Ethnographic research reveals consumers' true habits

Consumer products companies have discovered that they can learn far more about how customers make purchasing decisions by what those customers actually do and not by what they say they do. Business-to-business marketers finally are following suit, embracing behavioral research as a more accurate planning tool than focus groups or surveys in determining how business executives approach their purchasing decisions.

"There is a difference between what people say they do and what they actually do," says Emma Gilding, managing director of IN:SITE, a think tank founded by Omnicom Group's Diversified Agency Services to provide the conglomerate's 170 agencies with ethnographic research services.

Conducting research for the think tank's client agencies involves spending days or sometimes weeks and months with customers. Sociologists and/or psychologists follow customers around as they travel through their days, paying close attention to what those customers do rather than what they say. The growing use of ethnographic research is creating high-paying, high-profile jobs in obscure fields such as anthropology and documentary film making that once were known for their relatively low rates of pay.

Perceptive Sciences, another firm specializing in ethnographic market research, employs a team of cognitive psychologists to study customer behavior rather than to listen to what customers say they want. Recently, the company completed a project for a cell phone maker that was in the process of developing a phone for business customers. In focus groups, prospective customers said that they wanted ringtones, music downloads and games. In practice, they wanted reliable communications and no frills. Result: The manufacturer saved a fortune in development costs.

Lots of organizations could profit from conducting ethnographic research on their own, simply by listening and watching as customers make purchasing decisions. Organizations may be surprised at what they learn, and it's likely they will avoid costly mistakes.