brands really aren’t that different when you think about it! We often talk about brand personalities and how a concept or creative execution fits into that image.

When speaking to organizations that don’t have market research as part of the standard process, we most often talk about the importance of taking the quick and very important step back to verify and refine concepts or creative executions for the target audience. Equally as important of a step, but too often glossed over, is the exploration phase – asking “why” (and other W questions). The goal of exploration is to understand consumers’ motivations, expectations, perceptions, or actions around a specific topic. This kind of knowledge sets a strong foundation for ideation, concept development, and creative executions to come. Skipping this phase can result in the costly and time consuming process of going back to the drawing board after concepts test unsuccessfully – or worse, not having the time or budget to fully course correct.

Many brands set out to dig up a collection of secondary research about an audience or subject in order to move forward with ideation. The shortcomings of secondary research include lack of context, constantly moving targets (lack of truly up-to-date research), and most importantly, being unable to ask the most pressing questions. Secondary research, however, can be used to start formulating where there are research gaps around topics or audience and to know where to focus the objectives of the exploratory research.

Below is a very small sample of the types of questions you might find yourself asking. Here we’re using “product,” but exploratory certainly applies to services, product categories, brands, and more.

Why?	Why do consumer prefer one brand over another? Why do consumers use a product in a particular way?
What?	What characteristics do consumers want in an ideal product? What are alternatives to the product in question?
How?	How exactly are consumers using the product in their homes? How do consumers think about different brands?
Where?	Where do consumers first think of going to purchase a product? Where do consumers go for information about a product?
When?	When do consumers use the product most frequently? When do consumers think about purchasing a product?
With/For Whom?	Who do consumers purchase the product for? Who do consumers use a product with?

In addition to general consumer knowledge for ideation, exploratory research can be used to inform the consumer journey, a competitive assessment, and brand positionings. You won’t see numbers or percentages in the output of exploratory research, as sample sizes are not considered representative of the population. Instead, the exploratory research uncovers themes. Depending on the specific objectives of the research, exploration can uncover pitfalls brands should avoid, or untapped needs to consider solving for. Even more exciting, exploratory research can unveil inspiration for strong consumer insights, and ultimately exceptional concepts and creative.

To learn more about how agile market research can help you with exploratory research and really getting to the why behind consumer motivations and actions, download our complimentary eBook!

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